"I got into him a long time ago; again, around the time I was going to university. I think I had a collection that came out around then called Way To Blue. I remember really liking it but perhaps I was too young for it at the time. It wasn’t until a few years later that I went back to it and they’re all just genius. There’s not a bad song on any of those records but I particularly got into the story of him. It’s so sad, you just want to go back in time and try and change it. It must have been so frustrating for him to craft these... I don’t think anyone sounds like Nick Drake and I get furious when people say he’s a kind of folk musician because I just think that’s bullshit. [laughs] Well, maybe it’s not bullshit because he comes from a tradition of songs that have a kind of folk influence in the way that they’re played, and the use of the natural world with stories removed from modern society, I suppose that’s kind of folksy, but for me it’s a bit more, dare I say, a bit more special than that."

"You know what, I think I’m going to swerve The Godfather and go for The King of Comedy. I love Scorsese – I loved Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Mean Streets — they were all really seminal, but I always like a film which is, if not leftfield it’s not obvious Scorsese. He has made less obvious films, like New York, New York or The Last Waltz, which don’t hit the mark for me, but King of Comedy is a gem I think. Curiously enough I was talking about it to my fiancé at the weekend, saying, ‘You’ve got to see it,’ because I think it’s where we are now as a contemporary celebrity-seeking society. There are Rupert Pupkins everywhere now. What they don’t have, that Rupert Pupkin had, is innocence and naivety. When you see the whole Big Brother world, the way that people are cloying to get famous now, that’s Rupert Pupkin. I remember when I first watched The Office I saw a lot of Rupert Pupkin in David Brent. Rupert Pupkin had such likeability whereas Brent is a toad – you want to watch him fail. With Pupkin you want to say, ‘Don’t do it. Don’t go to Jerry Lewis‘ house. Don’t tell Diahnne Abbott you know him — you don’t!'"

"Another of my favourite bands, and they also went through a key singer change [Bruce Dickinson replaced Paul Di'Anno from this album onwards]. It also features two personal heroes of mine, [guitarists] Dave Murray and Adrian Smith, who go through a change and continue to make great music. I was a fan of Paul Di'Anno too, but that particular record where Bruce comes in, that's another one I'd say is perfect, from top to bottom. There's always that myth... that darker element, I guess, to rock & roll. I don't necessarily see it as dark. I'd say it's more human. In context of a more rigid, uptight society, rock n' roll has always been about pushing the boundaries of ...maybe what's just a little bit more natural to human beings...[laughs] A band I really fucking dug, and emulated quite a bit for a good chunk of time when I was learning how to play guitar. Like I said I was always into dual guitar bands and Maiden were great for that. Bruce actually interviewed us when Black Gives Way To Blue came out. He said one of the greatest things about it, he said: ""Black Gives Way To Blue: Have a listen! If you haven't, you're just stupid!"" [laughs]"