Ronnie and Ig didn't talk for a long time, maybe twenty or more years you know. So, I think that was probably a problem. But, man, I've been around them when nobody else is - there's a real rapport between those guys.

It's not really a democratic process. It's more like Julian is the chief guy and whatever I do has to get filtered through him. That's how it goes - which is a bit of a drag.

There's a painting of Napoleon that hangs in the Louvre and there's a copy of it in a hotel in Glasgow and it bears an uncanny resemblance to me. When I checked into the hotel all the staff did a double take.

Bands are funny things - as soon as you get a group of people together at some point in time there's confusion as to what is actually expected of people. That's kind of been the problem. If they knew their place it would be fine.

Steven Spielberg tried to get me to sign with him and I told whoever it was on the phone that I didn't want to be ET...

 

 

The dynamic we have is that I create, Kim directs. He creates too, of course. But we have our different roles. Kim's the director. I'm the foot stamper. The sulk.

 

'I didn't mean to come into your room and throw up on your floor - the pink elephant made me do it...'

I I used to be an evil fan. I threw a chair at Lou Reed once and knocked him on his ass. That wasn’t very nice...

I'm happy I went out on my own - my band plays better and sings better than the Beach Boys. The Beach Boys don't talk to each other - ever…

My relationship with Jason Pierce is nonexistent. I sent him a note about a year ago, but no reply. I have forgiven and forgotten long ago.

Milwaukee gave the world the Violent Femmes and 'Happy Days'. The difference between the two is Violent Femmes are real. 'Happy Days' is fictional. It was not a documentary...

I think just for impact the first song 'Here Comes a City' says it all really. There's something vital and revolutionary about that song...

The way we dress is the way we dress. I realise that we present ourselves in a certain way as a band but, for me, it's not a sport to talk about styles of clothes. We're not like the Hives are thankyou very much.

Any chance that you have questions about The Residents that isn't about who they are? They have actually done some interesting projects over the last 33 years. They aren't anonymous. They are a group. They are The Residents.

The point was that Hudson's wouldn't sell our record. Had Hudson's endorsed the MC5 we wouldn't have had a problem with them. Levis put their money where their mouth was.

I don’t have enough energy to argue with you assholes, kick your asses and entertain you...

I think I'm a better singer than Kermit D. Frog, I know that may sound boastful...

The covers record is about turning people on to songs they probably never heard before, like a mixed tape I made for my friends. I doubt there is anyone on earth who is familiar with every song on it.

Jeremy still produces music in his way. He still creates. Whether he's ever going to be able to come out and perform is another question.

We've always avoided getting involved in any way with politics or religion. But the song we did with Sinead O'Connor - the 'Foggy Dew' - that's a great song about the Irish Rebellion which changed the course of Irish history, eventually. We got our country back, almost.

I've always thought concept albums we're pretty cool. Albums with a theme that take you on a journey are more interesting than a bunch of songs strung together. And Altamont is a cool story so it was juicy to write songs around...

We didn't imitate the English and say, 'oh, shit, we are wonderfully hip and pop'. We weren't. We were German.

 

We'd sit down, pass the joint around, practice a little then jump in the Ferrari and go nuts on the road. Gene Clark never took a mellow trip down to Sunset. It was always at high speed. I was scared for my life every time.

The reason I like a lot of my stuff, a lot of people might dislike it for the same reason. Like I don't think it would sound particularly good on radio.

If we made any mistakes on Scorpio Rising it was to go too far down the celebrity vocalist line...

Gerry screamed out his 'Yonder she's walking.' It's so crazy. I mean, who says 'yonder' any more. Gerry didn't give a shit and with his rough voice it didn't sound dorky."

James Baker was sacked and I don't really have a problem with that because the fact is, at the time, he wasn't pulling his weight. He wasn't giving everything to the band.

Mick Bower was an inspired songwriter but he was too sensitive for life on the road. He just exploded one day, frothing at the mouth. When we eventually got him to the doctor he said, "look this guy will never play again" and he didn't.

You could see Jim McGuinn. You could talk to Chris Hillman but you could feel Gene Clark...

'Come Back Again' is one of my all time faves because of its anachronistic style and its simplicity. 'Eagle Rock' gets flogged so much that I'm sure many people are sick of it but I've never heard a bad word said about 'Come Back Again'

As a person I thought Phil Spector was a riot. Very funny. He was no gunslinger but he did have guns on him. He was an insecure person. Johnny and Dee Dee couldn't stand him.

The stuff that Elvis did on Sun is everlasting. That original music is something that had a free spirit about it. It was something that was real and not contrived. We did our best to do perfect imperfect music.

This band is pretty shameless about everything.

I’m a militant vegetarian and do not want to eat or put anything in my mouth that’s been in a 15 kilometre radius of any animal products except maybe eggs.

People might get some clues about my life from my songs but I think it's a bit of a wild goose chase.

You must remember when the Sports recorded this LP, Bob Dylan and Donovan were regarded as jokes. We did it to annoy Mushroom Records.

 

It's not been an intentional thing but sex and death seem to be the themes I'm working with at the moment.

We made an artistic statement in the 70s the ramifications of which we've spent years dealing with - when you've made effective artistic statements there's no going back.

It's nice that we can go to Europe as Americans and have people realise that not all Americans are in line with what America is doing these days...

I'm just getting it back to where I'm the man with the voiceover happening. I've got things to tell people about. I know the truth and I have the licks to tell it.

I did like Guided by Voices a lot. But I don't think I ever really danced in front of the mirror trying to be Bob Pollard. I might be wrong.

 

I hear musicians talk about music the way I feel about riding. The energy of being on stage is a high you can't find anywhere else...

It's one of the great myths of rock 'n' roll that you can do drugs and make great music. You can take drugs and make some very poor music aswell.

The best rumour I've heard about myself? That I blew my brains out at the end of Seven and Seven Is and hung our road manager ...

My worst injury? Trying to run from a gang with a broken ankle fresh out of a cast and being stabbed in the back with a knife.

I wanted to take art rock to its full extreme. How many people have gone ‘what I do is art and should be displayed in an art gallery?’ Nobody’s had the balls to do that. They’ve probably thought it was being pretentious...

Dictators guitarist Ross the Boss was like, 'yeah, man it's all there. A bit of Kiss, AC/DC, Dictators and a sense of humour...

 

I’d have preferred the ‘Bomb the Pentagon’ message but Osama Bin Laden has screwed that one up for us. At the end of the day I don’t want some CIA man putting one through the back of my head as I’m walking down the street...

On Buffalo Springfield: I wish we might have been more open with each other. Then again we were too open. At any rate, something's got lost along the way between us...we really don't have much of a relationship...

A band like Died Pretty is better off sticking to the blue highways rather than the main roads. We gave the main roads a shot but we’re more comfortable on the blue highways...

The reason we broke up before was because we weren’t getting along. That was a long time ago and I didn’t know if we’d get along again when in close quarters but it appears we're getting along famously...

It looked like Dylan wanted to throw up on the camera.That would've been a new experience for me...

 

The Birthday Party comparisons used to shit me off more in those days but it's not such a bad thing - they were pretty fierce and charismatic...

Dave McComb should be a household name. He wrote all the songs by himself. He had a wonderful way of producing images in your mind

You really want some dirt don't you? It's the real New Idea style journalism. You should actually write for those dudes. You're a real bitch, man.

I thought that would be pretty good - having a guy sing 'He Hit Me and it Felt like a kiss'.