TOTP: Are you mad at Franz Ferdinand for nabbing what's quite clearly the best historical band name ever?
Andy: I think ours is better so I'm not too mad! Theirs is probably the second best historical band name ever.
Davey: Their name is brilliant, but we almost called ourselves 'The Siegfried Line'. We were going for a Siegfried Sassoon vibe, but Franz Ferdinand definitely jumped in ahead of us with the old Second World War references.
Joe: All of theirs is First World War!

TOTP: Which do you think was the greater historical tragedy - the building of the Berlin Wall, the incarceration of Nelson Mandela or the birth of James Blunt?
Andy: You can't say that about poor James Blunt! My brother actually works with his parents, I found out yesterday! And he used to spell his name B-L-U-E-N-T until recently!
Joe: Blunty!
Andy: Err...it's got to be the Berlin Wall, hasn't it?
Joe: Yeah, that affected a lot more people.
TOTP: Bigger than Blunty?!
Joe: We can't carry on giving James Blunt a hard time!
Davey: We've never given him a hard time!
Joe: I mean one can't!
TOTP: Well he's number one in our top 5 wet popstars at the moment.
Joe: Well there's probably a case for that, it's raining the whole way through his video!

Davey: Who's number 2?
TOTP: Keane!
Davey: We toured with them earlier this year.
Joe: Everyone thought I was the singer, I had longer hair, and went out into the crowd and this guy brought his daughter up saying, "Hug her! Kiss her! Don't let her down!"
Andy: Tom's really tall actually! He's a lot taller than you would think.

TOTP: If you could go back to any historical period in time, which would it be?
Davey: It'd have to be the Wild West for me.
TOTP: Just for the cowboy hat or any deeper reason?
Davey: Just riding round on a horse shooting people, looking for gold!
Andy: I'd probably have gone back to the peak of the Roman Empire, just before it collapsed, which is what people are saying now about Western civilisation, that it's the peak of hedonism, over-indulgence and materialism, and I think that's the best time to be. As long as you weren't a slave.
Davey: You would have been having your arse kicked, you're English! They'd have been stealing your women and burning your crops!

Andy: I'd have defected! But they didn't stick around in Britain for long anyway, because it rained too much! They ran off back to Italy!
Joe: I'd be cheesy and go for the '60s personally!

TOTP: Would it be safe to say that you lead a pretty reckless lifestyle rather than a healthy one?
Andy: No, not at all!
Joe: We know how to party, but we look after ourselves.
Andy: I think healthy is the new rock'n'roll!
TOTP: You and James Blunt?!
Andy: Yeah, there's nothing wrong with it! I tell you what, Keane were a model of good health - white wine spritzers, and they go running all the time, they look great! We were staggering in, red faced and hung over! I think it's a good thing, stay healthy kids!

TOTP: If you were in a war, who would you be fighting, what would your survival tactics be, and also, what would your war cry be?
Davey: I always say we're in a global war against terrible music. That's our rallying cry.
Joe: The war cry would definitely be "send in the light brigade!", as we've got a song that says that repeatedly.
Andy: "Where's Florence Nightingale when you need her?!" That would be the retreat cry actually!
Davey: I don't know who we'd be fighting, it's so hard not to launch a tirade against hideous music of the day. I like to think that we're morally correct, we believe in kindness and caring and love, and all the old values, so I think we'd be out there fighting...
Andy: I think we'd be fighting ourselves actually!
Davey: We often fight ourselves. Or each other. We'd be fighting for a higher moral stance for everybody in general, fighting people who spit on the ground, throw litter and don't get up for old ladies on the tube.

TOTP: But surely for the greater good of the nation, you'd be caring for their ears if you were to fight McFly?
Davey: Then we should be fighting Marilyn Manson, as he's "the devil" apparently. They're just not even worth mentioning...I guess you could have a battle against people who don't write their own music, but then you'd have to get Elvis Presley as well, and that's a tough one.
Joe: Son of Dork.
Andy: But the early Beatles.
Davey: And Dusty Springfield.
Andy: To be honest, I haven't got a problem with McFly, but I can't really think of anyone right now who I'd desperately want to slag off.
Davey: McFly were talking about us on the Frank Skinner show.
Joe: We asked if we'd seen them at a Dashboard Confessional show, and they said they'd only gone to see us, as we were supporting. They said we were brilliant, and they left after us!
Andy: I have got a bit of a problem with Babyshambles to be honest. I think you'd probably be fighting against bands that should rely more on writing music than appearing in the tabloids.
Joe: There's no doubt that Pete does have talent, but I don't think he's the saviour that everyone says he is.

TOTP: If you could go back and meet any historical figure, who would it be and what would you give them as a souvenir of 2005?
Andy: Henry VIII, and I'd give him some laxative! Or give him some valium to make him calm down and stop killing all his ex-wives!
Davey: I would go back to meet Geronimo, a famous Indian war chief, and I'd give him lots of really good army equipment, helicopters, tanks and things, anything you'd need to beat the settlers! Send the settlers back to wherever they came from!
Andy: Or, I'd choose Hitler, and give him a Playstation so he doesn't ever leave the house!

TOTP: Hook Hitler on Tetris! Did John Peel ever hear your album?
Davey: He didn't hear this one, but he did hear the first one. There are different versions of events, but basically, I was claiming to have given the CD to John Peel, but really, my sister gave it to him. Anyway, she gave him the CD of 11 home recordings, and he played every single one on his show over the next two-three weeks, which is unbelievable. We were pretty impressed, and in America, everybody worships him, so it helped us over there, and everywhere else. Luckily, we were one of the last bands he got excited about, that he really got behind, and not only has it helped us, but people feel they owe his legacy something, and to be involved in that legacy is amazing.
Andy: Also, it's hard to sometimes feel that you're one of the best bands in the world, but when you've got someone like John Peel saying it, it really cements what you believe, and gives you validation for existing feelings. I know he used to play quite a lot of dodgy stuff...but he played so many bands, and if you look at the greatest bands, he was always one of the first people to play them.