Rock and roll is really my whole life. I love the music and everything associated with it, I always have - I played in bands before I was a rock writer; I used to sell records in an oldies store; I produced records. To me it's all the same thing, so I've never minded whatever area of it I've worked. I just like being part of it. It took me a long time to come to the guitar, because, you know, it takes you a long time to find your direction, to narrow down the vast array of choices that are given to you at any particular moment in time. You have to winnow through them to find exactly what your space is. And I may never have expected it or imagined it in any of my wildest dreams. But I feel really in place when I'm playing that guitar. I'm doing something which I feel, that comes to me in the form of instinct, something I can express myself through. The very act of playing those six strings integrates with my personality, and the more I do it, the clearer that connection becomes.

The most intense expression of the guitar is in rock and roll. The electric guitar was created especially for rock and roll; it's a truly expressive electric instrument - The synthesizer is an electric instrument too, but that sound comes out of dials. Guitar music comes through the hands; you can literally pull out a variety of sounds and feelings.

With improvisation you take a lot of chances, you push yourself out in the hope that you'll discover something further than where you've been. It works like a telepathic connection between individuals. The most beautiful moments of improvisation are those sudden links within the band, even if it happens just between two members during a song. If you're locked in with somebody, it's a great feeling, and if. three of you are going, or four, or the whole band is there, you're soaring. And if the audience is there too, you're gone, you know, because it takes you by surprise. It's like going to a town that you've never been to before. Anything can happen. That's the story of "Radio Ethiopia." It's a very difficult piece of music, as anarchic as it sounds. During "Ask the Angels" if my concentration lapses a few seconds, I'll still be playing along, you know. But in "Radio Ethiopia" if my concentration lapses, we're gonna lose it, and it forces you to truly participate, note by note.

I love both ends of it; that's why I love the fact that we have a hit single, because that's great structure at its most pointed. "Because The Night" is a great package designed to hit you right between the eyes. On the other hand, "Radio Ethiopia" is a favorite cut for me, even though it's not one of our most requested numbers. (laughs) But to me, you know, that's the core of the art we're doing. And since we have both those poles covered, we have everything in between, which means we are a band with total freedom, which is all we ever wanted in the first place.

It's great that we're succeeding at what we're doing, because it proves to us that it can work, you know, that these aren't just some weird, idle dreams put together by a few heads in the clouds. You can beat the system if You put your mind to it, and keep yourself strong. It's rough, you know; this band has gone through lots of weird hassles, not the least of which was when Patti fell off the stage. But at each level we forced ourselves to believe in what we're doing so much that we pushed it up to the next step, and so on, until our future began to belong to us.

We're like a message band, and the message is really, "Get out there, have a great time, go some place you never went before. You have infinite potential, have a good time exploring it, instead of, 'Oh shit...' "

We preach anarchy, but a positive kind of anarchy. I'm not in favor of, like, throwing a TV set out the window. That's not anarchy. Anarchy is when you let yourself be free enough to realize your full potential.

I think this band is really just starting to grow, and I hope that the toil and hardships of the rock and roll life don't disconnect us from what we do ... I could say that we're smarter than a lot of bands because we have the experience of seeing ones we love die - The New York Dolls, The Stooges, The Sex Pistols. Bands that cut their own throats, self-destruction, it's as simple as that. We'd like to avoid that. But the fact of the matter is, the only way you can keep on top is to be self - conscious, be aware of what you're doing, and what risks you're taking, and what you have to do to protect yourself. Be aware of what you have to know, what your technology's about, where the people are, what they're doing, what they need. Maybe they need nothin', you know? But we as a band need somethin', so we figure maybe other people might, too.

So, when we're down, we have the strength to keep on going 'til we're up. I don't think that because we had a hit single and album with Easter that it's gravy train from here. Now's the time we're going to have to start keeping our noses to the grindstone. But that's what we like, we're a band that enjoys work. We thrive on it, we're all nervous when we haven't got any of it to do. We've got a record company, we've got books coming out, we've got films we're working on. We've got it all covered, and hopefully that's just the beginning.