Because of my politics, people think I'm anti-American. But I was quite the reverse. What I don't like about the United States is when the government acts like an old, imperial 18th- or 19th-century European power.

I only choose musicians who I think will emerge, can emerge, with their own character, while still going along with the tune in question.

I find writing songs hard, because it does not come naturally to me. I never set out to be a songwriter or a singer.

I'm naturally quite conformist, really. If I go to a country and they say, "You've got to drive on the right," I'm not going to drive on the left to show that I'm different. I'm able to stick to the law.

This constant pressure from record companies to come up with a hit single or something like that, I find completely tiresome.

In fact, when the fires of empire get hidden, they still stay burning underneath the moss, seething away. This is true with a lot of the countries with really difficult, impenetrable nationalist movements - countries that once had a big empire, like Turkey, England, or even in Italy, with the fascists in the middle of the last century. People who had empires, unfortunately, want them back eventually, somehow, someway.

Drinking was a big help with me making music, because drinking gives you courage. But it also makes you reckless, and that's the trouble.