You know, well, we were asked this about low periods in the career of over 30 years weve been going and in the early 90s I suppose we were like the old guys with all the new stuff coming through. At that point we never, ever lost the enthusiasm for writing or doing what we do or anything, but Jim likes to refer to it as saying we retreated and licked our wounds. In the studio we were up there and we spent longer than we should have done on albums and stuff like that, and at that time we should have really been plugged into something, and that happens. Then we got it back again and were really, really bang on form.

Well you know one thing is mainly because we love them and theres a special thing with them. But picking them, you have to pick the ones you know you can play and do it well in a live way. Some of the tracks theres a Siouxi And The Banshees song on there were more crafted together. Its really all about of you pick the ones you can play and everyone will get into. Its pretty eclectic.

I think it would be probably the die-hard fans, who will be by nature a bit older, but at the same time this is the thing that keeps on coming up. Obviously today, younger people dont really have this problem of being in and out of fashion where its not cool to be like that, its brilliant. Theres less of that and theyve got a much wider scope, and its smart to be like that.

And thats what Im finding now Im really surprised when we play our shows theres a lot of teenagers that are obviously brought along by their parentsId never have gone to a show with my parents. Id have never have listened to what they were listening to. But its different nowso maybe theres a chance that maybe if they heard it [the album], without thinking about it, maybe theyd go at it.

Oh thats an easy one, a really easy one. Hands down, its the touring, because the rests hard work. The recording can be really hard work, but the touring is what its all about, it makes everything else make sense.

The thing is, we never really went away. Were definitely not in that category, we were touring sold-out shows last year and weve been making albums. Were constantly working, and Depeche Mode are the same, theyve never stopped either. Great band, I know the Spandau thing came up though, but were always touring.

Not necessarily our album, but saying that, the next one that we dobecause bands like MGMT have done me in. Theyre just so good. I just cant get it - how they can make a record like that, its brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Havent seen them live though.

And then theres like Elbow, and you know that Nina Persson? From The Cardigansthe second album shes done is amazing. Really great. And Empires of the Sun. Jim [Kerr, the bands frontman] loves them.

I think we did. We wanted a bit of energy and we wanted it to be quite focussed, we didnt want it to sound like weve been around for thirty years. Thats was really it, and I think we achieved that. Most of the reactions are that people are listening to the album and saying were really on form which is exactly what we wanted. I hope it continues [Graffiti Soul is set for release in May]

I know where it came from Jim explained it We had a few titles for the album, one of which was Blood Type O, which is one of the album tracks. But Jim was on a train and he heard these little kids just outside London, and they knew every bit of graffiti they were passingand were raving about it. At one point, one of them said this ones got the graffiti soul and he thought it was brilliant. Jim worked it into what we were doing in a way. You know, you can say music is a bit like putting your stamp on there. Thats our graffiti, its our thing, its in there [points to his heart].

Were doing all the festivals in Europe in the summertime, then were off to America in September, then were going to maybe come back through Australia then back to Europe to do that again and maybe play arenas.

Hmm, there is maybe going to be a small show in Belgium actually as a warm-up in a small place. We love doing that because were really loud.

Yeah, theyre better fun really because theres something about the pressure of the whole thing in a smaller place. Playing the NEC for example is always fantastic, its just a shame that people have to be that far away. You get the big screens that helps, but you still want to get closer.

Theyre great arent theyyeah KOL, the guy saw us and wanted to be in my band! I said, we should get him in then [jokes about a duet],aye, thatd be brilliant Charlie laughs

Of Moons, Birds & Monsters by MGMT.

When I look back, I think the fact that weve managed to change musically so many times and still somehow keep our identity. Its something weve never really talked about it much but nows a great time to talk about itif you look at our early albums until now and go through them, theyre so different with the range of sounds weve employed, and weve still managed to keep our identity. Im really proud of that. Weve taken on a challenge and weve done it. I would never envisage us being the type of band that were really big but you can imagine when you get to the third and fourth album and people say well, I never bought that one this time and youre like why?. That can happen to a lot of bands, a sound is a sound and thats it. Weve never suffered from that and it surprises me weve managed to achieve that.

I think the difference is mainly that, in the UK, we do listen do a lot of music. Theres a lot of great stuff, its diverse. In Europe, the local artists can be really dodgy, its a bit Eurovision Song Contest. In the UK we have a lot of rubbish too, but nevertheless, weve been exposed to some really great music. It makes it a bit more discerning not cold same as the States. Youre challenged because youve got all this other stuff. Theyre all brilliant.

When we worked in Sicily we were working with a friend in a tiny, tiny studio a bedroom really. In a way, that shaped what we had equipment-wise and the way certain things were written. Then we went to Glasgow and we were in a dingy little rehearsal place with about fourteen other bands around it was great. We worked really fast and we wrote a lot in over a small period of time. Again, then Rome [where Charlie lives] we were working on stuff, and Antwerp where we were doing a one-off thing with an orchestra so while we were there we wrote stuff. Locations add something to what came out, it definitely comes through. Maybe if you have another band nearby you will write something different because the guys are going to play it, and if youre working on something atmospheric in a boxthey all have a different bearing on the way it turns out. Then you have to find some way of recording it and sticking it together and making it sound like its a moment in time.