1. Reinbert de LeeuwSatie: The Early Piano Works

Satie is somebody that I’ve been listening to for a few years now. I chose him because he does something really specific and I used to play it every time before I went on stage when I was getting ready because I get really stage-frightened, so I needed something to get me in a calm mood. I created a backstage chill-out room, all computers were banned and everything, then the whole band started squishing into the room so we were all just lying there like blobs listening to Satie!

I love his story. I love how people thought that what he was doing was beneath them, as the music was so simple they didn’t really acknowledge it as anything worthwhile. What I love about his music is there’s so much space in it. I almost feel every time I hear him I can see him in the corner of my eye playing on a grand piano, and I can always do that wherever I am – I love that hallucination! Because it reacts in that visual way with me so strongly it feels as though it’s coming from a place that I can identify with. And all along there’s something so improvised about it.