Mick Hucknall: It was 1985 and the song was 'Money's Too Tight To Mention'.

Mick Hucknall: Probably. I've always sung it live and I find that easier. I'm not very good at lip-synching.

Mick Hucknall: I think the overall memory would be the variation of hairstyles from 1985 to now. When I got an Ivor Novello last year they put up pictures from when I first started and the bit that freaked me out was the hairstyles. I was in complete shock. Some of them were quite ridiculous.

Mick Hucknall: This album has taken me two years to make. It took me eight months to write the songs and the rest of the time to record and mix the album. I spent a year in Southern Italy, working out and making wine. The first batch comes out in November. I'm quite excited about that.

Mick Hucknall: 'Il Cantante' which is Italian for 'The Singer'.

Mick Hucknall: That's a bit supermarket, isn't it. I'm not making that many bottles.

Mick Hucknall: When we did the album 'Blue' I started to talking to my manager about where I was going to go when I got out of contract. Over the years I became more disillusioned over the money I was paying for the recordings and then I didn't own them. That really bothers me. I wanted to devise a way that whatever I paid for I owned, which I think is fair enough. I wanted to start up a little cottage industry. If you start small then it can only get bigger. We're a little indie label and it's going pretty well.

Mick Hucknall: There's more pressure in a way but it's the sort of pressure that I like. I had this album finished three times and I went to my management and say, "Here it is" and they'd play it and say, "No, it isn't". I was really upset the first time - my ego was bruised and I'd go back home and say, "I'm quitting" and get all emotional. I just kept going back and improving it until everybody was satisfied and that's great to work that way. I've got a great team around me; they're not sychophants or yes men and think that's good for anybody.

Mick Hucknall: Yeah. It's changed enormously. Now it's for the quick sell. It's a shame because the younger artists don't get a chance to nurture their work. When I started I was thinking about the bands that were on Live Aid, how much they'd been nurtured and recording and touring they'd done. I keep using the example of U2. I don't think they broke until their fourth or fifth album. In the current market you wouldn't even get a chance after two albums if you didn't happen. I think they're paying the price now. They're selling music like soap powder. I came into this to make music, that's what I love to do, and now I've set up my own independent label I can focus on making music and not making soap powder. I feel good about that.

Mick Hucknall: I'm a really big fan of Dr Dre. I've liked his work ever since his first album 'The Chronic'. I really liked the sounds and the rhythms are really phat. I quite like the last Travis album. There are odd R and B tracks I like because the melody grabs me. There isn't someone out there who I think is the new messiah or that's really killing me, say like from the classic era, such as Bob Marley, The Beatles or Jimi Hendrix.

Mick Hucknall: Not really, no.