We cannot afford to be idle. To act on a bad idea is better than to not act at all. Because the worth of the idea never becomes apparent until you do it. Sometimes this idea can be the smallest thing in the world, a little flame that you hunch over and cup with your hand, and pray will not be extinguished by all the storm that howls about it. If you could hold onto that flame, great things could construct around it, that are massive and powerful and world changing, all held up by the tiniest of ideas.

I don't write happy songs. Who does? I don't know anybody who writes happy songs, really.

Songwriting, I have to take myself away from everybody to do. It's an unsightly act.

I consider myself to be first and foremost a comic writer. The way I entertain myself - especially in those long and grim hours in the office - is to write stuff I find funny.

It's an Australian thing to be dismissive. We find that endearing. Americans don't. They believe what you say.

I write songs in batches and then record them and then can't write again for ages. I try and build one song upon another, they may not obviously look inter-related but often one song acts as a springboard into another.

Being a parent can make you a horrible person at times, because you're pushed to the limit constantly.