"I became an instant fan of Lene's after the quirky chart hits 'Lucky Number' and 'Say When', I quickly became a fan of the Stiff Label's Roster through Lene and Madness and Kirsty MacColl. This was her second studio album, completely bonkers but as soon as I heard ‘Bird Song’ on the radio I rushed out to buy the 12 inch and subsequently the EP 'You Can't Kill Me' and the album flex. 'Angels', the second single, reminds me of Del Shannon's 'Run Away' and I remember reading that the weird album cover was shot inside a vat at the Guinness factory; I suppose it could be described as a Buddhist album. We were later on to meet and collaborate with Lene on don't 'Kill The Animal's', a song for PETA."

"I just love this album and I love the history behind it. I don’t think it’s cheesy, I think it’s muso and I really like muso music. The origins of it, the way they found Roberta when she was young and naïve, and they realised that the only way to really capture her was to create an environment that she was used to, so they recorded it all in a church, to give her a sense of the places that she sang in when she was young. And you get that on this album, it’s fucking amazing. There’s some unbelievable songwriting. I might have first heard it when I was really young, there was always this estuary of weird and exciting people coming through this house, playing different music."

"I get all the Queen records mixed up because there are so many neat songs but there never was, in my opinion, a consistent groove to one of the records where you could clearly identify a distinct period during those first few. But the operatic approach to Queen totally changed how I viewed heavy rock and I still think that Brian May was ahead of his time with his weird picking, guitar tones and harmonies. Of the later Queen material, I was listening to 'Who Wants To Live Forever' the other day and Freddie's voice – every time I hear it, my eyes fill up. It's so incredibly emotional and that's what we, as musicians, want to elicit from the listener. Freddie and Queen were such a huge part of my life."

"Magic. Weird, wilful. They obviously didn't know quite what they were doing. It's splendid. I saw them twice in '72, once when they first came on tour and it was dark, the audience didn't even applaud until the DJ put 'Virginia Plain' on at the end, it was astonishing. The second time with the whole outfits, the choreography and a celebration of success. Fantastic record, great lyrics. All of these things have great lyrics, of course... apart from 'Hallogallo'. When Wire supported Roxy Music later it wasn't quite what we thought we'd signed up to. I loved what they did with Eno, it was the combination, the clash... the power of Paul Thompson, all of it, the imagination. It's understanding, and putting it into practice. It's so wilful, it's quite sexy really."

"Female Trouble, 1974. John Waters. And this may be my very favorite John Waters film. Divine is hilariously divine, and the other actors include fabulous Waters favorite, Mink Stole, Edith Massey, and an old friend of mine, the always iconic, Cookie Mueller, who we lost quite a while ago. But as time goes by, for me, John Waters becomes more and more important as his work echoes through our culture. What is so particular and striking for me about John Waters is that no matter how perverse and weird his themes and characters may be, his films are never ever mean spirited. There’s some kind of naked celebration of human nature and its ridiculousness. And John Waters is such an uplifting and remarkable person. I mean where would we be without him?"

"What touched me about that was the friendship. In a very weird sort of way there are some similarities between my films — probably pretty-much The Firm — and Midnight Cowboy, only inasmuch as it’s a hard world but soft characters. There’s something about that friendship with two people that transcends where the film’s set. I have friendships where you’re like two old women, nagging away at each other, and you kind of hate each other in a lot of ways but you’re inextricably embroiled with one another. That’s what true friendship is, you know. There’s such a tragedy about Midnight Cowboy as well and there’s such an amazing smell of New York in the 70s. It’s one of the few films where it transports you there and you can feel the environment."