"Probably one of the first bands that I learned how to play was Led Zeppelin. As I got more and more into them, Jimmy Page increasingly became a hero of my mine to the point that he's by far my biggest hero. If you listened to those records, and you were able to isolate all the guitar tracks, you'd probably say, "Wow, this track sounds awful. Wow, that track sounds awful too." Not the performance, but the tone of it. But he was such a master at what he did, they were able to blend those things and give it such a unique sound. Simple, simple things like the sound of a Fender Rhodes in 'Misty Mountain Hop' – the way that they worked all those things together. When you think Fender Rhodes, for me at least, you don't think heavy rock. You think Hall & Oates. But Led Zeppelin IV was one of those records that completely blew my paradigm apart regarding what rock music could be. And then from that point I went backwards in their catalogue. To this day Robert [Plant] and Jimmy are the consummate pair of frontman/guitar hero. My playing style is probably more similar to Jimmy's than anyone else's. I was influenced by people like Michael Schenker and Uli Jon Roth but Uli was always a bit too exotic. Jimmy is at the absolute top."

"Something about what he does make you feel like he's doing it from this room, it's so intimate. Hang on – have I got his name wrong? Oh wait, I haven't. He has gigged a lot as a singer songwriter so I think he translates that when he makes a record. This record went mad [in terms of popularity] but someone gave this record to me before he blew up. When I listen to this particular album, I just had the feeling like I'm in the room with him. I don't know whether he wants it to be intimate but it is. Some of the arrangements are mad, with the length of the intros and so on. You're never gonna get that on the radio! Who's gonna do that? The intros are 48 bars long or its him scratching around and doing other things. There's a real beauty in that but he also seems to have thought 'I don't really care.' Is this reflected in my own work? I think my own new record is a hotchpotch of things. The first track is called 'Beautiful Life' and anyone who's heard it has said 'you've gone a bit Nile Rodgers there with the guitar!' But that's inescapable, it's the way it is if you use that sound. And the very last track is that love letter back to prog rock and subconsciously, I've thought 'the last record did alright so now I'm doing whatever I want'. And I was doing it without anticipating anyone ever hearing it, if I'm brutally honest. My fans – yes but not Radio 2 or whatever. With this one, I've gone in without a clock and just played. I went in my room, my wife went to States, I had a bit of fun, went mad, had a load of ideas and made a record. And here we are with 'Beautiful Life'."