His inimitably lurid touch on the decks is matched by an unrepentant gift of gab. The man in a quote machine, famously quipping "You can't understand the blues until you've had your heart broken and you can't understand my music until you've had group sex on Ecstasy." We’ve collected ten of our favorites to give you a taste of the world according to DJ Harvey.

On dancing:

“To me, so much of music is sort of a version of foreplay, especially on the dancefloor. You’re sizing each other up and it’s a version of sexual play in many ways – the way you move and express yourself, shake out or dance with someone.”

On health:

“As we speak, I don’t smoke cigarettes, I don’t drink alcohol, or eat pills, or sniff powders or anything like that. All I’ve got left is steak, cake, and violence.”

On discovering DJing:

“I didn’t really move into DJing until I started hearing the first hip-hop records, things like “Electric Boogie Breakdance.” I couldn’t understand why that record sounded like an underwear commercial. It was a record made from other records and the manipulation of the beats was fascinating to me.”

On his Ministry of Sound residency:

“I was lucky enough to be a resident for Friday and Saturday nights for the morning, which was the graveyard shift. At that time the Ministry was a juice bar so they didn’t make any money on alcohol, so they didn’t worry about staying open. They hadn’t worked out that they had to pay the security guys more money. It went on until Sunday afternoons or Saturday mornings, it was a great time. It was like driving the Titanic.”

 

On his average day:

“Wake up, have a cup of tea, let the fog of the night before clear, decide if I have anything to do, go to the studio, jump in the ocean. You could say I’m awfully romantic and that I get on my motorcycle, drive up to the surf and have a macrobiotic sandwich on the way. It swings between that and peeling the kebab that I slept on the night before off the side of my face. Finishing off the can of hot special brew that I left on the windowsill. Straggling down a very oily 50/50 spliff before staggering out into blinding daylight.”

On his band Map of Africa:

“Map of Africa is a sex stain that is left on the bed. I don’t know if you guys have ever encountered one of those. We’re just trying to have a real good time. I’m halfway through my mid-life crisis, so I thought I’d start a rock & roll band.”

 

On day jobs:

“I once worked in a factory where the speed of the machines was such that you couldn’t day dream, or you'll lose a finger or two in the blades. I actually learnt to slow the entire productivity of the factory down by turning a particular knob. It was just slow enough so that everybody in the factory could daydream and everyone was happy and could get the job done.”

 

On inhibition in the club:

“To show some form of physical abandon is quite a daunting task for a young man of the straight persuasion. Dancing is such a wonderful release, it’s one of the best feelings you can get and you can get into an amazing sort of trance… Listen, you don’t need drugs, you might need a couple of whiskeys to get you on the dancefloor, but once you’re up and running the endorphins start flowing and you get very high from just dancing.”

 

On contentment:

“I could work an awful lot harder, be very rich, and be very unhappy. I strive for a high standard of living. So once my rent is paid and I can afford sushi now and again, I don't need [any more].”

On spirituality:

“Spiritual vision (laughs)! There’s not a spiritual bone in my body, mate.”