A lot of people in the crowd want to be told what to do; if you just put your hands up, they do it.

It's not like that because the improvisation makes it automatically democratic. No one's leading anything. I didn't have to worry about anyone feeling involved. It was just the most natural, easy process of making music.

I know that I can't ever write a song that just sounds completely saccharin. Even if I'm singing about someone being my complete love life, I'm singing about my own inabilities to be as bright as that person.

I think being a DJ is that thing of learning what makes a crowd move. As a DJ, you're constantly learning. It's like chess or something. After a couple of years, you think you're good, then you see a real DJ that's been doing it for 20 years and they just blow you away. I think that's one of the things I like about DJing: you can get better and better and better.

We're still making Hot Chip records whilst doing these other things, so why not just try and make music you enjoy making rather than being tied down by things? It would just be crazy to not allow people to make music.

When I first started doing stuff outside of Hot Chip, I got the impression that Joe Goddard was a bit concerned. But I said, "I really want to record these songs quickly and not turn them into dance music." And he was fairly supportive - maybe not wholly supportive. But then you learn that no one's about to quit the band, so it seems good and healthy.

I'll also listen to music on a Discman and realize how nice it can sound when it's not compressed to MP3 format.