My generation in the UK, they're very apathetic, a lot of them.

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 think that youth culture is now very deliberately designed by both corporate entities and by governments to not involve people directly. Because as soon as you involve people you have a small loss of control; and as soon as that happens, anything could happen.

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 think the US and the UK are gradually growing closer together in a lot of ways. They're inextricably linked.

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.

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