NICK CAVE - CAVE DOESN'T REGRET JUNKIE PAST

NICK CAVE has no regrets about his long-term heroin addiction, insisting he is still the same person even though he's cleaned up.

THE BOATMAN'S CALL singer took drugs for 20 years because he enjoyed the way they made him feel - and he feels he would be rejecting his youth if he looked back with remorse.

Cave says, "I was a junkie for 20 years. I'm not going to deny all that. That would be silly. I don't trust the whole reborn thing, whether it's religious or cleaning up.

"You're still absolutely the same person. It would be like denying my entire youth. Perhaps if it was a deeply hideous time I would, but it wasn't. People take drugs to feel good and that seems a legitimate reason to do it for me."