"I got into them through this album. The rest of the guys had never heard of them. We went to Sheffield University to see them – I took the band; I said they had to see this great groove – and there were about 100 people in there. It was a very eventful night with punks and rock fans together, because I think UK Subs were supporting. I loved the style they had – the repetitive riffs and rolling bass, which was more bluesy than metal. They were very aggressive – Bon Scott had massive presence on stage and he could sing and wrote great lyrics. And the rest of the band loved them as well, and it really affected us – without AC/DC, we wouldn’t have written ‘Wheels Of Steel’. We toured America with them in 1980, when they were doing Back in Black, on Brian Johnson’s first tour. They were really friendly guys - they had a bar backstage so you could get a pint while they were playing"

"It was a left turn within the punk rock scene, it was weird and sort of violent and real. It was in your face and as real as any rock band had been and that record got me through some shit. We all have a record that got us through a break-up or that you listened to when you’re 18 and you think everything’s going to hell and not going to last, and that record got me through that. Actually the first gig I ever did was opening for Black Flag when I was 14, but it was when Ron Reyes was the singer, so I’d followed them closely for a long time – well three years and three years is a long time when you’re 18. But that was the record that fortified it."

"The connection is kind of obvious! Obviously, I sing for the band and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was the reason why I got asked to sing for the band. I sang this song for my American Idol audition about nine years ago and it has a personal significance in that way. “I remember hearing it for the first time. I grew up doing musicals and the theatricality of it resonated with me at a young age, hearing a song that was considered a rock classic but that was theatrical and so vocal, it just really appealed to me. It felt like something and I connected with it. ""I love the different sections of it. Just when you think you've got the song figured out, it switches gears and goes in a totally different direction, or it goes to the opera section - which is totally insane and out there. Then they finish it off with the searing rock section of the song and then it finishes up again, back into the piano-driven, melodic, quiet place. “Much like a play or an opera, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ has acts, it has different sections and being a performer, I think that just really appealed to me."

"Led Zeppelin, goddamn! I don't think they made a bad record! There's that classic line from Cameron Crowe's movie Fast Times At Ridgemont High where they're cruising around, talking about how to get chicks. And the guy says: ""If you wanna score with a chick, turn out side two of volume four!"" I've used that a few times actually. It works [laughs]! Anyway if it didn't work, it was a nice soundtrack while it was going down. Jimmy Page is another guitar player that means a lot to me. Every member of that fucking band: John Paul Jones was an amazing writer, arranger and producer, as well as Jimmy. Plus John Bonham and Robert Plant... that's one of the greatest rock & roll bands of all times. It's just straight-up, fucking sexy, kick ass and shit, man! All the way from dirty low-down rock & roll to the biggest orchestral tracks like ‘Kashmir’. They travelled a lot of ground while keeping their roots intact, the blues. You know, certain bands really resonate in certain areas and that was one band that was always popular up there where I come from, the Northwest. You have at least ten fucking Zeppelin songs that you can jam with anybody at any time."