Record sales don't really mean anything. For us, the pressure is imagining some 15-year-old kid in Cincinnati who buys our album and doesn't feel like he wasted his pocket money.

We rely more on enthusiasm than actual skill. Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically and people will like it more.

The physical thing of having a man following you around all day trying to take your photograph - it's eerie. There is a pure physical response. If you go up and kick a dog, it will bite you. But with photographers, you can't do that.

Everyone from the pope to some hobo thinks, "I'm a human being. What am I doing here?" You can't get carried away with fame and fortune and all that. It's all nonsense. The whole pop-star side of it is all fun and good, but you don't get anywhere without putting in the hours. I get so fulfilled when we play a song live that we spent hours working on. It's all cool. Fame is something to have fun with, but you shouldn't take it too seriously because it is bollocks.

When you're on your fifth album, you are going to be judged against all your previous work and expectations.

In my mind, when God made women, he did an amazing job. I think girls are just perfect.

I think it's part of being English, particularly if you are middle-class - you're always looking to be reminded that you are no good and you are always actually embarrassed about being successful.