"A lot of people didn’t like it, but I loved Steven Soderbergh’s remake of the Russian film Solaris from the minute I saw it. I like it more than the original. I never paid too much attention to soundtrack music before that, but as soon as I heard that one in the theater I was just like, “What the fuck is this?” If you looked at my iTunes playlist, this soundtrack might be the most played album on my computer. It’s like experimental ambient music that still really involves your emotions. You could draw a line from this soundtrack to “The Ghost of You Lingers” from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, which came out around this time."

"I first song I remember loving had to be ‘Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?’ by Culture Club and so I guess I figured out I was an emo pretty early on in my life! But I really just connected with that song when I was a kid. For one, I was taken back by this man’s look, is that a girl or a boy? I was intrigued at that moment, but the song itself is a really good song. A lot of Culture Club’s music had sort of a reggae feel to it and at that point I had never heard reggae music and it sort of felt other-worldly in a way."

"Super influential record for the new wave of British heavy metal. Super influential record for Megadeth and Metallica. That was one of those records that everyone should listen to but not a lot of people know about. I think the beauty of it is the simplicity of the British riffing and the general approach to the music. I'm sad to have seen the band fall apart from its classic line-up although I don't know that they were necessarily prepared for greatness, if I can put it that way without being offensive. They were heralded to be the next Led Zeppelin and I get it. But I think internal problems started around when Canterbury came out in 1983."

"Yeah, back to Raymond Pettibon again. This was one of my favourite images along with the Sonic Youth cover when I was 16. It's cool how he was doing all of the Black Flag artwork as well as Sonic Youth because I guess they have a similar feeling, similar aesthetic. He's also been doing the sleeves for another band called Cerebral Ballzy who supported The Horrors on tour last year. The other guys aren't really into hardcore. I always liked Minor Threat probably a touch more than Black Flag. That decision is probably swung by the fact that Minor Threat did that Wire ‘12 X U' cover which was great. I like Wire a lot."

"First of all, I would say John Sayles’s Matewan. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it — and by the way, you should, because it’s a really incredible film — but it was one of those things where my Aunt Mary Jean from Knoxville, Tennessee sat me down and said, “You need to see this movie.” It’s by the same guy who did this other movie called Brother from Another Planet, but this movie’s really one of the best strike movies. It had James Earl Jones, Chris Cooper in his first movie, and Mary McDonnell. It’s got an incredible cast, but it’s just got a lot of soul. It’s really one of my favorite movies."

"I love 400 Blows. [François] Truffaut is just a genius and, again, just there’s a total Cassavetian quality in his performances as well. I know that story was close to his own story, so that was very moving and just a totally immersive experience. I like him and a lot of the French filmmakers, obviously, for the exact reason we’re talking about. That last scene in 400 Blows where he escapes the children’s home in that really, really long tracking shot was just astonishing, just such an astonishing end to that film. That and when the kids steal a typewriter too, and they’re struggling with the weight of it; that was great. It’s just great, great fun."

"I really like Fargo a lot. It has everything. I love the Coen brothers. I love Frances McDormand, I think she’s just an extraordinary actress. She’s so funny in that movie, as Marge. I’m from the Midwest, I’m from Iowa; so obviously that accent’s really heightened, but it’s something that I hear every time I go home. It’s something that feels like very much where I grew up; that backdrop is exactly where I grew up. It’s definitely exaggerated but yeah, there’s definitely that, “Oh, oh my gosh” where I come from. And when I go home and after I have a couple of beers you’d probably hear it come out: “You betcha!” [laughs]"