Well my dad was a pretty good player at one stage and my two older brothers played golf as well. So there were always golf clubs flying around the house.

I started playing ball when I was a kid. My dad was a pro ball player and he passed on his knowledge to me.

And you know my dad would show me some things sometimes but the best things that I got to do were to actually see really good players play up close. That gives you an idea of fingering and technique and what not.

My dad was a football player - a soccer player - for Manchester United and I loved playing football but I also happened to be the guy in class who was pretty good at sight reading. My teacher gave me scripts and I was very comfortable.

My dad taught me to play bass. He's a bass player he still plays in a band in Michigan to this day. He taught me to play bass when I was about 6. I used to just go to band practice with him and whoever didn't show up for rehearsal that day I would take their spot.

My dad had a commercial film company so he had a videotape player before anyone. So he got Mel Brooks movies or Citizen Kane or some classic old movies. And every summer the revival house in Evanston would show the great films from the '50s and '60s and '70s.

I've always been into guitars... we want to put keyboards on but keyboard players don't look cool onstage they just keep their heads down. There has never been a cool keyboard player apart from Elton John.

One of the great bands we opened up for was Priest back in '89. That was really great because at that time we had never met them never toured with them before. They were a big influence on Slayer so to open up for them was really cool.

A female piano player is always pretty cool to me.

The worst thing I could be thinking is how could I be a cool bass player.