Questions to the musicians: Rob Townsend

What inspired you to play the saxophone?

Being too lazy to carry the drums and listening to Branford Marsalis on Sting’s "Nothing Like the Sun"

What timeless music do you always go back to?

Any Miles Davis from "Miles '58" onwards- it all sounds as though it was recorded yesterday and I always hear new things in it each time I listen.

What have you been listening to recently which you haven't been able to take out of the CD player?

I have a 5 CD multiplayer so some CDs can be in there for an awful long time: Bjork - Vespertine, Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra, Iain Ballamy's new Food album, Miles in Antibes, Zawinul Syndicate - World Tour

Who are your heroes, musically or otherwise?

Difficult one -lots of the obvious musical ones - Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, Cannonball Adderley etc. plus all the astronauts on the Apollo missions, the person who first discovered that the chilli was edible, Moto GP rider Valentino Rossi. Also Kenny from South Park - he gets killed every week and still comes back for more.

Tell us something funny that you've experienced on the road recently?

I toured South America with Steve Hackett last year - on one gig in Brazil, I noticed a particularly crazed-looking guy right at the front - he was really into it and was staring maniacally at me most of the way through. Somehow he managed to get back stage into the dressing rooms after the gig. He came up to me jabbering away excitedly and gave me a big hug, then much to my consternation, began rummaging around in his jogging bottoms with a determined look on his face.. In the end, he whipped out a brace of recorders and played them in my face.

How else to you get your inspiration? Oh, bathing in a bath of luke warm custard and hugging trees of course.