Most writers can write, most rock ‘n rollers cannot.

It is not the money but the self-respect and wanting to create good music.

The music comes first. When Geoff has made something the inspiration comes automatically. His music is very expressive. But still is is a very difficult process: I have to add something to his music, not...

I criticize my own work pretty harshly.

When you’ve toured for about 10 years like me, you end up feeling like you’re always waiting for somebody or something. The whole day is a drag.

At the age of nine, playing the violin at school, and then onto the mandolin.

I find it hard to take rock groups very seriously or treat them with respect. There is something absurd about these gloomy young men getting together and banging away.

When I lost the use of my hi-hat and bass drum legs, I became basically a singer. I was a drummer who did a bit of singing, and then I became a singer who did...

My early influences were the Shadows, who were an English instrumental band. They basically got me into playing and later on I got into blues and jazz players. I liked Clapton when he was with...

We are one of the last heavy metal bands. Iron Maiden has always been unique.

But even now, when people see me in the street, they point upwards to the sky.

I have the same feeling when I walk in a very beautiful place that I have when I play and it goes right.

I’m not into that Keith Richard trip of having all those guitars in different tunings. I never liked the Rolling Stones much anyway.

I like to work with artists who are as wide in their musical taste as I am.

I’d gone professional when I was about seventeen.

I’m just a very primitive, infantile folk singer.

I find it very, very hard. He was part of the fabric of my life. We were kids together, and teenagers. We spent the whole of our lives with each other because of our music.

I think that you get the mood of a song stronger if you get it right that way. On the other hand, you put some songs out live and they don’t catch flight. They just...

I don’t enjoy British shows as a rule because British audiences are strange.

I’ve worked with a lot of people who are more famous than myself who are terribly insecure.

It was great being together as a band, but much more difficult being brothers than it was being in a band.

Whenever I have a bad day I just think of these people.

Simplicity is the key.

Lots of people think it was Jimmy Page who had the first fuzzbox. It wasn’t, No! it wasn’t me either.

Well, I’d had the Fat Mattress earlier as a writing outlet for songs and that.

People say, oh it’s a shame, you’re not nostalgic about the ’60s. Well actually, it’s quite good, when you think of it. Wouldn’t it be sad if I was sitting here wishing it back?

I’m really happy that I got to work with such fresh talent. In a day when record companies are not particularly good at encouraging young, talented songwriters to come forward and get exposure, I think...

I think hopefully we’ve got enough brain cells left to decide if our music is really worth something.

Music is there to enrich your life and make you aware of things in a slightly different way.

It’s very questionable, and we will pursue every factor, every element, every second of the timeline, of the final hours of Maurice’s life. We will pursue that relentlessly. That will be our quest from now...

There’s not only emotion in the way you sing but also in what you sing. That way I can compensate it.

I don’t put myself on Jeff Beck’s level, but I can relate to him when he says he’d rather be working on his car collection than playing the guitar.

I’ve always played every amp I’ve ever had full up, because rock and roll is supposed to be played loud. Also, that’s how you get your sustain.

But people are now realising why I was playing bass with Hendrix.

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

When I’m singing I try not be a singer with a capital S. I just try to get it out so I feel comfortable with it.

Well, I think it’s kind of good to step out of the Sabbath banner, you know, and not go under the name of Black Sabbath or whatever.

We try and stay out of the corporate side of it. The band has never compromised. At some point in our career we could have made a certain type of record and sold millions of...

Everybody is a teenage idol.

Playing lifts you out of yourself into a delirious place.

I’m very moved by Renaissance music, but I still love to play hard rock – though only if it’s sophisticated and has some thought behind it.

I never had a Christmass at home for about 10 years.

It was rehearsing in the studio, at which point they were setting up the sound, and once we’d got the thing together they’d actually record it, without us knowing sometimes!

I’m not, by nature, a collaborator. My biggest influences were people like painters and poets. These are solitary workers.

It just felt like the right time to focus on solo material.

I think one of the things about writing in the studio is that the song hasn’t matured, if you like, so quite often the vocals are early attempts. Whereas once you’ve taken it out on...

I don’t like doing gigs. We’re pretty good at it, but it takes too much time and energy. Time and energy I’d rather spend on other things.

I will always have my songs and I don’t think I will ever dry-up.

Let’s get one thing straight: there’s no such thing as the Bristol sound.

What is the world coming to?