Folkmaster - Who's been your greatest musical influence and why?

It would be impossible to name one artist as my musical tastes are wide and varied and range from classical music right through to rock. I suppose that if I was forced into a corner and had to name an artist to pin my coat on, I would properly pick Bruce Springsteen. I would pick Bruce for his consistency, honesty, depth and integrity. In terms of style I get influenced by lots of things, even stuff that on the surface I'm not aware of, it just creeps in there. Although I have chosen Bruce as the answer to this question it's in no way the full picture.

Folkmaster - If you could be one person in history who would you be and why?

I am very interested in late nineteen-century Welsh history. I have started to write about this subject on some of my songs. I think that this interest has come now that I am reaching the end of my thirties. It's a desire that I think we all have at some stage of our lives to look back at our roots and find where we came from.

I wouldn't necessarily have wanted to be any one famous in those times and would have been content to have hung around and experienced life in those days before TV when people relied on people. It wouldn't have been very comfortable in nineteen-century Wales as life was very hard but the thought of experiencing the era and struggling along with its people fascinates me.

Folkmaster - Where do you think the future of the Music Industry lies?

For me the Internet is extremely helpful, having done the full spectrum from major label to Indy labels, I now have the potential to do everything they have done and better thanks to the Internet. It means that someone in some small town in the outback of Canada can have access to my material from their living room.

Where it's going to take people I don't know! I personally still like to go out to shop and don't like Internet shopping, as I find that there is something very impersonal about it. The same way that just downloading various tracks and putting them onto a CD that an artist has created doesn't appeal to me at all.

However the Internet does give people access to music that they otherwise wouldn't have heard about. For example, if the radio stations won't play it and the suits at the record companies think that it won't sell and make them money, then it will not get the airplay. Now for the first time people can make their own choices, that’s where the net is wonderful. Fortunately for me its great to know that there are people that want to hear my music in this way.

Folkmaster - What is your favourite movie and why?

I do enjoy movies very much. My current favourite is "American Beauty". I also liked the eternal theme to "City of Angels" with Meg Ryan but if I had to pick one it would have to be "Platoon", not because its nice or anything but because of its message and how it made me feel afterwards.

Folkmaster - Can you tell me about the new Album?

I can tell you lots. It's full of my usual miserable content and my realistic outlook of life. It's a collaboration of songs that hopefully connects with the listener. It's meant to be about real life and that doesn't always paint a pretty picture.

There's a song about a refugee in Kosovo. There's a song about a buddy of mine that took his own life. There's a song that rants and raves against our obsession with celebrities in the west, for example 50,000 kids starve to death every day and Geri Halliwell wears a split skirt to an award ceremony and that's front page news. There's a song that deals with Celtic history. There's a Harry Chapin tale. All in all it's a whole mixture of story telling.

I feel that my job is like the guy in the nursery rhyme who says that the king has no clothes on. That’s not what my songs are like really. It's up to the people what they want to do with it. I always felt that the best music was the stuff that dragged you back into the real world. I like to write songs that will get a reaction like "Hey that guy is singing about me or something personal to me". That for me is what singing and this album is all about. I do feel that I have been doing this for a long time but also feel that I have a lot more to say and do.

Folkmaster - Where was your most memorable live performance?

I think it would have to be when I come home and play Cardiff, its always very emotive to be a part of that Welsh history and on the very spot where a lot of it takes place. I think those performances would have to be amongst the most memorable.

It's also great to go to another country and be recognised there. There have also been those occasions when I have played support for various people in huge venues like Earlscourt or somewhere similar. Those shows also stick in your mind but it's often moments rather than gigs, those little intimate things and the sense of community when you look up and you are aware that something kind of nice has just happened in the room.

Folkmaster - If you could use one of your songs to promote something, which one would you choose and why?

Right now it would probably have to be the song "The good in me is dead", off the new Album. It's an attempt to get into the head a Kosovo refugee and to comprehend the feeling of what it would be like to have your family ripped apart.

This guy is struggling with his own need for revenge and his own sense of violence. He is struggling with the fact that he had once known the grace of forgiveness and compassion.

It’s the human end of the decisions of politicians. He is trying to say that long after the events have gone from our screens and the happy and ever cliché kicks in, that people have to live with the scars of these dreadful things for a lifetime. I do some work with Christian Aid and I guess that this song is an anthem for them and the common man who has no control over his environment.

Folkmaster - When you are not involved with the band what do you spend your time doing?

I've got three kids who take up a lot of time. I also play a lot of golf. I was going to be a pro-golfer at one time before my career started as a singer (Martyn used to have a handicap of 1! He is now 4).

Folkmaster - Any venues that you haven't played that you would like to play?

I've played most of the places where I've wanted to perform. I haven't always played them in my own right though. When I played the Royal Albert Hall I was opening for Clannad which I really enjoyed. So to answer you question I would love to have the opportunity go back to the Albert Hall and headline my own show.

Folkmaster - If you could sit to anyone famous at a Dinner party who would it be and what would you ask them?

Probably, Bruce Springsteen and I would ask him if I could write some songs with him.

Folkmaster - What was the first single you ever bought?

It was Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West) by Benny Hill!

Folkmaster - What luxury would you take with you to a Desert Island (Normal means of life was provided and you were allowed an instrument).

It would have to be my family.

Folkmaster - What's your favourite track or Album that you have written?

I don't really listen to my music very often. I play it at gigs obviously and when I am making an Album so in a sense I am not a "fan" but there is a song called "Cardiff Bay" that was on the second Album that I did with Sony. It's about walking around the docks in Cardiff with my little boy looking at and reflecting on the changes at that stage of my life. I think it was the first time when I looked backwards and that’s not a bad thing.

Folkmaster - If you could be remembered for one thing what would it be?

To write songs that counted.

Folkmaster - Last question now, What is the most embarrassing thing that's happened to you on stage?