Biography

Trilby hat

[When asked if it is annoying when strangers approach him and talk to him with concern about his drug problem] Yeah it can be annoying if you're in quite a good mood and people are asking you 'Pete, Pete, what are you gonna do?' and you're thinking 'I dunno, I might have an ice-cream, watch the telly...'

Even if I'm feeling blank or not particularly feeling happy or sad, suddenly a song will come out and it'll suddenly occur to me that's how I really feel. It's better than any therapy or any conversation. You just hit something on the head and it captures a mood. Like Well I Wonder by The Smiths, I used to put that on, especially the 7-inch where you'd hear all the crackles and then the drumbeat.

I met Carl [Barât] and in the same way that I was outraged that UCL [University College London] wouldn't take me, he was outraged at how no modelling agencies would give him a contract. He'd sit outside the modelling agencies and all these beautiful boys would be coming out, he'd go, 'Look at him, I'm much better looking than him. Let's go beat him up and get his contract.' I was not so much amused by him as frightened by him, but I needed to learn to play guitar and he needed someone to push him and believe in him. So we both just thought 'Fuck it, we'll form a band.' In the same way that I was obsessed with clothes, he was very obsessed with looks. I've never slept with a boy but I can appreciate a good looking boy and I always thought Carl was quite striking looking. At school he had been told that he was ugly so he had this strange complex where he just needed to be loved and told that he was beautiful. But it can go too far, because now he insists that he is getting better looking as he gets older.