SCHIZOPHRENIA

"I am really interested in classic cases of real important thinkers, people like Philip K Dick, or Elvis Presley. These are real twisted genius people. They all had this same thing, where they had a twin who died at birth. When they all grew up their intellect was very disturbed but at the same time it was extremely sharp. Artistic people such as musicians are always claiming the same thing. Nick Cave always claims he had a twin who died at birth. I know Lydia Lunch had a twin sister who died at birth. They always have trouble relating to other people because they always feel they can't get close because they are afraid of the rejection when someone leaves them, because having a twin who dies at birth is such a painful thing. It leaves you with a lot of problems, but creatively these people are incredible and there is a lot to learn from them."

THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN

"I remember hearing them on Rodney Bingenheimer's radio show in Hollywood. Some Hollywood space chick called up and said, 'd'you guys think you're better than the Sex Pistols? I do' and they all got round the radio and started saying 'you must be a very stupid girl, please don't come and see us at the show tonight'. It was just hilarious. I love the Mary Chain. All my friends hate 'em 'cos they're brats. They buy these expensive leather pants and then they rip 'em up. It's groovy. Talking to them you soon find out that they're really into rock'n'roll."

SCI PUNKS

"There should be a meeting place somewhere between technology and punk rock. We're interested in the punk sci-fi thing. A lot of these science fiction writers now are talking about young people, people our age, who are very street people and yet they know how to deal with certain technology. You have people here in New York city who live in really cheap run-down dreadful apartments that are rally horrible with 'roaches and rats crawling around and yet they've got the most incredible stereo and audio video systems. It's very interesting to have this trash level technology control and it is certainly what was predicted in the late Sixties and early Seventies by writers such as Philip K Dick and Tim Powers."

PUNK ROCK

"When punk rock first happened you just threw all your records out of the window. I remember I was back at my mom's house in 1978. I was looking through my old records and I saw my Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd albums, which I had totally forgotten about. I didn't realise I still owned them. I remember feeling very shocked. It was a very weird feeling and it all felt so far away, so distant. I think it's important that people rediscover elements of early Seventies rock. It was such an amazing period."

RAP

"There's so much shitty rap in New York it's unbelievable. There's rappers on every street corner 'round where I live. It's such indigenous music and it's one of the few things that was actually born in New York City, albeit indirectly, out of the prisons. It's interesting, I can relate to it on the level of walking around living here and dealing with people on the streets. But it's really an in-crowd thing. Either you're a B-boy or you're not. I'm a six foot white kid with red hair and freckles. I'm not a B-boy. I wear converse sneekers. I can't afford to wear Addidas and Filas. Just the same I've got a whole load of John Coltrane records but I don't look like him. I don't look like a punk rocker either, yet I think a lot of punk rock. In fact I don't look like anything. I keep trying to cultivate this image of what we call flannel punk, where you wear sneakers and flannel shirts. Steve Albini (of Rapeman) tried to cultivate it but I don't think anybody noticed, 'cos he's got such a funny looking hat. He's way too weird and he's gonna get his ass kicked some day."

STEVE ALBINI OF RAPEMAN

"I think Albini's aesthetics are totally bogus and distorted. The first album he ever bought was the first Dead Kennedys album. He hates everything before The Ramones, because he's never heard it. He's real snobby. Extreme tunnel vision. I love the guy. He's really funny. He's amazing and he makes fun of the way I dress. Aw man, I mean those hats. He's really on top of the world. What's his problem? He comes up to Kim and says 'you're a cool rock chick' but she just spits co0ke in his face. He's a good guy, but he's real screwed up."

NEW YORK SCUZZ ROCK

"There's always been these horrible hideous dirty-arsed fuzz rock bands here. First off it was The Ramones and The Heartbreakers, then it turned into Teenage Jesus, then people started calling Swans and Sonic Youth this 'New York street rock' thing. And then we got too big for our britches. Now all these bands - Pussy Galore, White Zombies and Crawling Black Snakes - are all appearing. They're popping up all over the city. They're just these snotty kids who are singing 'I'm gonna shoot you in the head if you f*** me up' songs. They're really loud, repetitive and gnarly. It's pretty amazing. I can't get enough of it. I wanna see a thousand of these kinds of bands."

AUDIENCES

Most people that are into us are actually very good people. So that's real reassuring. Once in a while, though, we get a letter from generic death rockers and they say things like 'Hey, dude, I put on my black underwear when I listen to you then jerk off.' It's just like - big deal! I just throw these letters out - it's just real boring. Come to think of it we don't really get much mail. A lot of musicians seem to like us which is very god. I like that, but a lot of musicians, I'm sure, think we're total wanks, like Mark E Smith, for example."

CICCONE YOUTH