The Vibe heard from possibly an unreliable source within the music industry that you were contacted by Bryan Adams to express that he was a big fan of you music, can you confirm or deny this rumour?

Yeah it’s true, I’ve hung out with him quite a few times in the last year or so. Basically, he sent me an email and said that he was a fan. I was very sceptical that it was actually Bryan Adams, but I sent him an email back and ended up putting him on the guest list for a show last year. I wasn’t really expecting him to turn up, and when he did I was slightly taken aback. He was just really very, very nice.

I catch up with him when I’m back down in London, and he keeps casually saying that we should do a song together, but he’s said it so much now that it’s getting to the point where I’m not sure if he’s joking.

Everyone has heard of Bryan Adams and most people know a couple of his songs, but what’s he like as a person?

He’s really nice, he always gets the beers in, which is great, although he doesn’t drink so I’m not sure what his plan is there. But he’s great.

Last time we spoke to you it was before you headed over for your first big tour of the USA, how was it?

Well, I’ve been over a lot recently and America, in general, is absolutely amazing. It’s definitely my favourite country in the world outside of England.

I get really annoyed with the boring, casual ill-informed anti-Americanism that is around at the moment. Americans are probably the kindest, friendliest, most inquisitive people on the planet, and everywhere I’ve toured I’ve found that the kindness and willingness to help a stranger is just humbling.

Like today, I just got an email from a guy in Portland Rhode Island asking when I was next touring around there, and if I would like to drop by for a home-cooked meal. I mean, he doesn’t have to offer me that, he is just thinking that I’d probably like that.

Is there anything different about the gigs in the USA from a gig here?

I don’t think so, I mean a gig feels like a gig no matter where you are really. The only thing that really springs to mind is the absolute madness that they get up to with the licensing laws over in the States.

The last time I played in Portland, the promoter decided to make it an all-ages show so had a bar side and a non-bar side. They had literally drawn a line from the stage to the back wall. The bar side was packed and the non-bar side wasn’t very busy, so when I was playing on stage I naturally started playing towards where most of the people were, but then I kept having to make sure I turned back to the other side so they stayed involved in the show. All the time there was a big line in the middle of the room where there wasn’t anybody at all.

The best thing about playing in America is that having an English accent goes a long way. All you have to do is start talking and half of the room faints. It’s brilliant.

Do you have an American label now or are you working mainly from the UK?

Yeah, I’m signed to Epitaph Records in the States which is amazing. When I was a kid, I used to just buy albums that had the Epitaph logo on them just because I knew what a good label it was, and there was a pretty good chance that I’d like the album.

Last time we saw you at a show, you were selling your own merchandise in a small venue. As you’ve become more famous and played bigger and bigger shows, do you find keeping that relationship with the fans as a “man of the people” is hard to do?

Well I won’t be selling my merchandise today but that’s not because I’m too good to do that, it’s because I literally can’t while I’m playing and packing my stuff away.

It’s a Catch 22 thing because I don’t ever want to come across as inaccessible in any way, but if I go out into the crowd tonight I’d say hi to everyone, but it’s a massive venue so if I did, then it means I wouldn’t get time to see all of my friends that I’ve known for years. So it’s kind of like, which is more harsh, do I not spend time with the people who helped me get here, or do I not go and speak to the people who are paying to keep me doing this? It’s tricky, I try and do both if I can, but it’s really hard.

You were criticised by a small group of fans for not sticking up for an anti-establishment view that they thought you stood for after writing a couple of political songs, including “Thatcher...”, how has that effected you?

I’m getting so mad with people trying to label me like that, I mean, well, put it this way, I will never play “Thatcher...” ever again.

It’s a bad song, not lyrically, but musically it’s naïve and I hate how some total idiots have decided to pick it up and place it as “their song” that expresses how they feel, when actually it’s a song that I wrote about how I feel. It’s just heart-breaking really when somebody sends me an email saying, “you’re the genuine voice of the working class”, and I’m just thinking, “I’m really not, I mean I’ve never been working class, my parents were middle class professionals”. I’m just not going to be something I’m not.

Another thing that gets on my nerves is the assumptions that people make about my politics. People send me email about protests and demonstrations and say stuff like, “yeah you should come down because you’re really into this kind of thing”, and I just think, “Am I now?”.

There’s a song on the new album about civil liberty, and broadly speaking, I would describe myself as a Libertarian when it comes to politics. I like taking care of myself and I’m deeply distrusting of governments as a concept.

You’re playing some big venues on this tour and the vast majority have sold out in advance, how does that feel?

It’s great and anybody who complains about touring just needs to shut up because nobody makes you do this job (Frank coughs the name Kurt Cobain). It’s just amazing, this is all I’ve ever wanted to do and now I’m doing it. The statistical probability is that this isn’t going to last very long, I mean I hope it does, but I’m just trying to enjoy every minute. It would be really petulant of me to not have fun doing this when so many people would give anything to swap places with me.

Having done the hard work and played the small venues, does it feel like you’ve really earned this?

I don’t really feel the need to be quite so self-justificatory the whole time, I mean yeah I’ve done the hard miles getting here, but that is just this tour. When I go over and play in Europe, I’m still playing the small venues and then I come back here and I get given a tour bus so it’s not like this everywhere.

Do you find it harder to stay in contact and see your friends as you become more and more in demand?

To be honest, I’ve toured non-stop for the past six years and if anything, it has just made me more guarded about my friends and put more effort into seeing them when I can because it’s so rare that I get to see most of them. I booked a bar out for an after-show party after the Shepherd’s Bush show that I played, it wasn’t to drink champagne and be an idiot, it was literally so I could sit down with my nearest and dearest friends and just share a couple of beers and have a chat which was really nice. It’s always been challenging, but, like I said, this is how I choose to live my life, so I can’t complain. The other thing is there are a load of people I’d describe as ‘tour friends’ who I might only see a couple of times a year, but every time I do, it’s like we’ve seen each other yesterday. I’ve got a friend in San Antonio and I see him a couple of times a year when I’m passing through. He always puts me up and invites me over for a huge meal with his entire extended family. I think that’s one of the nicest things about my job, I can just roll up into any town and there’s always a friendly face.

You’ve toured all over the world now, do you ever get the time to see the places you are in or is it literally fly in and play and then fly off to the next venue?

I don’t really get to see anywhere, but the pay off from that is I get to meet a lot of people and spend time with them which I find very gratifying. Like my Mexican friend, when I’m over in the States I find it really intriguing that I am sat in a bar, in Mexico with a Mexican sharing a couple of drinks, or going over to Russia meeting people in St Petersburg. So you don’t really see the sights, but you get to meet the people which is really nice.

You’re a singer songwriter but you play your sets as a full band, how does the writing work?

Well, I write a lot of the music but it’s almost just like being in a band because I’ll play them something and they’ll come up with their own parts.

I’ve spoken to a couple of members of the band about writing some stuff as a band, rather than me writing the whole song, and them just writing their bits to fit, so hopefully something will come of that at some point.