I grew up in the suburbs of a small town on the south coast where the only opportunity I ever got to wear anything smart was a funeral, so I had never owned a piece of clothing worth more than £40.

Songs are about just being totally honest and putting those words to music.

I’m so used to it, I think I’d feel very naked on stage without a piano.

I’ve never really not played the piano. I’ve played it since I was six or seven and it’s something I’ve always done – I don’t think I could ever really play anything else, I would be a bit out of it without a piano.

There’s always a part of my brain saying: ‘Stop getting comfortable. Don’t relax.’ Because I find it difficult to write when I’m happy. I have to go out there and get battered up and bruised to write anything. I have to feel something.

I have always liked clothes and fashion. And really, being a British male, I am automatically the best dressed person in any room – especially in America.

What ever your doing right now, whatever your thinking, or worrying about. stop. take a huge breathe in, and just enjoy being alive.

If people stop being interested it's because you haven't written a good enough album. Music will always be the most powerful thing. It doesn't matter what record labels or journalists say. It's the song,

I don't really like over-explaining the songs. Everyone constantly asks what the songs are about, and I think the thing is that the songs definitely all have stories in them; it's just nice to let people decide what they are. I think it's important that people hear it themselves rather than having me annotate it.

I really want to come back! I definitely want to come back. Some of my fondest memories are in New Zealand.