You walk with a different air if you're wearing something sharp.

My songwriting... it's almost like a kind of self-therapy.

When you open your mind up, and you go into a creative state, you can't just switch if off. When you have an idea, a creative impulse, and then you ignore it, it can keep you up when you just want to go to your bed - which is why it's great to have voice recorders on your phone!

Racism is one of the worst forms of torture because it's directed at something you never asked for and something you can't change.

I left school just shy of 17: I'd started going into touring and that situation.

I don't want to slip into Johnny Borrell mode. I don't want to be singing that there's nothing on TV, nothing on the radio.

Love is music, and music is home.

Really, if you've got people who want you to play, you play.

I write on the acoustic guitar, I write some on the piano, but I've been messing around with these guitar pedals and drum machines, educating myself in that world.

People make you feel like a bad guy for asking for seven quid for your album, like you are slapping them in the face, when they'll go and pay two grand for a scarf somebody knitted in a sweat shop and stitched a designer label on.

I don't mind being criticised, but hearing yourself described as the next James Blunt - that hurts.

I'm not seeking for answers; I just want to tell stories and state my opinion.

When it comes to the business side of it, as much as you might hate it, the reality is that you give the record company a sort of ownership of your songs, so you've got to make sure you're getting everything you can out of it now, because if you're not, then who is?

I've met such amazing people in their 40s, in their 60s, 70s, and they completely bely their age on paper.

Always wash your hands, and always tell the truth.

I'm neither here nor there about this Lady Gaga, but she's clearly very passionate about her poker face.

I've always got a notepad on or a voice recorder recording ideas.

I get nervous all the time. Both on and off stage. You just hope it turns into adrenaline.

Sometimes people don't know what is behind the words they use. But an innocent little remark at school can affect you later in life.

You don't want to go and make something, then go out and do shows, if you're not really into it. You don't want to go out there and make people feel like you're grudging playing them a song. That's a disturbing thought.

I think it was definitely a love for the four- or five-part vocal male harmony groups that really took me away. I'd always try and be, like, the fifth Drifter; I'd always try and find another harmony that wasn't there.

That's the good thing about music: you can sing about people's lives in its stages and feelings. Some songs can put something in context that you couldn't. They can free your mind or can make you think or can be redeeming.

Maybe it's the way that I do music, but I was never in a cool indie band or hung out with all the cool arty kids when I came to London.

I've always enjoyed the bohemia of Paisley.

I only became interested in clothes when I was in my mid-teens. I'd do things like spike my hair and put on a nice shirt, but I'd hardly call myself fashion-conscious. I just don't have the energy.

With the first album, there was a lot of angst. I was very naive. I thought I was on top of the whole thing, but I really didn't know what I was getting into.

Music is probably one of the most honest things out there - it's feral.

The way you react to each challenge forms who you become.

The people I admire are Tim Buckley and John Martyn - singers that grew into themselves and were honest. John Martyn is one of the great soul singers because soul is not a genre; it's a feeling.

When life hands you melons, eat them.

I thought about going onto the first one, Pop Idol. My mum was saying, 'Go on!' But I decided not to. 'The X Factor,' though, doesn't really seem to be a show about musical talent anymore.

A lot of places think that bigger is better. It's like consumerism is taking everything over.

I started to learn some common sense. Even just sort of day-to-day things. I started to cook a little bit more and try to learn to fix things around the house. If something breaks down, rather than call a guy, there's got to be more I can do.

My father was very encouraging.

To be honest, the first time round, I didn't think 'Fame Academy' was the worst premise in the world. You got people on, and they would write songs and develop themselves as artists. But then, instead of getting a little bit more credible, it got a little bit more ridiculous.

You've got to make sure that you don't have an airbrushed picture making you look like a 15-year-old cherub when your lyrics suggest otherwise.

Touring can be really tiring. I can get homesick, and I spend a lot of time on my phone.

I love melon! I don't love melon; that's a bit... Melon's my favorite fruit.

I don't discriminate when it comes to melon. I'm very open-minded. I really don't mind; I can't say I like any one better than the other. You can put them all in! A little melon mix salad, and I'm just in heaven.

One of the best things I get to do is meet people that have been to the shows and listened to the music. I still don't indulge in the social media side of things, so that's my way of starting conversations - actually hearing people talk.

I've learned stuff, and I've forgotten stuff, but what I do know is that it really is all about the fans.

I don't know if I've got the capacity for all of the creativity that I want to put out there, which is annoying and frustrating - it's kinda like torture.

Some people have just got a capacity for creativity that's unbelievable!

A lot of people have been very dismissive of me. I'm hardly the darling of the NME. It used to get me down a bit, but you reach a point where you can laugh it off.

My parents worked very hard for me and my sister.

When I got my first publishing deal, I felt some responsibility to try to write with the people that they were asking me to write with.

Whatever I do, I like to be the one doing it. I don't just like to get someone in to run it and put a name to it.

I never, ever thought I would get to say I was opening a show for the Bay City Rollers.

I went through a phase of buying a lot of masks, as anyone who has been to a party at the house will testify.

When you've displayed a weakness, you've displayed something a person can grab a hold of and attack you there. If you're not ashamed of it, who can make you feel bad about it? Nobody. If you make a mistake, at least you get to see them, identify them, acknowledge them and hopefully remedy them.