There was this discussion to know how long the human ear was really receptive to the music. A 74 minute CD is too long. We thought about making two CDs, 35 minutes each... But the songs need to breathe.

Bowie is a musician, but he works like a painter. Thom always thought that we should aspire to that.

Everyone who's serious about what they're doing must be in constant motion forward.

For a band like us tracklisting is a massive, massive task.

I don't read the press, I don't watch endless music TV.

I think that's what helped us: confidence, respect, the desire to work hard.

I'm thrilled we've got a new single out, as singles were the way I first got into music as a child.

It is fantastic to be found in a foreign country.

Not in the mornings, I'm always so tired in the morning.

We are a weird bunch, we are very disparate.

We're not aware of fame itself, we're not that kind of band.

We're not spokespeople, we're musicians.

At the end of OK Computer we were playing big, big arenas and it wasn't right. You can do those things occasionally but at the time it didn't feel right.

But for the first time, we haven't made a huge leap forward in sound from our last album. Fans who own Kid A should be able to get their heads around it.

But we will play 6, 7 new songs each evening, approximately a third in the concert. I think it's a good balance. It will be very interesting to see the public's reaction. But i think when we'll play the very first new piece, we will be scared.

It's really weird to be playing chords again. Haven't played chords for a long time. I realised I haven't played chord changes since OK Computer and stuff like that.

Of the 25 songs we've recorded there were 24 that we wanted to have on an album. That wouldn't have worked. So when one of our wise managers suggested the idea of considering two different album, it cleared the way for us.

So we are not doing the traditional album, tour, album, tour, album, tour anymore. We're going to tour when we want to, regardless of whether we've got a record out.

The thing is, it really did take us too long to get these recordings done. We've had our rough times in the studio in the past, but after four weeks most of the material would have been recorded. This time it seemed like it just goes on and on.

There is always some universal proportion, but along with that there are some places where special things happen. Ireland, for example. I've always felt it's interesting to play there. Maybe they just drink more than anybody else.