People like Richard Ashcroft and Morrissey (Steven Patrick Morrissey) are brilliant but when there`s a band there`s a little bit of spark there; a bit of tension maybe that makes it work.

We want to make something that moves us when we hear it. Because after all the hype and awards and whatever, that`s all music is.

You can try to be catchy without being slick, poppy without being pop, and you can be uplifting without being pompous. Because we`re sometimes playing quieter stuff, it`s hard to sound like we`re trying to change things, but we wanted to be a reaction against soulless rubbish.

When I`m 40, too old to be a rock star, I plan to go back to college to study classical music.

Deadlines mean nothing to us. We`ll sink the whole company if we have to. (On EMI)

Being voted the world`s sexiest vegetarian is about as cool as it gets. It`s not quite as cool as Brad Pitt, but it`ll do. Those have been the two biggest challenges of my life: trying to follow Radiohead, and trying to follow Brad Pitt.

It`s hard for us sometimes because we are English and we do not like to admit that we think we are great.

I think shareholders are the great evil of this modern world.

Awards are essentially nonsense, but we`re all going to die when George Bush (George W. Bush) has his way - it`s good to go out with a bang.