UNCUT: Did you have a plan or attitude underpinning the record?

PAUL WELLER: I can’t say we approached it differently from other stuff, we always cut live. I just think the strength of the material was more apparent to everyone on this record. Whenever anyone’s that confident about what they’re playing, it all falls in place, there’s an unspoken enthusiasm that makes it different.

How did the cover versions album affect As Is Now?

Well through doing that we met Jan Kybert, the Dutch engineer who got a great sound. Also, singing other people’s songs I wasn’t thinking too much about the meaning of the words. Maybe that fed into the way I wrote the songs for this album. I choose the words as much for metre and rhythm, it’s the feel of it that’s important, not worrying about how abstract or ambiguous they might be. Because no matter how abstract I make it, people will always put their own interpretation on it. Or not, as the case might be.