How is your wife Karin doing? Karin is doing well. She’s fitter and stronger, and enjoying following the reaction to the singles and videos. She’s come a long way this year.
The energy of this album seems inseparable from the circumstances in which it came together. Totally. A real driver for the album even existing was Karin. We were dealing with one world of hospitals, medical appointments, shock and bewilderment. Almost overwhelmed with the chemotherapy and its impact on her body. But playing the songs a couple of times a week, with no intention of making a record, was hugely important. We just lost ourselves playing guitar and singing together late at night. Then [Forster’s son] Louis started to come over, and then Adele [Pickvance, sometime Go-Betweens bassist] joined us. This was the most extreme example of music taking you out of your headspace that you can imagine. We were very fortunate to have the distraction of music-making – a lot of people don’t.