[For Before the Dawn] it was in the hands of a fantastic drummer and percussionist and who drove it into another moment in time. It's such a poignant song and it was transformed into entirely different beast.

I suppose in some ways doing some of the songs in the show felt a bit like I was doing cover versions. I was covering myself. Not that they didn't feel like my songs, but the way I was approaching them was from a place so outside where they were written. The fact that these songs were in the context of a live show was a new thing.

I just try to put myself in the sense of being a character, sometimes male. I suppose I just like the idea of trying to be different people coming from all kinds of different angles. Most of it was just from my imagination.

When I've heard a piece of music or seen a painting that moves me, it gives me something.

I'd become very involved in the production, so the albums were taking longer. So it was never a deliberate decision not to do live shows. A few times, I've thought about doing them again, but it's just kind of never happened. I've just sort of gone the path of becoming a recording artist I guess.

Using telephones, they would be so intrusive and would really disrupt the show.

I saw Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, which I thought was a masterpiece. Not that long ago, I listened to Blackstar by David Bowie and thought that was a masterpiece. Those are two incredibly talented people who've left their mark with us.