It is easily overlooked that what is now called vintage was once brand new.

No one else in our family was a professional musician so this took an enormous leap of faith on their part.

Marc Bolan had inspired so many people to pick up a guitar and join a band.

I kind of liked the method of the seventies where they would throw a little bit of money at a hundred different groups - not millions of dollars per group, but, you know, a few thousand. Throw them in the studio, and if five of those groups came out with a hit record it would be money well spent.

Since my teen years I was interested in martial arts.

I think the whole obsession with old gear is completely overblown. You don't need old-fashioned gear to make a great-sounding record. You don't even need [analog] tape.

The object is to make a great record and you have to do whatever it takes.