My dad used to say to me, 'You look more like me than I do.'
I came home one day from school after being chased by kids singing “Yellow Submarine”, and I didn't understand why. It just seemed surreal: why are they singing that song to me? I came home and I freaked out on my dad: 'Why didn't you tell me you were in The Beatles?' And he said, 'Oh, sorry. Probably should have told you that.'
You don't have to burn books, you don't have to rebel against teachers to rebel; to rebel is to truly own your own self.
I can't even begin to describe how I miss him. He always supported me in everything I did. He was a very wise man and I realised at an early age I could learn a lot from him. He always gave me the right answer. But above all he was a very easy-going guy and all he wanted was to be my best friend. I'm an only child and so he shared everything with me. Of course he was very young to die and I was very young to lose a father. But there was nothing left unsaid between us.
I was always brutally teased for being George Harrison's son. That was from the age of about four or five, before I even knew who he was. And for seven years people would follow me about school singing 'Yellow Submarine.' I still can't listen to that song to this day.
Playing music has always felt very natural. You know, you do try to do other things, and you do learn lessons that way, but, eventually - well... if your dad is a plumber, you become a plumber. It's the family business, and I felt like I was taking over the family business.
My job description is... being enthusiastic.
People see my face, they hear my voice, and I know they're thinking about my father. That's OK - he was a great man.
I think guitar-wise, Eric Clapton was a big influence on me. I got to spend time around him. He's kind of strange, mysterious, serious and he always has played such hot guitar.
Once I started to get older, my father would say, 'You look more like George Harrison than I do'
It's funny, because music is one of those things it is natural to go into. You hear it so much growing up, it kind of permeates you and eventually you spew out some music of your own.
I did everything I could to not be a musician.
In almost any profession, even if you're the kid of an actor, people are very supportive and want to see the next generation.
I could never just play in a pub in front of four people because I would have had all the press turn up. That way, you don't get to build up naturally. It makes the work feel unnatural, and puts a lot of unnatural pressure on you.
My dad was my hero, my best friend.
Being in L.A. is great because there are so many weird people out there, so you can just blend in. I like that.
One interviewer asked me: 'How do you feel that you've betrayed your father?' That wasn't really very cool.
The music I want to hear in my head sounds somewhere between Jimi Hendrix and Massive Attack. It's not really like my dad, but there will always be similarities because we have the same vocal cords, and I learnt the guitar the way he taught me.
I did Albert Hall, I got to play the Hall of Fame with Prince. So I've done that kind of stuff for ages. It wasn't until after we finished working on Brainwash, my dad's album after he died, then it was like 'That phase is over in my life now, now we can get on with our music, with our band.'
'Keep your head down at school.' Those are sage words from my dad. They kept me in check for years.
You can' t help being a musician because you've grown up with music, yet being one means being compared to your dad and being slated for it. But I really don't have the ambitions of most people going into the industry.
I think I learned a lot about not buying into a lot of hype. I wanted to be a kind of faceless entity; I didn't want to be Dhani Harrison and the Muppets or something like that.
Websites are kind of useless. There's so much great web content and design out there, but the ways in which they are being experienced are not being maximized.
I was recording stuff with my dad when I was like five, six years old. I played with him on tour. I'd gone with him to Japan in '91, played some gigs, did a couple shows at the Albert Hall.
I never really saw my dad around when the Iron Maiden and the AC/DC were playing. But he knew what I was doing. I was just absorbing music. So he just kind of left me to my own devices.
