To not be modest about it, you'll find that with only a couple of exceptions, most of the musicians that I've worked with have done their best work by far with me.

Strangely, some songs you really don't want to write.

Sometimes you stumble across a few chords that put you in a reflective place.

Pixies and Sonic Youth were so important to the eighties.

On the other hand, what I like my music to do to me is awaken the ghosts inside of me. Not the demons, you understand, but the ghosts.

Nearly all the synth work on Heathen is mine and some of the piano.

It amazes me sometimes that even intelligent people will analyze a situation or make a judgement after only recognizing the standard or traditional structure of a piece.

I've never responded well to entrenched negative thinking.

I'm just an individual who doesn't feel that I need to have somebody qualify my work in any particular way. I'm working for me.

I went through all the musicians in my life who I admire as bright, intelligent, virtuosic players.

I think it all comes back to being very selfish as an artist. I mean, I really do just write and record what interests me and I do approach the stage shows in much the same way.

I never could get over the fact that The Pixies formed, worked and separated without America taking them to its heart or even recognizing their existence for the most part.

I felt I really wanted to back off from music completely and just work within the visual arts in some way. I started painting quite passionately at that time.

I believe that I often bring out the best in somebody's talents.

However, there's no theme or concept behind Heathen, just a number of songs but somehow there is a thread that runs through it that is quite as strong as any of my thematic type albums.

Heathenism is a state of mind. You can take it that I'm referring to one who does not see his world. He has no mental light. He destroys almost unwittingly. He cannot feel any Gods presence in his life. He is the 21st century man.

Frankly, I mean, sometimes the interpretations I've seen on some of the songs that I've written are a lot more interesting than the input that I put in.

But I've got to think of myself as the luckiest guy. Robert Johnson only had one album's worth of work as his legacy. That's all that life allowed him.

But I'm pretty good with collaborative thinking. I work well with other people.

And I saw the sax line-up that he had behind him and I thought, I'm going to learn the saxophone. When I grow up, I'm going to play in his band. So I sort of persuaded my dad to get me a kind of a plastic saxophone on the hire purchase plan.

I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human.

The truth is of course is that there is no journey. We are arriving and departing all at the same time.

Even though I was very shy, I found I could get onstage if I had a new identity.

When I'm stuck for a closing to a lyric, I will drag out my last resort: overwhelming illogic.