John Mayall

I also went to art school and learned to play a piano there, but I play by ear.

If you have something in your life worth celebrating, you can put it in a blues song.

You have to pack as much as you can in an hour or 70 minutes. This time around it was 15 songs, so it was a challenge to get them all the right length so you could get them all on.

I have good health and I am happy to be on the road all the time.

I write songs about real things… The subject dictates the mood and it goes from there, really.

When I write songs that touch on social relevance, all you have to do is pick up a newspaper.

A lot of kids join the army to get a college education. That’s why they do it, and they get sent into these horrible situations.

Then I got a call the next day from the assistant director saying that they were putting me on a personal training programme. I thought that would be pretty cool, because it would make me take it seriously. It was run by one of the stunt team, who are the most absurdly fit guys inthe world. I can’t even do 10 press ups. I did about three weeks of that, and in the end I think he got so bored of trying to force me to do it that he wrote it all down so that I could do it at home.

I can’t moan about any of it. I had a great time in the goldfish bowl.

You can’t even imagine how it felt to have a cassette that you could take with you with a microphone so you could put down an idea and not have to hum it a million times to remember what it was.

I’m pleased with how ridiculous I am. I like me. Though I’m not a huge fan. I know when to switch me off.

Gay people don’t actually try to convert people. That’s Jehovah’s Witnesses you’re thinking of.

I love being sexy; I’m never gonna stop being an exhibitionist

I like someone who’s not afraid to be a kid!

I don’t drink, I don’t take drugs, I don’t smoke.

It’s strange, somebody asked for my autograph the other day. Because I finished school and I’m not really doing anything at the moment, I was just kind of aimlessly wandering around London and these two guys who were about 30 came up and asked for my autograph. I was really quite proud at the time, and they wanted to take photos and stuff. And then they were sort of wandering around and I was kind of wandering around and I bumped into them about three times, and every single time their respect for me kept growing and growing and growing.

[On his belief in soul mates] I hope there is such a thing. I guess it would be quite scary to find a soul mate when you’re young because you’re probably going to mess it up.

Some may call it attitude, some might call it genius

If you really love someone, you shouldn’t have to work at it. You finish each others’ sentences and have the same sense of humor.

Of course, chicks keep popping up. When you’re in a hotel, a pretty young lady makes life bearable.

Choosing people to be on your ‘Sammy Hagar and Friends’ record, you’re going, ‘I’ve got so many friends.’ And so many friends have called me up and said, ‘Come on dude, why didn’t you ask me to be on the record?’ I’m going, ‘Damn, I forgot.’ I really did.