YOUTH IS THE bassist in Killing Joke and a legendary music producer. He has worked with The Verve, Paul McCartney, U2, the Orb and many more. He is also a pioneer of the trance genre. His new collection of poetry, Middle Class Riot, is published in July 2015.

1. Are you happy?

I am very grateful … I am very lucky to be grateful… yes, I am happy. Yet to strive for happiness in itself is futile. To be useful and to be a loving person, this will lead to fulfilment and add meaning and purpose to your life, what you get from that: you could call this happiness. You don’t want to avoid the suffering either, that will be a deepening in your character … I love the Great British Mystic, Milton and his quote: “You can be in prison and be a king… and you can be a king and be in a prison.” It is all illusion really … Other mystical muses say “We are always in an enchanted realm, yet sometimes we are blind to it…” All this suggests we create our reality through our perception and awareness. Meditation can help raise awareness . Also Blake’s  “Some are born to endless light , Some are born to ceaseless night” suggests some things are fixed and we are bound by our consciousness’s karmic legacy, though I am drawn to the Tibetan Buddhist philosophy of transforming Karma,  as well as the very deep wisdom and interconnectedness of the wild Druid Pagan philosophies of these very Isles , follow your bliss… And as they say in Wales: “ You got to take the rough with the smooth.”

2. What are you reading at the moment?

I am an avid reader and always have a few books on the go… usually a balance between reference and fiction then music and  biography. I recently got immersed in Prof Ronald Hutton’s book, Pagan Britain. He is an eminent scholar at Bristol University and deals with the subject with an authentic and scientific mind but with an eye for the romantic and mystical… The book reveals more recent evidence furthering our understanding of just how sophisticated Palaeolithic/primitive man really was . This has been a sister companion book to Avebury’s Stones: Selected, Shaped, Carved by Di Pattison, whose extensive research has revealed the Avebury Stones and many others have been subtly shaped, sculpted and carved into previously thought to be naturally weathered shapes. Some have a sense of humour, there are many heads and faces, as well as anthropomorphic animals and birds… To me this suggests that our early Shamans, the artists who created these and who constructed these epic artworks, were actually very similar to contemporary artists from Tony Hancock’s “The Rebel” to the 90s YBAs,  all having a mischievous laugh, like the crop circle makers today  and yet what’s most fascinating to me is that their work became imbued with magical, shamanic energy, despite their authors’ different intentions anyway. I am half way through Peter Hook’s autobiography (which makes me want to give him a big hug… beautiful) which has followed on nicely from Tony Wilsons 24 Hour Party People (possibly the best rock n roll bio I’ve ever read, certainly next to Alan McGee’s “Creation Stories” …the funniest.) Kris Needs’ George Clinton epic bio coincided nicely with seeing Parliament and Funkadelic last weekend at Glastonbury Festival.  Fiction wise I’m reading Polly Sampson’s The Kindness, poetic and a razor sharp attention to detail, engaging flow and some surprising twists and turns.  Aldous Huxley’s Eyeless in Gaza: The theme is the development of the “Hero” and his eventual discovery that real freedom is found via a discipline into a wider conciseness. Always delving into poetry: Neruda, Bukowski, John Cooper Clarke still all astound me  and Lorca’s “ Blinded by his own brilliance, dashing his head on the rocks” is quite poignant in regard to some of the more self-destructive artists that I love working with at the moment.

3. What was your worst job?

I tell people I retired at 15, when i left school, which is true to a degree, however there were some lean years in my teens and twenties and I had to do casual work sometimes, to pay the debts. One of which was for this temp agency called “Rise” in Clapham Junction. One job (I was lucky; none were too bad) was working in the Chelsea Pensioners Hospital canteen, in Chelsea. A 4 am start to make these vast cauldrons of porridge for the old heroes’ breakfast at 6am. The old chaps were lovely and had great stories when we were serving it up. The conditions in the kitchens were terrible though: filthy floors and surfaces, no windows in a dark and damp basement, staff would slop spillage back in to the pot with a dustpan … I wouldn’t eat the food and I was far from fussy… still that’s not too bad and old chaps were great … it only lasted a few days…. not like picking lobsters out of of Jayne Mansfield’s arse is it?

