A lot of the early songs I wrote were about the experience of going to London and meeting rent boys and transvestites and drag queens. A lot of my early material is that: the wide-eyed adventures of a middle-class boy.

Russians have a new freedom, but as long as they don't express that freedom on a public platform.

Albums, with me, have never had an easy birth. Especially when all the songs are self-written songs.

I became the magnet for a lot of scary aggression. Cos it's scary Up North!

I can imagine moving out to the seaside at some point. I like Brighton, my sister lives there. I'm a seaside boy and whenever I go there, I find myself writing songs about it.

That's what I like to do, I like to make songs.

A lot of the early songs I wrote were about the experience of going to London and meeting rent boys and transvestites and drag queens. A lot of my early material is that: the wide-eyed adventures of a middle-class boy.