NME 'On the Couch' interview
with Jason Reece [January 2001]

Which song describes you best?
Destiny's Child's 'Say My Name', 'cos I've been through that experience myself. I've suffered that pain. I'm a sucker for love.

What is heaven?
'Heaven' is a Cure song ('Just Like Heaven') that I am hearing while I am on a boat on the ocean heading towards my dream home on a desert island with tons of trees and animals that are my friends."

What is hell?
When you find your best friend with your woman. You have to give them a couple whacks in the head with your pistol, like Eminem would.

What's your earliest memory?
Going to Disneyland, and having to go on Space Mountain, and being so scared I actually shit my pants. I must've been about six.

What's your greatest fear?
NME ripping my band apart and calling us a plastic, trivial waste of time. Oh, and death.

Who's your all-time hero?
Henry Miller. When he wrote, he wrote from the gut, he was very visceral. He acted on impulse, but also analysed things, delved in to the truth of the matter. He wanted to feel life.

What's the worst trouble you've ever been in?
I've been arrested a few times. When I was 15 or 16, I was kind of a petty thief. I wouldn't steal from friends, but I'd go to rich neighbourhoods and joyride their cars, steal their car stereos. I got caught, and the cops beat my ass, and that pretty much set me on the straight and narrow.

Who was the first love of your life?
I guess the first love of my life was music. It saved me from my adolescence.

What's your greatest talent?
I know how to do some things alright, so I get by in society. Otherwise, I'd just be a talentless fool, and you guys would put me in jail.

Upon whom would you most like to exact revenge? Why? How?
I would like to fuck up some policemen in some parts of Texas who I've dealt with, because those people acted, I feel, unjustly. I'd like to slice their throats. But since I'm in a band I can't do that.

What's your most treasured possession?
I don't have any.

What have you most regretted doing while drunk?
I regret throwing a big rock through some guy's windshield who was driving on an interstate once. He crashed. He was alright, but I still regret it. I also took a BB gun, when I was 16 or 17, and shattered about 100 car windows. I kinda regret that too.

What can you cook?
A decent stir fry, with tofu or chicken. Asian food is superior to most other foods, especially Korean. I also like cooking vegetarian foods. When I try and cook meat, I always fuck it up.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
'Don't give people what they want, give 'em what you want'. Bono told me that. And Dr Dre told me, 'Get paid, don't get played'. 'Drink cold, piss warm', is another good one. I got that from Henry Miller.

Can you read music?
I can read bits and pieces.

If you were invisible for a day, what would you do?
I'd probably go to the nearest bank and acquire as much money as possible, 'cos I'm a poor motherfucker. And then I'd cause havoc. Fucking fuck shit up.

What are your final three wishes?
To live forever, to live passionately and to have love in my life, and to be the richest motherfucker on the planet. I also wanna be the vampire of the sky.