Gary Kemp Quotations

We never had books at home, but my dad, seeing how keen I was to read, took me to Islington Library when I was about eight and we pulled out two - a Biggles and a science fiction novel. I never got the ace fighter pilot but fell in love with all things to do with the future and space. Isaac Asimov soon became my guiding star.

It's always an honour doing anything for your country.

I am a person who holds the aesthetic high. I have suits made in Savile Row.

Don't see the point in reading ghost-written autobiographies, even though some of these published lives may fascinate me. The 'ghost' is always present, manipulating an interview into first-person singular text, and it feels like I'm reading a lie.

I keep my house tidy, because then I can think clearly. I feel the same about myself. Presenting yourself well is a working-class thing - my dad was a printer, but he wore a tie most days. The ungroomed look belongs more to the middle classes.

Songwriting helps me sort out my personal problems. With acting, you're just a tool for someone's ideas.

I am a metrosexual and into male grooming - I moisturise, I exfoliate.

I detest that saying Everything happens for a reason; its nonsense.

For 24 hours a day, for 10 years, all I thought about was being in a band. That's all I did. I had no other social life. I don't want my life to be like that now. I've spent the past 10 years having a real life as well. But Spandau Ballet is such a difficult shadow to outrun.

I think sometimes my controlling instincts came out of a fear of other people.

I've always thought that actors wanted to be pop musicians and pop musicians wanted to be actors.

I've been through Hell with some of the members of my old band, and Hell is highly stressful.

Your life is the same wherever you go.

I love England. I don't really like places when they're too hot. It's my Celtic blood.

I think I tried to control situations within my first marriage and I wasn't the easiest person to live with.

I think my younger self would be more amazed to know I was doing an interview for 'The Spectator.

I'm an atheist. I don't 'believe' at all.

Kevin Costner told me that 'True' was his and his wife's song. I'm not sure if that's a good thing because they split up soon after.

The thought of going on tour with people like Toyah Wilcox is just appalling. I'm certainly not tempted.

We were on the cover of Women's Wear Daily, which was hardly rock 'n' roll, but it pleased me.

Punk was sort of an angry stance against things that had happened just before, against the pop of glam rock, against progressive rock. Music had become very staid and it was about the playing and people obsessed. Eric Clapton was God and we needed an enema within the art form, and punk did do that.

I certainly wasn't a fan of Thatcher's politics. People liked to label us as children of Thatcher. What nonsense. The real children of Thatcher came in the 1990s, and had no interest in politics. The Oasis, Britpop scene.

I have a terrible fear of travel. Just before we go, I start to panic and tell my wife I don't want to go. It's ridiculous. But actually it's only when it's somewhere I've not been to before.

My father had inklings of my cultural aspirations. He would take me to the library, things like that. But he wasn't one of those dads who had read George Orwell and was a member of the Communist party. We had no books at home.

It has been a terrible affair for ourselves and our families and one that I'm sure was obviously going to destroy any hope of us making music again.

My brother Martin is two years younger than me. There has never been any competition between us - clearly he was the good-looking one; he was also very sporty, and I am not a football player.

We've had four-and-a-half inches of rain in that area since Sept. 15,

In the '80s the band was 24/7. You were only as good as what you were producing at any given moment. Now my family is more important. I also think having the shock of your mum and dad dying humbles you slightly.

But when you're an actor, you're a very small part in a machine. They're not your words. It's almost like being a session musician.

The greatest influence came from the television and the proliferation of magazines that included contents on pop groups. I believe that at the end of the 1970s, like is happening now, pop and rock were practically separated in the eyes of the public and critics, who considered the first more frivolous and easy and the second more serious and prestigious.

We monitor all of our burns in the park and have been working with Los Alamos National Lab to develop some projects cross-boundary, ... Fire has been here for thousands of years and there are many species ecologically dependent on fire. They have adapted to it and are dependent on it.

Do not dehumanize others.

I love my children unconditionally.

It's a shame because we experienced probably the greatest thing - in art, in pop - we'll ever do. And it would be good to sit around and talk about it.

Love is family, support, priority, and understanding.

Maybe I've got to admit that what I did here was enough. I can make some more films. Maybe I'll direct a film. Maybe I'll have my musical put on stage. But nothing, really, to be absolutely honest, competes with making a very successful pop band for 10 years of my life.

In the '80s the band was 24/7. You were only as good as what you were producing at any given moment. Now my family is more important. I also think having the shock of your mum and dad dying humbles you slightly.

Music gives voices to people struggling to come out of themselves.

Why do I find it hard to write the next line?

Road cycling, especially up mountains. It's the heady mixture of endorphins and aesthetics that I love. My wife does it too, and being with her in extreme but beautiful conditions adds to the experience and our relationship.

Pop music should be about young people.

My instinct is to be very controlling.

Being onstage is a way of harnessing your vulnerability and using the adrenaline to be creative. It's a very vulnerable place to be - technically, emotionally, and physically - but I love it.

Don't give pain to others.

My life is routine-obsessed. I'm OCD, and if I'm not at home, I always get up early and exercise. I don't crash and burn at night, not these days, so early-ish to bed. At home, I have three small boys who bring me down to earth with school runs and endless meals.

The breakup of my first marriage was my first failure; I had to learn to accept that and support the people involved. The court case brought against me by three of the band was awful, but learning how to let it go, move on, and come back together as friends and creative partners was a life lesson above any other.