You've always been the mysterious bloke in Blur. Do you enjoy that role?

I'm certainly the one in the band that people know the least about. But I have no desire to be very well known or go out front and sing and throw shapes. You have to be a very particular kind of extrovert to be able to do that kind of thing and you have to work twice as hard at being a celebrity if you're a drummer. And there's a bad precedent for drummers that do that because they always seem to die: Keith Moon, John Bonham.

Do you think you get paid too much?

Well, it would be very hard to complain about it. But we've worked incredibly hard. Away for six months of the year, haven't had a day off since God knows when. Nothing worse that moaning musicians, is there? But we don't actually earn stupid amounts of money. I don't know if I earn more than anyone who had slaved away for six years to get to the top of their proffession.

But you fly planes. It's a rich man's hobby, Dave Gillmour flies a planes.

so I'm told, but being in a band isn't all I could do. I could have earned a pretty good living out of being a computer programmer, I was equally good at that as I am this.

Are you aware of the wierdness of Blur's world?

You do tend to get a bit cocooned. There's always people around you making sure you're all right. It's a shock when you eventually get to go down to the shops on your own and there's no one there to help you do your shopping.

You are tee-total, have you "done your drinking"??

I've had my hangovers. I was a pretty miserable drunk. It hadn't suited me chemically for a number of years, but you don't realise it for ages. You have to be told by absolutely everyone before you take it on board. It's a hard thing to do. But it was definately affecting me mentally. A lot of the time in a band, drinking is all you can do to unwind. For an hour after a gig you're striding around the dressing room knighting people. I rarely go to sleep before three in the morning - and that's with the porn channel on.

Do you look out for each other?

It's very brotherly. It's interesting that all of us have got one sister and none of us have brothers. And we do look after each other like brothers.

What would split Blur up?

If anyone left. That would do it.