NMA has clearly got a strong ethos that has held it together and directed it over thirty years, can you explain that and how it has evolved over that time?

It started with the simple and absolute love of music and a faith in its cathartic and redemptive power. I think we became distracted by many other things at different times over the years but now it has just returned to that love and faith.

Despite being virtually ignored by the mainstream media you have retained a devoted family of fans and cultivated new ones across the world. Do you think the status of being an 'underground'  band has actually helped that phenomenon?

Yes probably. Because we are so far outside the mainstream, we have been free. And I think that people that love the band have responded to that sense of freedom.

How has the 'Today is a Good Day' tour been for you?

Long and very rewarding… 90 shows in 20 countries so far. I’m on record as saying that this is the best version of New Model Army ever (or certainly since 1985) and because the TIAGD album was recorded as a live band in a room, the songs have are perfect for playing live.

How does touring today compare to three decades ago? You don't seem to have eased off at all in that time!

Back then there were no mobile phones, not even faxes. You had to stop by a phone box at the side of the road to do business. You had to stop and show a passport at every border across Europe (and change currency). Venues didn’t have showers. Everything was cheaper… but you know what? Actually it’s just the same… Ease off? Life on the road is great if your companions are good people. I still think it’s romantic to eat rubbish food at 3am in an empty misty service station.

There has been no lack of inspiration for subject matter in thirty years, from Thatcher to bankers... Do you sometimes despair of the way history repeats itself?

Perhaps a little but then I realise now that it always has. It’s interesting how you pick those ‘issues’. Actually ‘issue’ songs in an obvious sense are a small minority of our overall output.

Inevitably, in a career spanning several decades close friends and members of the band will be lost. Many bands would not survive the loss of personalities as intrinsic to their very existence as your manager Tommy Tee was to NMA. Do those experiences make you dig deeper as an artist and songwriter and bond together more deeply?

I certainly think that over the last 15 months we’ve been more bonded as a band by the loss of Tommy. Maybe we realise no one is going to do it ‘for us’. Overall, though, death is as much part of life as anything else. People think that I’m a ‘fighter’ because of the nature of our music but actually I don’t find it hard to accept things as they come.

Since the eighties the music industry has changed out of all recognition, what are your views on it?

Oh that question! I don’t really think about it. OK. That’s a lie. I do think about it but I don’t come to any startling conclusions or worry about it. Music is music and business is business. They are not linked at all in my head.

Also, in that time the formats and recording process has evolved in undreamt of ways, yet there is something of a renaissance of vinyl as many realise it's unique ambience and quality. Your latest album was released on heavyweight vinyl as well as CD and download, was that something of a milestone?

Yes perhaps. I guess if you don’t care about too much about quality but just want to hear a low res representation of a favourite song, then you download an MP3 legally or illegally. If you want quality of sound and something to touch and feel and look at, then you no longer want a cheap jewel tray CD, but something beautiful – of which of course vinyl is the tops.

The tour culminates in a clutch of festival dates, what ones are you looking forward to most?

You never can tell which the great ones are going to be but I do like the setting of Beautiful Days in Devon and Wiessen in Austria.