Ian Astbury quotes:

Kanye West talks about being Axl Rose, being Kurt Cobain, being Jim Morrison. Adam Levine is selling acne ointment to teenagers.

I grew up on North American sports teams as well as English soccer clubs.

I used to make all my clothes when I was in Southern Death Cult [the first incarnation of The Cult]. I still make things to wear on stage and I am involved with sketching, choosing fabric, cutting.

I admire Chris Martin. Coldplay have made some wonderful records for the genre they're involved in, but I would consider them to be more of a pop act. The music is much more cerebral than it is animalistic.

I've liked the Yankees since I was a kid. I grew up in Canada so I kind of identified with New York sports teams.

Peace on earth and good will toward men - that is something we need to work on. Like Nelson Mandela, we should learn from him.

I celebrate the spirit of Christmas. It's the winter solstice celebration, rebirth and new possibilities.

Chris Martin is more of a musician and hasn't really put himself out there as a television host or anything like that.

I write all the time. The wonderful thing about having a cell phone is that if I get an idea, I knock it out and it's in my phone and I can transfer it to my computer and go into the studio and bring it up.

That's a real sign of the times - can you imagine Nick Cave wearing a hoodie? He may not wear one, but he definitely sells them.

What is the popular image of rock star? A rail-thin, overly-paid, narcissistic, average-talented individual who self-implodes in front of everybody, eternally having a party and who looks eternally youthful?

The term "rock" has, unfortunately, become appropriated by four-year-old girls and accountants. An accountant does something amazingly well on the stock exchange and his buddies high-five him: He's a rock star! A four-year-old girl learned to ride a bicycle: She's a rock star!

Jay Z in many ways is a rock artist. In the sense that they've used hard rock, punk rock, psychedelic rock aesthetics and influences in their music. When you see Kanye West, he has a full band playing. Jay Z has a full band playing with Marshalls.

I think hip-hop has more to do with rock and roll. Kanye West is, in many ways, a rock artist.

I always played soccer in Adidas, but I always wore Nikes. I love street sportswear.

Hoodies are definitely street wear, no doubt. It's amazing how hoodies have become such an important staple in people's wardrobes.

Occasionally I like a really good pair of shoes. A pair of leather shoes from Gieves & Hawkes in England, Buckshot Brogue, they look really sick.

Christmas to me is very much about family and the depths of winter.

I've seen people wearing clothes that don't look good on them, but they're really loving those clothes and the experience of wearing those clothes. Fine. At the end of the day, it's fashion.

We never considered ourselves part of the goth thing.

I do know that there is a difference between artists who are career-driven and artists who have a calling and are just compelled to make music, compelled to perform live, and the business isn't the reason they're doing it. In fact, there isn't really a reason. You just do it.

I didn't join a band. I didn't start a band. I got asked to do it. It kinda happened by accident.

When you look at men's fashion magazines, you see a lot of well-groomed guys in suits, but very rarely do you see a lot of guys in drop-crotch and hoods with high-tops. It's coming, though, because guys in suits and short hair are beginning to look like they're from another time.

Don't let anyone dictate what you should and shouldn't wear. Do what you want. Who cares?

If you want to go put on a bathrobe and go walk down the street, excellent. I think it's more about trying to get an individual style than trying to get a uniform look.

I think there's a lot of people who are afraid to experiment with clothing because they're afraid to get judged or ridiculed.

There's always music sitting around, but when you're cultivating music, the idea of getting into a studio and compressing it to get something out on time can be really good.

I'm much more for style and not trend-driven.

I'm not really caught up in the whole commercial thing of Christmas. I'm probably more of a pagan than a Christian, but it's hard not to get caught up in it.

You come out of a working-class environment, you know, working-class kids always put them themselves together because it's one of the only things they had. You had control of your image.

It's not about mainstream global domination. I make clothes that I can't find. I made a few pieces and Lupe Fiasco bought a pair of trousers I'd made, and a few other artists picked some up.

I don't objectify myself. I hate looking at pictures of myself, they're usually awful.

The idea of being icons, I think it's great when you're 24. It's fantastic.

I much prefer being in the studio or on stage and staying out of the mainstream really.

What I consider to be the barometer for what is a rock artist and what is not, is somebody who has a certain element of blues, even a hint of soul or blues music, derivative of African-American blues, folk, spiritual, or gospel.

I've tended to lean more toward the Dalai Lama and people like Russell Means who have been my political and spiritual North Stars, but I certainly regard Nelson Mandela with great respect and humility.

I wasn't pursuing a musical career or anything. It just happened and then it was there.

There have been times in my life where I was asked to do things and I didn't feel comfortable with it.

Hollywood has this incredible ability to make a lot of noise.

The days are usually filled with nonsense and every now and again somebody flies by the circus to party on your dime.

Usually when I see Matthew [McConaughey] at a show, he'll be down in front with his shirt off with two beers just going mental, lit up and having an amazing time.

You get paid and you get venerated and worshipped for pretending to be somebody else.

I had a great conversation with Trent Reznor. Trent said, "I'd have a sixpack, too, if I didn't write my own music!"

I work at my life and I cultivate myself and don't spend six hours in a gym. Some people would say I should but why?

I think the thing that would interest me would be to appear in a period piece where you'd get to dress in an elaborate costume and say nothing but just look fabulous and have a fancy role.

I have no desire to be a lead actor or anything. I was offered things and occasionally something comes along, but for the most part I'm pretty much, "You've got to be joking, right?"

I like the idea of getting to dress up, like to do a Barry Lyndon or something about the Napoleonic period, the grand army retreating from Moscow. I understand that there's a craft to acting and a lot of people work hard at it. I just know that music is my first love. I love music, I love film, and I love clothes.

I'm much more interested in Mike Tyson than I am in Morrissey.