You know, people always ask, 'What are you like offstage?' And I always say, 'Well, I'm completely normal and mellow.'

I am obsessed with the whole Victoriana thing, the whole Jack the Ripper London era, the grayness of it, the haunted feeling of it, all ancient and bloody.

But I was always much more interested in reading fashion magazines than I was music magazines when I was a teenager. Just that sense of romanticism and escapism and the dream of it has always been quite alluring to me, as well as that sense of becoming a character through clothes.

I've learned not to hide behind a veil of irony - to talk about my work in a more honest way.

If you see a river running smoothly, it's because someone has drowned in it, and if it's raging, it means that it's still got bloodlust.

I think I just have a problem generally in life of wanting more of everything - more emotion, more drama, more glitz.

I'd experimented with so many different types of music. I had these folky songs I'd written and recorded, but something wasn't quite right.