A lot of places think that bigger is better. It's like consumerism is taking everything over.

I started to learn some common sense. Even just sort of day-to-day things. I started to cook a little bit more and try to learn to fix things around the house. If something breaks down, rather than call a guy, there's got to be more I can do.

My father was very encouraging.

To be honest, the first time round, I didn't think 'Fame Academy' was the worst premise in the world. You got people on, and they would write songs and develop themselves as artists. But then, instead of getting a little bit more credible, it got a little bit more ridiculous.

You've got to make sure that you don't have an airbrushed picture making you look like a 15-year-old cherub when your lyrics suggest otherwise.

Touring can be really tiring. I can get homesick, and I spend a lot of time on my phone.

I love melon! I don't love melon; that's a bit... Melon's my favorite fruit.

I don't discriminate when it comes to melon. I'm very open-minded. I really don't mind; I can't say I like any one better than the other. You can put them all in! A little melon mix salad, and I'm just in heaven.

One of the best things I get to do is meet people that have been to the shows and listened to the music. I still don't indulge in the social media side of things, so that's my way of starting conversations - actually hearing people talk.

I've learned stuff, and I've forgotten stuff, but what I do know is that it really is all about the fans.

I don't know if I've got the capacity for all of the creativity that I want to put out there, which is annoying and frustrating - it's kinda like torture.

Some people have just got a capacity for creativity that's unbelievable!

A lot of people have been very dismissive of me. I'm hardly the darling of the NME. It used to get me down a bit, but you reach a point where you can laugh it off.

My parents worked very hard for me and my sister.

When I got my first publishing deal, I felt some responsibility to try to write with the people that they were asking me to write with.

Whatever I do, I like to be the one doing it. I don't just like to get someone in to run it and put a name to it.

I never, ever thought I would get to say I was opening a show for the Bay City Rollers.

I went through a phase of buying a lot of masks, as anyone who has been to a party at the house will testify.

When you've displayed a weakness, you've displayed something a person can grab a hold of and attack you there. If you're not ashamed of it, who can make you feel bad about it? Nobody. If you make a mistake, at least you get to see them, identify them, acknowledge them and hopefully remedy them.

I like to indulge all the facets of my personality. There's none that I don't think, in a way, I would want to take away from.

None of us don't have a vice.

I'm at the point of view that I have to look after myself in various levels.

When I think of Paisley, I think of everything that has shaped my life.

The first time I did everything was in Paisley - the first time I went to the pictures or the bowling or the ice rink or the swimming baths.

Paisley offered me and my family a life, way back, and it has continued to do so.

The success was a difficult thing for me to get my head round. When it gets too much, I just have to disappear - to sort my head.

The more I watch politicians in action, it just makes me angry.

I come from Paisley, the same town as David Sneddon, who won 'Fame Academy.' When he was late for his homecoming reception in the town hall, they held an impromptu talent show. I ended up singing some songs, and that's how I was discovered.

Music is a good way to channel your fragile, vulnerable, needy side, but it's also something to rejoice in.

Sometimes the last thing you want to do is to go on stage and bare your soul in front of hundreds of complete strangers. Singing the same songs night after night can remind you of things you'd rather forget.

All of a sudden, my picture's in the paper, or I'm making a music video, and it's still the most surreal experience. I thought you could learn, and you would acclimatise, but I really haven't.

When things get too grand or too big, I struggle to keep up with it all.

When you're waking up every day, and it's all about you, I don't consider that to be a way to live your life if you can help it. I think people who know me know that I find time to enjoy myself and not take life - or myself - too seriously at all.

I try not to get too self-absorbed.

It's all a progression towards hopefully one day making a record that can be the definitive you can offer. Some bands come in with that at first, and the great bands never really stray from that. I want to earn my stripes.

Charts and learning the politics behind making a record - it's pretty soulless.

My best mates when I was 19 were all in their 30s. I used to go to all their house parties, and they were crazier than the guys who were 17, 18. They were so much more liberated than the people who were apparently shackle-free.

I am not steeped in all that angst. I'm never going to be Sid Vicious.

Sometimes when you get frustrated, your back is against the wall, and you come out fighting and knock out three songs in as many days.

When I've got time off, my feet get itchy really quickly.

If you're going to call yourself a musician, you have to go out and make music.

As I'm getting older, I work out what I want and what I need. And I just need to go home and see the people I love and write.

I know some bands that are precious about their new ideas. They're conscious of the fact that people can - even from mobile phones - begin to get clearer and better recordings of the songs... so they're a lot more hesitant to play them.

Sometimes it's good to just sing and let the words come out. Whatever comes out is valid because it's what you were thinking.

'Astral Weeks' is a brilliant album, and songs like 'Moondance' are just beautiful lyrically.

The first record I was really into was the Drifters' 'When My Little Girl Is Smiling.'

I just want people to leave a show and go, 'That was the most rockin' show I've ever seen.' I hope people can just roll with me a little bit - you know?

I was lucky to move around different cultures at an early age and have experience of different lifestyles.

I've never had anything as formal as vocal lessons.

I learned to sing from my mum and dad's record collection.