Musician

Being skint, drunk, paranoid - no, I don't wish that for myself.

I made the fatal mistake of trying to cut my own hair. It makes me look like I have a good face for radio.

Maybe I'm actually an optimist.

I think Julian Casablancas and Amy Winehouse are two contemporaries I envy.

I'm blindingly optimistic. Ravingly optimistic.

Drugs are a very selfish thing.

Me and my dad, we're both quite nostalgic people.

I could be anywhere. I just need my space to work.

I'd never say I wouldn't fight a war. In different ages, I would have done. I'd have fought the Vikings.

At school, I was always the new boy, so I always went in for the school play. It was a way of breaking the ice and making friends with pupils and teachers for however long I had before moving on.

Liverpool and London are two places I looked upon as home.

The only thing that makes sense to me that I've learnt over the years is knocking tunes together.

I'm always nervous before playing a gig, to tell you the truth. It's what nearly did me in when I was with the Libertines. I just couldn't handle it.

I hate to say it - it breaks my heart - but we're a tacky, money-obsessed culture.

I knew I had I a better album than 'Up the Bracket' in me, and I wanted to record it. But I was told we've got to keep touring, keep promoting. That was the first time I realised we were on a conveyor belt.

Music and fashion and art - they were the things we were willing to die for. 'Is my hair all right? Have you heard this tune?' They're the things that saved us. They're the things that are saving kids on Nuneaton council estates. There's no other way out.