It's a completely different way of working when you have your own place for recording. It's like if you were a painter, and you do loads of painting, and you just pick which paintings you want to exhibit. It's a much nicer, freer way of making work; you're not limited to anything, and you can make these cool, weird little albums.

I heard the Bloc Party record Japan before it came out in the UK as they are on the V2 record label. I think it has a great vibe and has great songs. I also think the Kings of Leon are right up my street.

To remain relevant though, I think making great records is the key.

We didn't really want to be an overnight success as that brings with it its own problems.

Japan is quite weird because they wait for you to say something before they respond. You can literally hear a pin drop, they don't make a sound until you say something to the crowd.

We've got a great bench of songs, and the people have a really good time at our Stereophonics's shows. People are the same all over the world. If we can play football stadiums and arenas in one country, there's no reason we can't play them in another country. People are people.

Like all bands, the first two albums are always the ones most written about, and the most covered. When a band gets to their third of fourth album, the story of the band has already been told.