Welsh Quotes

The press will naturally come and go as it has done with all artists, from David Bowie to Neil Young to U2.

The Millennium Stadium thing was for the Tsunami concert. It was a thing that I think every band in the country would have liked to be a part of at the time that it happened.

Revising a screenplay is much more frustrating than revising a song because you have to read through the entire work again while you are changing stuff. It is a lot easier to edit a song.

Like all bands, the first two albums are always the ones most written about, and the most covered. When a band gets to their third of fourth album, the story of the band has already been told.

Japan is quite weird because they wait for you to say something before they respond. You can literally hear a pin drop, they don't make a sound until you say something to the crowd.

It's better for the listener to interpret their own meanings to the music.

I'm not a betting man.

I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. It reminds me of when we were just starting out because we would open for other bands in the beginning.

I heard the Bloc Party record Japan before it came out in the UK as they are on the V2 record label. I think it has a great vibe and has great songs. I also think the Kings of Leon are right up my street.

I don't have a special place or ritual for writing songs, basically I write songs whenever an idea hits me, in my hotel room, on the road, in the plane.

Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman came to see our show, We all had a drink before they set off on their travels, and we kept in touch.

Big shows are more like events and small shows are more like traditional gigs.

A performance is only as good as the audience you are playing to. A lot of times you feed off of the audience, and we always try to give them all we've got and sometimes you don't get a lot back, but we've never been dead whenever we've performed.

We didn't really want to be an overnight success as that brings with it its own problems.

Avril Lavigne sold a massive amount of albums and she has to top that with her next release. We have four great albums behind us, and it's not going to be as hard to live up to that.

When I was a child, I used to cry all the time.

To be reserved, secretive, with a passionate violence that causes suffering.

In talking, shyness and timidity distort the very meaning of my words. I don't pretend to know anybody well. People are like shadows to me and I am like a shadow.

Aloneness is nearer God, nearer reality.

I do not understand where the idea came from that opera is only for privileged people, I am as happy singing before 70,000 people at the Millennium Stadium, as I am in front of a few hundred in a small concert hall.

I do follow a version of the Dukan diet, but I don't follow it to the extreme so a lot of fish and vegetables. If I want chocolate I'll let myself have a bit of chocolate in moderation.

I did once shatter a chandelier. I was singing with my college choir in Wales. I was the soloist and I hit the high note and there was this massive bang and all this glass came down from the ceiling. I'd like that to be my party trick if I can perfect it.

I can't leave the studio until everything is as it should be. And I can't put a record out unless I am completely happy with it. I never want to be at a signing and hear my album playing and think, 'Oh no, I could have done that top note better.'

I am fussy, about my diet and straining my voice. I know, sounds a bit over the top. But I'm not as bad as I used to be. These days I don't drink alcohol for five days before a show - very dehydrating for the vocal cords, and all that acid reflux. I used to ban it for a fortnight. Nightmare.

I am a perfectionist.

I always want to give my best and do the best I can. I know when I have sung my best and when I haven't. There can be stresses and hassles with time travel and press attention. I just have to adapt and find a way of dealing with it.

I always choose songs that I have an emotional connection to, and I often feel myself getting very emotional when I sing.

Growing up with my family gave me some of my best memories. I'd like to have a family of my own - slip away for a bit and do nothing but spend those early years with my children.

From as young as I can remember, I always wanted to be a singer... My mum taught me 'Going Down the Garden to Eat Worms' for a competition when I was about 4.

For stage wear and gowns, Julien McDonald, who is a friend of mine. I love that he can be totally over the top for stage wear!