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"All artists - of every kind - need a proper story to set theirwork in context and connect it to the rest of the world. That'sthe audience gateway. The story needs to be as true aspossible to really connect. Imagine Van Gough without theear being cut off and no Starry Night - he wouldn't be any-where near as popular."

Where does that desire to create an image derive from?

"Artists invent stories according to what media is available tothem. It's their job. Modern music characters are actuallyevolved versions of Music Hall characters. You wear interest-ing clothes and do something odd to attract attention; thenyou sing a song to illustrate the world of the character youinvented.

"Everyone from Ziggy to Johnny Rotten to Burial does this -

consciously or not. Usually, it's gloriously and laughablyinstinctive - at first. Then, if you survive the first few years,you might begin to glimpse a little of what you're actuallydoing to yourself and everyone else."

Has that aspect evolved at all? How do you see it operatingin modern music?

"The most recent strategy seems to be 'Anonymous Man ofMystery' - Banksy, Aphex Twin, Burial, The Knife etc. It's a

good one - mainly propagated by Banksy, who certainlywouldn't have achieved what he has without the invisibilitycloak. It's a great inverse use of ubiquitous media; the oppo-site of the weary celeb 'expose everything' riff, but usingidentical means."

How has the affordability of gear altered how you operateover the years?

"I always hold to the principle that cheap gear is what altersthings. High-end, expensive gear is impotent until it gets

cheap enough to fall into the hands of the instinctive,untrained, feral bandit. Cheap guitars made the sixties possi-ble. Cheap synths made Detroit Techno and Acid Housepossible.

"Now you've got cheap digital and cheap retro analogue,plus video, app writing, instantaneous worldwide networksand territory, and income-grabbing opportunists like Appleand various Cloud formations etc. interposing themselves.Things are sure changing form."

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How has the writing process change for you?

"It hasn't changed one jot. All I ever need is a strange soundthat makes some emotional connection and I'm away. A songwill occur."

Has sequencing/sampling changed much since its mid-eighties conception?

"I've never done much sampling; it always felt like a wrongturn to me. Sequencing can be a good start, but I always likesomeone else to set it up, or I lose the song to mathematicsand connectors. The song is the thing."

The hardware vs. software/analogue vs. digital debate rageson. Where do you stand?

"They all have their own inherent qualities. Limiting yourpalette is an essential discipline, no matter what road youchoose. Analogue vs digital is all fashion, I'm afraid. It wasdeeply satisfying to discover Benge's generation - whorealised that analogue had been discarded too early fordigital, and there was still a massive amount to explore there.Out of the skip and into the studio was Benge's motto. Herescued an entire sonic universe. Truth is you need both -digital to stabilise content and analogue to provide it."

Outboard vs. mixing in the box?

"Depends what sort of sound/song you want. I don't have apreference for either, they both have their own advantagesand disadvantages and inherent qualities. My advice is, usewhere appropriate."

How has the industry changed? Do you feel it's for the betteror worse?

"It has totally changed. Apple has made a vast land-grabwithout so much as a whimper from the electorate - so that'sit for this generation. Before you were dealing with the whimsof record companies, but there was enough money in thesystem to support the marginal - who were always the mostpromising.

"There was a massive infrastructure, all geared towardsmaking this wild stuff financially viable - even wildly lucrative.That's all gone. Then Simon Cowell slipped into the pilot's

seat like a rat up a drainpipe."

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