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Well, Freddie Mercury is a really huge rock star in my head. I've always thought he was just so tough and such an amazing entertainer, really a contradiction in many ways as well. So he was incredible.

I'd never compare myself to Freddie Mercury because I look up to him far too much. As an artist, not necessarily as a person.

I was growing up listening to Queen. Freddie Mercury threw those incredible melodies into his songs.

You can't beat Freddie Mercury. He was a mad man in the best sense possible.

My lifetime role model and hero is Freddie Mercury of Queen.

I'm a huge Freddie Mercury fan. I think he was the end-all. I love his lack of inhibition, his talent, the chances he took. He made mistakes on his records, and he didn't care.

Gene Autry was the most. It may sound like a joke - Go and have a look in my bedroom, It's covered with Gene Autry posters. He was my first musical influence.

All the musicians I loved growing up were men. I loved Leonard Cohen, Mick Jagger. I loved Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys. Even today, I love Van McCann from Catfish and the Bottlemen and Matt Healy from The 1975.

When I came into Metallica, I had to do justice to Cliff's work, but I also had to put my own signature on it. No one could be Cliff Burton; Cliff Burton was the Jimi Hendrix of bass.

Growing up, I was inspired by The Beatles and Bob Dylan. Damian Rice was a huge influence for me musically.