But for the first time, we haven't made a huge leap forward in sound from our last album. Fans who own Kid A should be able to get their heads around it.

I don't read the press, I don't watch endless music TV.

At the end of OK Computer we were playing big, big arenas and it wasn't right. You can do those things occasionally but at the time it didn't feel right.

Music, at the end of the day, is communicating something - emotion, a feeling, a rite of passage, where you are in life.

So we are not doing the traditional album, tour, album, tour, album, tour anymore. We're going to tour when we want to, regardless of whether we've got a record out.

I think that's what helped us: confidence, respect, the desire to work hard.

What is so refreshing playing with Neil Finn and all his friends is these people think exactly the same - regular people doing their thing and separating the music from the business.