Gary Kemp Quotes

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

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.

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

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

Your life is the same wherever you go.

My instinct is to be very controlling.

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

Love is family, support, priority, and understanding.

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.

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

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.

Do not dehumanize others.

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

Don't give pain to others.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

I love my children unconditionally.

Pop music should be about young people.

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

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.