I'm not an artist that vents through my music. I don't do it to relieve stress. I do it for the purpose of entertaining.
When I do music, I do it for me and my fans.
I don't care who I play to, as long as they enjoy listening to what I play.
I do not play to musicians. I play to the people.
Ultimately, if someone's paying hard-earned money to see me play live, they don't want a rant about what's happening on the other side of the world. They don't want to know which way they should vote.
In performance, we have a greater purpose. The greater purpose is that we're communing together, and we want this moment to be really special for all of us. Because otherwise, why bother to have come at all? It's not about proving anything. It's about sharing something.
If you do performance and music, it's not performance as music.
People like to be moved, that's why they're here listening to you instead of sitting at home with the Shipping Forecast.
As a performer you are being used to keep people watching so the commercial endorsements that support the network can be seen by as many people as possible.
I'm really not one of those deejays who go, 'I play music that I like.' I play it for the crowd. I believe that's what a deejay should do.
If it's not going to sound like Terrapin Station, what's the point of playing Terrapin Station?
I'm not a poet. I'm not up onstage to get something off my chest. I'm making musical statements, or, most of the time, musical questions for people to figure out, and I'm not going to get in the way of that.
