What are the five albums that have most influenced you?
Ramones - Ramones, London Calling - The Clash, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – Elton John, Rust Never Sleeps – Neil Young, Nebraska – Bruce Springsteen.

What’s the best concert you have ever been to?
That’s too hard. The Bad Brains at CBGBs in 1980. Super tight, the fastest music I ever heard. Zoot suits, back flips, anger, heart and soul, musicianship and PMA.

If you could have been a musician in any era when would it be?
The seventies because they were free, hedonistic and pre-Aids. Or right now because ‘wherever you go, there you are’.

What’s the best gig you have ever performed?
Busking in the subway when I was 16 because I didn’t expect to make anything, was doing it for a laugh and walked away with a lot - $100, and seeing the tired faces wake up on a Friday.

Is there any particular venue you would like to play?
I’d like to play the Royal Albert Hall so I would know how many holes to fill.

What books have you read and films have you seen recently?
I saw Juno and Diving Bell. Loved them. Currently reading Nine Stories by JD Salinger and the autobiography of Doc Pomus.

CD, vinyl or MP3?
I like vinyl, I don’t like MP3 - too squashed. At least CDs have artwork. I enjoy singing in the shower or somebody singing me to bed.

John or Paul?
John is the obvious but Paul is the balance. It can be surprising a la ‘Helter Skelter’, ‘Jet’, ‘Paperback Writer’…

East Coast or West Coast?
Have to say East.

Dylan or Elvis?
Chuck Berry.