I would always consider myself to be political with a small "p," although it makes me mad when people say politics should be kept out of music.

I want to be accessible to a certain type of person who wants to walk around with their eyes open, or at least is open to the idea of change.

Bob Dylan had been a big sort of presence in my life but I'd never quite registered what he was trying to tell me. He was always this kind of figure, a sort of bear-like figure in the corner of the room. You know, every time I imagined what Bob Dylan looked like, he looked a bit like Steve Earl used to look - with the beard.

Sometimes you definitely need to just let go. You need to sort of forget everything.

It would be a horrible business, a horrible sort of culture if you didn't have the candy pop as well as the real hard-hitting stuff. And I love some pop music.

I would say Tony Blair is very much a lapdog. I'm terribly scared that when he finally goes - and we can only hope it's soon - that he will be remembered for all these terrible things that he's done. Which is kind of a scary thing for a Labor Prime Minister.

Music is politics - it always has been and it always will be.