Alison Mosshart

“I have so many ideas while I'm driving.”

“I love Tokyo, I've been several times. The first trip was just weird; it was a weird time. It was in the '90s, and it was different then.”

“Record covers still inspire me in terms of clothes, some bands just look sharp. But I still wear stuff I owned when I was 16.”

“Every day, it's a different country, different time zone. If you asked me where home was, I've never felt like I've had that. My idea of comfort is to leave a place. Two weeks is sort of my max.”

“If I acted like I did onstage in normal life, everyone would probably hate me.”

“I love being on stage more than anything, and I think that's what comes across. I think the most honest representation of any music is to play it right there in front of people. It's a moment - it's all one of a kind, every little part of it. There's no repeat.”

“I can't talk on the radio at all. When the red light comes on, my hands go up in the air: I think they're trying to get to my face, to shut me up. I don't talk on stage for the same reason.”

“I just sang at first - I didn't ever play guitar before The Kills.”

“Lollapalooza, that was one of my worst shows. We just played at, like, 3 in the afternoon; it was like the hottest, most miserable thing. My shoes were melting. I just thought I was going to die. It was the most horrible experience. I lasted, what, four songs? In front of quite a lot of people. That was one of my least favorites.”

“I write music visually.”

“Painting is almost like a sport. It's like this action thing. When I do it, I'm really not thinking. The paintings are like a diary that I might not want to read again.”

“I hate sunshine so much. I can only cope with it when it's bitterly, bitterly cold.”

“I actually got into music because of art and because of skateboarding: All those graphics and punk bands and fanzines - they were glued together in my brain.”

“In the studio, you can always stop, rewind and do it again, but on stage, you can never do that - it's a different energy. It separates good bands from bad bands, being able to play, perform and really capture an audience. I think that's the hardest part.”

“I get along great with my family. My parents are really proud of me and my brother, who's a chef here in New York. I don't see my parents often, but they're very supportive, especially as I get older.”

“The crazy colors tend to wash out so quick. Basically, it ensures that you never wash your hair, so it starts to do some cool stuff.”

“People can be quite cynical. 'The Kills are too cool.' There's been an on-and-off relationship with the music press that loves us and then hates us then loves us again. I don't think any kind of press is reliable.”

“All of my art is suitcase-sized. I always paint in mediums that dry pretty quickly because I've got to throw them in my suitcase and go. And I have so much because of that, because it's what I've always done to pass the time, and I like it.”

“When you do music, your friends are writers, actors, painters. It's all under the same roof. So anything creative is interesting to me.”

“When you're recording in the midst of touring, you get a different sense about you. Things are more rocking, darker, heavier and louder. You're thinking about the audience that you're seeing every night.”