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

The weird thing was that Soft Cell was supposed to have come and gone before I started the album.

Knowing what I knew about Russia, as much as I loved the music and was fascinated by the songs and the whole idea of it, I knew it would be a very lengthy and frustrating process.

I don't care much about success or anything like that. I've only ever wanted life to be an adventure.

I've always been the sort of person who immerses myself in things, and eventually you become part of that life.

I liked the idea of writing a song saying I'm happy with who I am, and I don't mind if people think I'm some old git.

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.