So it was out of necessity that Blackheart was born. I think it's great that now 25 years later we're not only putting out our own music but are able to put out music by other bands. That's really exciting for us.

Music is really something that makes people whole.

Music never dies. Do we really need another Madonna tour? Does she have to compete with women performers 25 years her junior?

I start really missing London when I go away. I have a little flat but very central. I live above a pub and you'd think it'd be a nightmare but I like hearing the music and it's quite comforting.

I don't really have a style icon but I really admire the way people dress like Gaga Rihanna and Gwen Stefani. It's good to be inspired by singers who write music and dress incredibly - rather than models and people in the fashion industry who dress immaculately anyway because it's their style.

I'm obsessed with the countryside: woods forests fields lakes mountains. I'm really into folk music and folklore. But more so I'm into electronic music. I'm into bands that have both aspects like Boards of Canada is a perfect example. You could listen to that type of music running through a woods. It's kind of what I wanted to achieve.

Since I met Starsmith my producer I really feel like I'm making music because we write it together and produce it together. I've got a proper involvement in the end product as opposed to just writing a song and finding someone else to produce it.

People always try to find my agenda but I don't really have one. It's safe to say that I make pop but I think that I'm doing important music too. I've just always done what I wanted to do.

I'm quite private. And I never wanted to be the biggest star in the world really. So in that sense I've got a good balance of doing great shows of making an appearance every now and then and writing music and I don't really have to do much else.

Mumford & Sons' music appeals to a lot of America. I'm really proud of them.

I'd call what I do pop music but it's folky and electronic and it doesn't really sound like much else.

To be able to put your arms around 24 years of music it's really fun.

I got interested in the idea of music that could make itself in a sense in the mid 1960s really when I first heard composers like Terry Riley and when I first started playing with tape recorders.

First of all the music that people call Latin or Spanish is really African. So Black people need to get the credit for that.

Since I was a kid I've had an absolute obsession with particular kinds of American music. Mississippi Delta blues of the Thirties Chicago blues of the Fifties West Coast music of the mid-Sixties - but I'd never really touched on dark Americana.

I think one of my favorite things to do is just lock myself up in a small room and listen to music and watch films for a day. Also I just like seeing my friends. We have pizza parties which means I get four friends round we eat a pizza and we're really lazy and we play PlayStation.

You can't really imagine music without technology.

Country fans need to support country music by buying albums and concert tickets for traditional artists or the music will just fade away. And that would be really sad.

Anything I do has to be directly related to my music. If it isn't I don't really see a point to it.

Unless I am both capable of and willing to reopen the wound every time I write a song if I choose to not look inside myself to write music I'm really not worth being called an artist at all.

Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity. So it's like just take advantage of these last few years because none of this is ever going to happen again. You'd better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that's really the only unique situation that's going to be left.

It was Elvis who really got me hooked on beat music. When I heard 'Heartbreak Hotel' I thought this is it.

I think older people can appreciate my music because I really show my heart when I sing and it's not corny. I think I can grow as an artist and my fans will grow with me.

You can't give up something you really believe in for financial reasons. If you die by the roadside - so be it. But at least you know you've tried. Ten minutes in the music scene was the equal of one hundred years outside of it.