I wanted to do live things, needed an audience. Geoff was more of a studio-guy. A real programmer. So pretty soon it was: nice to meet you, bye.

Most of the lyrics are over a year old, and it doesn’t feel like it’s about me. Time created a distance.

Let’s get one thing straight: there’s no such thing as the Bristol sound.

The music comes first. When Geoff has made something the inspiration comes automatically. His music is very expressive. But still is is a very difficult process: I have to add something to his music, not...

We’re not Bon Jovi, you know.

There’s not only emotion in the way you sing but also in what you sing. That way I can compensate it.

We’re hearing stories. Our drivers are telling us they’re seeing a lot of new faces.

We’re thinking about printing the lyrics with the next record so that people can find their own meaning in them. But then they would start having a life of their own, and I think the...

I am a very sensitive person, very impulsive and emotional.

You feel the music needs something but you don’t know what. So you start searching, fitting, measuring, trying. Every time you try another angle. And sometimes that’s frustrating, especially if you don’t come up with...

I’ve had a wordless phase, and that’s still not entirely over: what I sing is not always literally meant that way, and you can hear that in the way it is sung.

I thought I had a clear picture of death, but now I know it’s a mystery and it will always be a mystery, although it is something we all have in common: everybody knows that...

I still don’t like doing interviews. I hardly do any… I hope this will be the last one for a long while.

I think that after a year of Portishead I’ve become a little more sober.

I try to imagine how we would live if we didn’t know we were going to die. Would we live our lives differently? Less careful, maybe? Less scared? These are beautiful things to think about...

I’ve just put my heart and soul in a song and need at least a week to recover.