4. How many hours do you work each day?

All creative work is play really and in that respect I’m working 24/7,  whether reading or listening to music, painting, drawing, making music… it all feeds and bleeds into each other … my only job really, is to be inspired and as great as that sounds (best job in the world)  … that can also be hard and challenging. I like to get into a flow with the practice … we can work long hours up to 12 and beyond some days  (in my 20s I regularly worked till 4am and started again next day at 11am, that doesn’t happen so often now). When we are in the flow its like a meditation and you come out feeling rejuvenated and refreshed.  I have a battle hard team of assistants that we train up to help facilitate the creative and technical requirements of all the experiments we do. This helps us realise and unleash the artists and my own creative visions. It’s all about emotional expression. “How can we soar like eagles if we are surrounded by Turkeys?  “as Geordie likes to say… The professional criteria are the highest, yet we work in a very relaxed laid-back manner. Nevertheless a lot of serious work gets done.

5.  Town mouse or country mouse?

Both: I need the buzz and possibility of large city like London, the geography of my favourite cities like London, LA, Paris, Dhaka, Cairo is always the people and that’s why I love them. Yet I also need some sublime natural environments to get that deep reconnection and the shock and awe inspiration that comes with Vast Nature. I’m a dynamic person and that is reflected in my lifestyle …  in the 90s I had a great flow going, six months in Goa and travelling the Indian sub continent,  doing very little, except chill, dance all night,  swim, connect with inspiring people, read,  a little writing… then six months, ten hours a day, locked solid inside Olympic studios in Barnes making some great records with the odd album and DJ’ing abroad (I had a once a month residency at the legendary Twilo and at the Tunnel for a few years) and I travelled and toured  abroad with Killing Joke…. Always go for a lifestyle over a career  …  Then I had kids and a family and everything had to change. Of course for the better. Yes … your creativity is directly affected by environment but it doesn’t always matter where you are: a positive perspective and a dry sense of humour will create a great vibe wherever you are.

6. Does love bring happiness or misery?

Love is the instrument of karma and her chariot is sex. Therefore she brings life and death, as well as joy and suffering. Love fearlessly, despite the hurt and pain. She is a mysterious, beautiful dance… “Nature never did betray the heart that loved her” is an album title of mine that sums the philosophy up… Love is without condition or complaint and yet requires devotional attention. Love has her own reward. Love yourself, love your life, love the world and maybe the world will love you… love is not a position or a possession. She is not a thing and has no ownership. Love is a verb… Love and Pain unfortunately do go together in the classics, it’s archetypal, look at the relationship between Eros and Psyche… Psyche’s initiation is always a wounding… I am currently in the process of writing about my own wounding, called “The Lick”. The lick of the mothers tongue, about my acid meltdown on the Kings Road, where I was burning money in a kimono and swimming trunks in Jan ’82… and my DMT initiation… my MCR book of poetry and illustration is also directly inspired from the same experience  and has informed my work and life since.

7. Mp3 or vinyl, real or e book?

Vinyl best, CD good too… MP3 very useful too in certain circumstances. Real book over ebook anytime ….cannot enjoy a book on a digital screen; I like the touch and feel of a real book,  its colours, the feel, the weight of it and of course – the smell.

8. What are your three greatest pleasures?

Used to be Bath, Bong and Bed, although a backscratch did go a long way. I am a man of simple pleasures, a modern primitive. These days it’s: good company with great friends old and new, delicious food and wine with mind-blowing music, and doing any kind of creative activity, writing, drawing, painting, reading, music and a meaningful connection with the world, the seasons and people… meditation.

9. Do you believe in the nap?

My father had girlfriend once, Mandy  who was an air stewardess… she always taught me to sleep when you’re tired… growing up in the back of Transit doing gigs and endless traveling taught me the ability to sleep anywhere anytime… even on an Easyjet flight.

10. What advice do you have for young people?

Well with my own kids, who are now teenagers, they reassuringly, ignore any advice I give them… Which is as it should be and sign of good parenting. I believe in personal sovereignty, liberty, very passionately…The kids are all right… They will find their own way. Always help if you can… Life is all about finding out who you are, finding the confidence to become who you choose to be… annihilating the false ego… often though taking risks and pushing boundaries… sometimes doing nothing, more often though through tough discipline, discipline unlocks creativity… Finding the equilibrium and the balance is a tough lesson to learn… Still,  if you can’t be self centred, arrogant and demanding when you’re a teenager ….and get away with it …when can you?  It’s your city, it’s your world… own it… have it and as John Walters says: “Go and fuck it all up” and in my humble experience, and remember I really did have a good time when i was a kid in my twenties… it really does get better and better, as you get older…

ENDS