"Spike Lee’s third film. I had just started doing films in high school and Do the Right Thing came out, and there was just this burst of creativity in a drama, of creative energy, and also just the social commentary, and Spike being in it, and the music, and the color, the production design. Then I read the book on the making of it. I read the book that he wrote for She’s Gotta Have It. I really became, like, a Spike Lee connoisseur, you know? But again, just to kind of open my eyes, it took me from kind of like what we were talking about before, like the shiny effects, you know, that kid of shiny object interest of childhood, to movies that can really make you think, and make you talk, make you think about what is going on, and his social commentary really affected me. It really took me from kind of like a Spielberg/Lucas type of filmmaker toward a more socially conscious filmmaker. I actually did a film that was very inspired by Do the Right Thing called Gabriel’s Dream that never got distributed. But it was about these workers in a particularly hot summer in Maryland, and they were trying to get A/C in their factory, and that was basically the story. Like, workers’ rights. It kind of really took me in a direction that I never thought I would go in. And it never came out, it did some festivals, and we never got distribution for it, this was like early 1990s. But it definitely opened my eyes to the power of cinema as a social statement, as a social tool. And I wrote two or three scripts after that that were very much inspired by Do the Right Thing, kind of touching on social issues. I was really that kind of filmmaker when I was in film school. But then we came up with the idea for Blair Witch and all of a sudden, we became “horror filmmakers.” But still, I love the idea of always having a little bit of the deeper meaning in material. And some films are just for fun and made that way, but there are others where you want to dig a little deeper. If you can get one person coming out of the theater thinking about what happened in the movie, I think it’s great. And Do the Right Thing consumed me. It was such an important film in my upbringing, you know?"

"You simply couldn’t ask for a better pop record by a rock and roller. There’s not a lot of songs on here I don’t like. I don’t even know what I could say about this one, other than it simply is a must-own record. But once you get past the never-ending hits on this one, there’s a depth to the lyrics that really rivals anyone writing out there. That creeps in after a few listens. How brilliant the words are on this record. I love when sad songs sound happy, and this is maybe the king of them all: “Born down in a dead man’s town/The first kick I took was when I hit the ground/End up like a dog that’s been beat too much, ‘till you spend half your life just a covering’ up, now."

"Hope Sandoval is one of my favourite female singers, her vocal tones are incredible. It’s the kind of voice that makes you fall in love with the person without knowing anything about them. Hope Sandoval sings on a few Massive Attack records too and they’re amazing. I love this whole Mazzy Star record, So Tonight That I Might See. It’s the kind of record I never get sick of. When I first heard it about 10 years ago it was because a girl I liked was into Mazzy Star. I’d heard the name but I’d never actually heard any songs. So I put ‘Bells Ring’ on and I thought it was amazing. Straightaway, I thought it was such a brilliant song and I knew I would definitely be listening to it a lot. The girl I liked said, ""Do you like Mazzy Star?"" so I just quickly said, “Yeah, I love them, I love ‘Bells Ring’, that’s my favourite song!” I later discovered she was annoyed because ‘Bells Ring’ was her favourite song and she felt like she couldn’t say so or it would be like she was copying me. What she didn’t know was that I had never heard it before and she was the one who introduced it to me. Sometimes I think that when someone introduces you to a song it’s better than finding it on your own, because then you connect it more with a specific time and place and it ends up meaning more. It’s the act of sharing. One of my favourite things about listening to music is passing it onto other people, when you play a record for someone and they play one to you. That’s how The Horrors became a band. Playing each other records that we hadn’t heard was how we became a group of friends and a band. Sharing music has always been really central to my life. It’s the same with creating Cat’s Eyes. Rachel and I exchanged playlists. Some people I know are so protective of the music they discover and try to hide their discoveries. That attitude is so far away from my attitude to music"