The flute was an alternative to being a small fish in an increasingly bigger pool filled with a number of great guitar players.

There's always going to be a little bit of autobiographical content to everything. It's how you lend some authority to what you write - you give it that weight by drawing on your direct experiences and indirect experiences from people that you know well, or a little.

I make up my own mind in light of available facts, with my own experience and a sense of personal ethics.

I can never make up my mind if I'm happy being a flute player, or if I wish I were Eric Clapton.

Martin, Dave, and I get together and rough out a few songs and put them on cassettes for some reference...With the actual music, I'm not interested in objectivity, quite the opposite. I want a solely and totally subjective experience...A lot of pop music is about stealing pocket money from children.

Touring is what you make it. I like to organise as much as possible myself.

There seems to be an inclination among rock musicians to be very carefree with money, but I negotiate the best flight and hotel deals on our tours to maximise the band's income - I don't want too see too much taken off the top line.