We've never stopped being unstoppable, we have just changed our ambitions. After suffering the shit that goes with being on a major label and the huge pressures that come with chart 'success' we decided to opt out. We have changed gear and are rebuilding for a different kind of success. If this means starting from scratch, then so be it.

What made you decide to change line-up into a full band and ditch the distinctive drum machine sound?

We got bored with the inflexibility of the line-up, more than the machine. It got to the point that we'd done everything as a two piece and needed a new challenge.

Jim Bob seems a lot more bitter and twisted onstage now than ever. Anti-Britpop sentiments I can understand, but isn't he in danger of coming across as a bit jealous of others' success?

I think that Jim is a lot more dissapointed with the fact that so many mediocre 'talents' are being hawked around by the music press and accepted by the record buying public.

I have a mental image of the Spice Girls singing "Let's Get Tattoos". Would you ever write songs for other bands?

You are a sick man! We'd love to have our songs covered by other people, but I think that we'll have to wait until we are all dead.

Your website is an accomplished bit of cyberspace. Do you think the net is a good way of promoting music and Carter in particular?

I think that the net is a good way of escaping the petty confines of the British music press. With the net bands can get direct contact with the people who buy the records and a form a closer bond. News can be spread without interference or comment from sad, biased wanabee writers.

Did you ever have any faith in the music press, and if so have you lost it now, since the 'big two' rounded on you so viciously?

The 'big two' only started featuring us when we started to sell out venues all over the UK and Europe. They had slagged us off from day one. We were in those papers because we sold copy. Some journalists were and are genuinely behind us, but others, the sycophants, the liggers, the groupies (you know who you are) were very quick to change horses when they realised that 'public' opinion was changing.

Is there anything you regret doing (or not doing) when your star was at its brightest (Schofield apart!)?

It would be silly to regret anything, it has all been a good learning experience. I suppose we shouldn't have believed and trusted so many people.

Are there any bands around at the moment you feel a particular kinship with? Musically, I think bands like Bis and Dweeb are pretty close, and Mansun's "Stripper Vicar" could almost have been a Carter song. Any bands you feel you've inspired?

Bis and Dweeb are like everything that the media said that Carter were like but in fact are nowhere near.

I can imagine you having a pretty devoted fanbase. Have you ever been fanatical about a band to the same extent as some of your fans? And what's the scariest/funniest thing any of your fans have done?

I was a devoted Bowie fans in my teens, but I never even went to see him. The scariest thing that ever happened to me with fans was after a gig in Cambridge where I took a wrong exit from the dressing room and found myself face to face with about 400 fans who all wanted an autograph. I was rushed and got trampled on and pushed and shoved. After signing about 20 autographs I realised that they wanted the autograph, but not me, they were just shoving pieces of paper in front of me without a please or thank you and not even noticing my existence at all. So I just sat down on the ground and refused to sign any more and they went away thinking I was some kind of bastard.

Finally, what's next for Carter in the way of tours and releases? Can we expect to see you on any front covers soon?

The only way that we'll get on a front cover is if we kill a rapper or the entire staff of both papers are replaced with our friends and near relatives.