We pushed to do things to please ourselves for once. We pursued the things we liked and made sure that we were all happy with the results.

The conditions out there were dreadful so I suppose I should be grateful for the two points finishes this time. I am pleased for Scotty, it is a good result for both him and the team.

Re: Ian Bell becoming England captain I always thought it was customary for the England captain to lose form after he'd been named captain rather than before.

There had been decisions from higher-ups in the past to put more of a pop sound to our music. For this album, we very much wanted to say let's not focus on making better pop songs. Let's focus on what we dig because that pop stuff is going to be there. (Vocalist) John (Popper) writes those kinds of songs.

It was hard for them to fully accept me for the first couple of years. On the one hand, they told me, 'Bring everything you got.' On the other, there was a real editing process going on there. They were afraid of what keyboards might bring. They got a little nervous.

I am really pleased with that. My lap times have improved by over half a second since qualifying and I have scored two points finishes.