“When I was about 16, I spent a couple of months playing at clubs in It...” — David Essex Quote

When I was about 16, I spent a couple of months playing at clubs in Italy with a blues band. I'll never forget stepping off the plane because Italy just smelt so different - a combination of warmth and coffee.

The fans are very loyal. I look into the audience and you can see what is obviously three generations of the same family.

As an ardent follower of the Blues it wasn't the done thing to own up to liking The Beatles but secretly I thought their singing and writing were special. After the 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' album it was cool to say they were cool.

I think I'm a good person.

I don't need the credits for playing the blues and paying the dues. I've already done it. There are some other things to do here - movies and scores and voice-overs.

What did we play in the Harry Dean Stanton Band? It was old blues and country - all covers. I never wrote anything.

We were very deliberately not playing 12-bar structures, blues structures, which rock musicians turned into such a cliche. We tried to... listen to the rhythms within ourselves and take the normal words we used every day in our normal thoughts, which girls hadn't written about before.

I did a lot of 'NYPD Blues' and 'Law & Orders' and a couple of other ones that were shot in New York earlier in my career.