I'd just kinda had it with bands, really. It was a challenge for me, more important than making music. I just had to get out of it, really. You know, I had a year of just doing nothing, and I'm getting payback for it now with all the work I'm doing. I was just depressed, and I realised I had to move on. Then I realised that if I write introspectively about everything that's happened over the last year, I've got a lot.

 

I just needed to get out of the comfort zone. Like, having loud guitars, it kind of disguises and masks the voice, and I thought it'd be really nice to... Well, it was like taking all the smoke out of a room, you know? Suddenly I realised what I was recording with, the materials, the instruments and just the colours and timbres and grooves and flow of the music.

 

Yeah, I mean I did all the writing on this album, and that's, well that's a pretty great thing. I really just got the confidence to start writing on my own.

 

I do, but you know, what comes with that is you're kinda accountable for everything that's written. If anything's bad, it's all on you.

 

Yeah, well I've been on a lot of them. Yeah I really love touring.

 

Kinda scared. It's my first solo tour. I've done a couple of gigs but to be honest I'm not really sure what I'm doing up there yet. Hopefully it will come. It's exciting. You're basically on your own up there, everyone's watching you.

If you manage to keep some level of sobriety, and you're alright the next morning, that's the main thing really. I hate waking up when I haven't managed to get to bed on time. Don't like getting up for work in the morning then. Hangovers, that's a really big indicator isn't it? It's quite obvious when you're on stage.

 

I used to have all sorts, but then I found out when someone says 'you're on now', then I wouldn't have time to, you know, hop, skip, jump, run around, touch your toes, sing a song, that would be silly. And then bravely one night I decided to do none of my rituals, and it was all alright.

 

Oh yeah. First big gig was Rage Against the Machine at Reading. It was absolutely amazing.

 

Yeah well I definitely felt great playing for all those people. The thought that we could be their Rage, or something.

 

I used to visit when I was a kid, visited my great-grandmother. That was all an adventure, I just saw her house as this massive castle in the sky, I'd never seen anything like it before. I loved how everywhere we drove through was different and just so full of life. It's been the same ever since really. I'm sure it's the same all over the world, but everywhere has a different culture. I still feel homesick, but I find you feel a different kind depending on where you are, because everywhere has something different to offer.

 

Charlie Chaplin is the biggest one. Everything he did really came from a place of love, he really believed in what he was doing. He brought so much to the world, laughter and... If you watch his films, everyone thinks he's just being kicked up the arse, but if you watch the features, there's so much more there, and it's really beautiful. I can't think of one that doesn't have a teary moment in it as well, you can't help but be touched by that. And also, he was such a performer. He had such spirit, acrobatic and disciplined, his body was a machine. He directed all his films, and wrote the music, and starred in them. Even when he was up against Hilter, the just put it into theatre and that's quite a feat.

 

I do believe that music is a form of purity and love, and I'll do my best to keep it up, work it out as best I can. If everyone has a part in this world, I want my place to be in making music.

 

 

It was just a bit of a laugh. We were at the pub drinking and talking like old men, how the times were changing so fast and it would never be the same again. So we thought we'd get a snapshot of this before it changes.

 

Unfortunately I didn't get to go on the boat, I was in a play. The music hall was amazing, they have gigs there sometimes. Not very much though. The committee is a bit arsey about it all, 'you can't touch this, you can't touch that'. We met the old guys in the mariner club as well. Buggers. They were cool though, kind guys. My granddad used to work down the docks. My grandma as well actually.

 

Yeah, although I seem to romanticise it more than they like. They're like 'No no it weren't that hard' and there's me going 'nah, it was it was'.