Quotes from Labrinth

Branding your song is the worst thing you can ever do. That's turning your song into a product.

I've got perfectionist issues, as I can't seem to let tracks out the studio - it drives my manager nuts.

I have eight siblings, and we formed a group called Mac 9. I was Mac 7.

When I listen to a Coldplay record, you're gonna hear an indie band, and you know that's what you're gonna get from Coldplay. With myself, I'm not sure it's the same.

I got into music through just being inspired by my brother and sisters. They all sing, play instruments and write - and they're very good at it.

I grew up not really having a father figure, and it didn't bother me, because he wasn't there in the first place. But then he started other families, and I was jealous. It was like he was happy without our family.

I think, as an artist, I wear a lot of different hats, and people have to join all of the dots.

Everyone in my family has been in music - my cousins, my grandmother, my grandfather - so it's quite a big family tree.

I don't want to be someone that, when people look back, they think, 'Yeah, cool, he made us jump around for a bit in 2010.'

Of course, success takes you where your character can't sustain you.

I remember my brother came home with a bass and played a blues solo on it. I just went insane for days afterwards learning that.

My fans are like, 'Lab does what he does,' which is really cool. If I came out with a Jack White rock tune tomorrow, people would be like, 'Yeah, cool man,' which is great.

My brothers came home with country, jazz, everything... it was always very normal to me to make any type of music. It was possible to fuse all the sounds, so it never sounded confusing to me to mix jazz and dubstep.

My main thing is I just want to share as much hope and happiness as possible for music. If I can share as many moments and help people believe in themselves... if I can do that, then I'll feel like my job is done.

I want to be a little bit brave. I want to feel scared sometimes. That's what's going to change the music business, if we have that kind of attitude.

I'm not just looking to be famous and attach myself to famous names. I want to make history in the business in terms of creativity.

I don't think about the success that I've had - I've had a lot of success with music - but I always look at it like it's a new day.

My mother brought up nine children, in Hackney, and none of us are criminals, none of us in jail. Her strength made me who I am today.

When I was younger, I'd be in the studio three days straight to get something right, and my manager would be like, 'Go home!' Even now, I still sleep in the studio sometimes, but I can't do it quite as often. I've got gigs; I can't have my hobo beard! But if you love what you're doing, you can't stop. It's obsessive.

Urban is not actually my world. It was me trying something out, basically. I come from a gospel background.

English urban artists were very used to making secondhand American music, and I thought that was boring.

I really enjoy 'festival life,' as it were, and I love the reactions when I bring out my guitar on stage. The crowd are always a bit like, 'What the hell is this urban guy doing with a guitar,' and that's what I love - the shock element of it all!

I never called myself an urban artist, but that's what I was classed as, and I almost tried to live up to the name instead of who I really was.

I've made so many changes to my records because of the way the audience has reacted at the various festivals I've played - I've taken tracks back into the studio, stripped them bare, and built them back up again to create something entirely different.