"It's hard to describe the Ledge. He was discovered on The Gong Show many years ago in America. He basically just shouts and screams. He's a cowboy. He was recording in the 1970s but he's still going now. This is his latest compilation. I met him a couple of months ago when I was on my American tour. Bowie's a big fan too. He got the idea for the name Ziggy Stardust from the Ledge and he covered 'I Took a Trip (On a Gemini Spaceship)' on one of his albums [Heathen, 2002]. The Ledge is an extraordinary character. He plays the bugle during some of his tracks. If you ever see him, bring earmuffs. He's not very musical. I used to play his song 'Paralyzed' before my gigs at the Marquee in '77 just to confuse the audience and set the tone for the night. Complete pandemonium. Some of the songs he writes are… [trails off, lost for words] He's obsessed with Nasa and space flights, which I'm into too. I loved the space missions. The visuals and the way they got there. It's science fact. They were like cowboys in space. But The Ledge took it one step further. I'd be quite interested to see what other people think if they check him out. He's not to everybody's taste. The album is an anthology of tracks like 'My Underwear Froze to the Clothesline' and 'Standing in a Trashcan'. It's all good stuff. The names refer to Fergie [Duchess of York], Raquel Welch and Bowie. They're all fans of the Ledge. [laughs]"

"All bands develop over time, and I'm definitely an old school Metallica fan. Those first three albums are about as good as it gets really. I really enjoyed the track 'One' on this record. It was a really complex piece of work. And that story of the guy who's come back from war and has lost his arms and legs and everything was just really dark and sombre. It was just a very strong political statement and that caught my imagination. I love those first three Metallica records, but I chose ...And Justice For All because of the overall complete experience of the album. This album shows the very first signs of Metallica being adventurous with their sound, and it has a great confidence to it. I've always admired them because they've always just been themselves, by themselves. They just do exactly what they want to do and I'm very excited to know exactly what this next one is going to sound like, even though Kirk [Hammett, Metallica guitarist] has dropped some hints that it won't sound like this record. But, y'know, everybody wants them to do Ride The Lightning again in the same way that everybody wants Priest to do Painkiller again. I don't think that some people understand that it's difficult to get things right for you as a band at the same time as trying to please your fans. I know from experience that you need to let your heart lead you, which is why I'm so interested to hear this new material."