Stevie Jackson quotes:

The basic rules of life would indicate that it can't last forever, and we'll fall off of the wave and have to climb onto another, but I don't think about it too much. We just keep moving.

When you're 14, 15, and you get together and start making a noise, it is the world opening up. You have that indestructible feeling when you're young. But your ambitions when you are 13 are different when you're 25. By that time, your ambition isn't to be a star anymore; it's to make a living doing music.

I wear glasses and suits, so I guess I am an indie artist.

I think for a group that has a reputation for being shy and elusive, we're actually outspoken.

I'm the guitar player in Belle & Sebastian.

I think every record, good or bad, is a representation of us.

I like the spontaneity; I like to just get people together and hit 'record' so hopefully it has got a liveliness about it.

There's a big difference between doing the odd gig and actually having a record out and your name being on the ticket.

Basically, we've learned to delegate. We just grew tired of becoming too psychotic and straining to make the records ourselves.

I grew up reading biographies on groups, and I love all that. The thing about biographies, it's the old cliché but it's true - a lot of the time these things are more about the author than they are about the group.

I'm learning about filming, and just conceptualizing as well. I think it's a good artistic inroad, even to music as well.

In the early days I'd be slaving over a mixing desk. I'm not a recording engineer but I used to mix the record. We used to do it all by ourselves. I just don't really want to do it anymore. I want somebody to do it for me. I want to concentrate on other things. That's been a big change, a learning curve. But no regrets, it's all part of life's rich tapestry.

Lazy Line Painter Jane - it was an insane way to make a record! It was just in a church hall, no separate rooms for instruments, and a crappy digital desk, and I think it's fantastic. I think it's one of the best records we ever made. But if you actually said that to a professional recording engineer or producer they'd laugh at you.