Lou Reed – The Bells

The guy that showed me Rock Bottom also played me The Bells. I was a big fan of Transformer and I loved Coney Island Baby, but I had never listened to The Bells. It's such a bizarre record; it’s all over the place and really funny, but also serious and dramatic. It feels like a weird masterpiece that most people probably won't get into. But I loved it, and I love ‘City Lights’, that’s my favourite one. It’s really beautiful, really great arrangement.

You’ve also met Lou Reed, haven't you?

That was so crazy. There was this protest near Wall Street, New York City many years ago, Occupy Wall Street. I was up there protesting, I had a poster, I was dressed kind of funny. I was walking away from the protest – Lou Reed just looked at me and said: “How's the protest?” I was like, ‘Oh my God!’ I ran up to him, it was cold outside. He immediately started warming my hands. And I was so happy that we were talking. He was looking into my eyes and smiling. I ran to my car and I gave him my first record [The Outside Room]. I was like, ‘I'm such a big fan of you, and I make music.’ It was unheard of because most people that have experiences with Lou Reed are like, ‘He was a huge asshole.’ The fact that he was nice to me was pretty mind-blowing. I don't know [if he listened to the record]. Then he died, so I have no idea. I would assume there's a huge chance he listened to it, but I don't really know.