"Let’s tall about Kurosawa‘s Dreams. When Bravo first came on television, they were figuring out who they were as a cable network and would just play random foreign films. This was before the travesty of reality television permeated their station. I was at home alone in high school, I think I was a junior in high school and Dreams comes on by Kurosawa. I could not separate myself from it. I didn’t know who Kurosawa was — I didn’t care. I was just a kid absorbing things that flashed on the screen in front of him. I was immediately captivated by this thing that was at once beautiful — obviously surreal — but at the same time palpable enough to actually hit home emotionally. I think not many people would probably describe scenes in my movies as surreal, but there are some. Kind of this magical realism that exists in that film. Also it feels ancient; it feels like when this boy comes home having witnessed the wedding of foxes and his mother’s there and says he can’t enter the home because he spied on the foxes and then presents a dagger to him and says, “They want you to kill yourself. Run. Run and ask for forgiveness.” It feels like an ancient story, it feels like something — I’m not sure what. It feels like something that kind of bubbled up from our beginning. I was fascinated by that. Just go watch it. It’s all skits, it’s basically short films strewn together. Get’s real weird by the end, but the first three are three of the greatest films I’ve ever seen."

"This came out when I was 14 and had just started learning how to play guitar, so that’s kind of the album that coincided with me wanting to go into music. No coincidence. The first album I ever bought was Run DMC’s Raising Hell and that had Aerosmith on it, so I was always interested in Aerosmith. I think Pump sounds really special, it’s my favourite Aerosmith album – and I like a lot of Aerosmith. There must be a technical thing about it, because it doesn’t sound like other rock albums. You know how a lot of metal albums have scoops of the lower-middle absent, but there’s a lot of bass and a lot of trebly stuff so it’s like an assault? Well, it seems like the Pump album has got some lower-mid presence, so it sounds like it contains a real drum kit – it sounds like you’re in the room with them. I love the ballad ‘What It Takes’ at the end. It’s just awesome. I loved the way Aerosmith would arrange their albums. You would have about 10 songs and it’s all innuendo and riffs and sex music, and then the last song is the cuddle. I think that’s brilliant. I thought it was timing at first. Kevin Shirley produced Nine Lives for them, and I thought that was a brilliant album too, and I love Permanent Vacation, but I was a bit young for that. I think it’s just a really concise record and even when it has the interval bits between certain songs… you just can’t listen to one track, you have to listen to the whole thing to get the vibe."

"This had a massive impact on the way my parents brought us up, especially my dad, who's a singer himself. Here were a family from the North digging into old songs and traditions, and it made Dad really interested in doing the same. He became a member of a longsword team – I know – and then he got into reviving Mummers' plays, including the only surviving Mummers' play including its own dance. Every Boxing Day, us kids would be dragged down to see it, Dad playing this character who would be killed and brought to life again [laughs]. So many of our rituals as a family were about similar things: carolling on the green, singing folk in the pub and having this real passion for the seasons. For me, revisiting tradition is very rooted in wanting to recognise social struggles, the situations of the working classes, and the pastoral. These songs aren't about looking backwards and inwards, but about learning about the realities of your culture and wanting to share it with others. I remembering going to a Swedish festival some time ago, being encouraged to share songs from where I was from, and realising then what a very powerful currency those songs were. They help you connect with other countries' forgotten stories and emotions – and actually, that's something that happened to me in Harare doing Africa Express as well. These Ethiopian women encouraging me to sing for them, and then watching their reactions… it's very moving seeing people respond to these songs from different parts of the world. It makes you realise there's so much that connects us."