The British press isn't as vicious as it used to be, and these days it's sort of cool to care again. Everyone loves an everyman anthem.

I'm not David Bowie. Who are we kidding? At the end of the day, I'm the same person I've always been. I'm Don Garvey's son from up the road.

"Open Arms" has a lot of unison singing in it. And it works: Grown men will come to our gigs and cry during that one.

I usually tell somebody if a song’s for them. I don’t always tell them if it’s about them.

I remember going foraging for breakfast in St. Louis once. I saw this one girl sitting in front of the venue, and she made this pink T-shirt with a big heart in the middle of it and a misty picture of our guitarist Mark [Potter]. She was so embarrassed when she saw me. And I was trying desperately not to laugh.

The British press isn't as vicious as it used to be, and these days it's sort of cool to care again. Everyone loves an everyman anthem.

We [Elbow] have had some luck with media syncs in film and on TV. We'd love to do a soundtrack with a really cool director.