Europe is his playground

I was very lippy and very out there in the early days, but I’m not embarrassed about it; it’s very much part of me, and I quite respect it in a funny sort of way. I mean, I don’t want to act like that any more, because I have more confidence in myself, in the different sides of myself; but I still respect the fact that I had the guts to do something that stuck out.” He admits he finds the homogenisation of today’s alternative music trying, and blames what he calls “the shuffle culture, which has reduced tribalism”. “You can listen to a whole host of eclectic music, and that’s wonderful in a way, because it means that lots of new bands are boundless in the way they will pilfer from multiple genres. But there was something to be said for being at school and getting beaten up because you liked punk music. That sort of thing gave a real frisson to being a music fan, and gave you a personal badge of identity. (…) That, for me, is what great music is. It’s about personality rather than proficiency, that feeling that you’ve got something of the writer left behind when they’ve left the room.

Brett Anderson in Mr Poter Journal, October 18th, 2011