“When I looked in the mirror I saw a legend. When the mirror looked at me it saw the missing fourth brother from Hanson … a comparison that didn’t sit too well with my early rebellious streak.”

“When I was a small child I had short, soft hair that stood up dead straight in the air, white. My mother often recounts the times when strangers would stop us in the street and rub their hand across my head with a degree of pleasure. Which was fine because it was the 80s. I’ve never been cooler since, though not from lack of trying.”

“In the 90s there were pictures of Kurt Cobain with long blond hair in magazines, so my older brother grew his blond hair to the same length ... So then I grew my blond hair to the same length. I was still hooked on the more euphoric sounds of Ultra-Sonic, but I felt compelled to take the grunge thing beyond the locks by teaching myself guitar and distortion and imagining a band life.”

“I’ve never been a particularly ambitious person, nor overly competitive, but always optimistic and agreeable, and quite discerning though happy to be misdirected or otherwise.”

Leather bags and jackets. Tick. Tie dyes and black ties. Sure. I’ve had girlfriends demanding I throw away unmanly belongings, to be replaced with pleats and side-parts and other totems of security, which is interesting.

“Being a musician is complex – once you’ve digested the glamour (with the odd trip to spewtown) you’ve got little choice but to grow the hell up. I’ve lived in New York City on US$8 a day. I’ve lived in London in a one bedroom flat with four other grown men and a carpeted bathroom. I lived in Paris and learnt to speak three words: Je suis fatigu.”