Were you a fan of The Stranglers?
Paul: Yes. I don't really know anyone who wasn't. If they weren't, they had a favourite song or loved a song that they didn't realise The Stranglers had done.

When did you first meet the other band members?
Paul: I met JJ in a little restaurant in Bayswater one night when I was promptly asked whether I could read. We did a few demos at his place and then I met Jet and I said, "Come on. Let's just get on and do it." Then I spent four out of five days with them at Jet's and that was it. My life was a changed place.

Other than your vocal abilities, what else do you think the band saw in you that would make you the perfect band frontman?
Paul: I probably didn't take any s***. They tried a few things on me; a bit of psychology. I guess I was fairly long in the tooth and I'd been around a bit. Maybe my cheek?

Do you think part of the success was because your sense of humour matched theirs?
Paul: It's probably because we didn't all go to art college and were all desperate to be popstars. There's a shared intellect and integrity with us all. We don't want to do anything that we wouldn't like ourselves. We're always writing about some observations in life, state the of planet, state of politics. It's not premeditated. I don't suffer fools very easily and I don't think the others do. In the past they were asked stupid questions like, 'Are you going to have a fight tonight?' and they'd just say, "Oh yeah, because that's what we're here for, man".

You've been with the band since 1990. Do you ever feel marginalised? Did the fans accept you at the time, was it instantaneous?
Paul: I don't think it can be. The best quote I've got is that it would probably be easier to replace Mick Jagger than Hugh Cornwell, who I have a lot of time and admiration for as a writer, guitar player and vocalist. I think we probably get up people's noses because we carry on. We just do very interesting things. We started travelling round the world doing very unusual gigs. We went to Bosnia very quietly as opposed to some artists, who shall remain nameless, who thought it was a great idea to have your picture taken in front of the ruins in Sarajevo. We like to do things that we enjoy, that are interesting and that maybe we can help people occasionally. I guess that kind of stuff never gets talked about. 'Stranglers In Help Shock!'