Robert Smith (IV)

Robert: (on how he proposed to his wife Mary) When we were in Miraval recording the Kiss Me album. She thought I was joking.

Robert (on making videos) I suppose videos are quite fun but I still hate making them. The last one we did for In Between Days was exhausting because I had to wear the camera strapped to me for five hours. We also did one for another single - it was about claustrophobia and Tim Pope (the director) suggested that we illustrate being trapped inside a wardrobe. It was the most uncomfortable 12 hours that I've ever spent. He ended up dropping the wardrobe - with us still in it - into a huge tank filled with 1000 gallons of water. Watching it you'd think is was fun, but all I could think about was dying a slow, painful death. We did Lovecats during the night in this old house which we got into on the pretext of wanting to buy it. We took a film crew and had a party and at some point made the video. We were sat outside the estate agents at six the next morning waiting to return his key. That's what I hate about videos - having to be on call from first thing in the morning. If I had to go to Heaven at nine in the morning I think I'd be quite unhappy. You also have to put so much into them so it looks like you're having a good time, when really you're in a semi-coma wishing you were home in bed.

Robert: (on performing) Five years ago I used to be completely immobile onstage because the music was so intense. I feel a lot more comfortable now, but I'm still not totally natural. I need to lose myself in what's going on. Sometimes I'll get to the end of a song, open my eyes and there's all these faces peering at me. It's quite horrifying.

Robert: (on songwriting) think I've written some completely brilliant songs in my time - and some completely awful ones. Overall I write better songs than 99 per cent of what's in the chart at the moment. I could write songs as bad as Wham's if I really felt the urge to, but what's the point? So many songs these days are very shallow.

Robert: (On drinking before going on stage) It was more to liberate me from my natural reservations. I got past it on Curiosa. For the first time in my life I went on stage straight and I found out I enjoyed it. I always knew when we were playing stadiums that I was too drunk to be good but it didn't seem to matter that much to people. It was more the event or the occasion and I got away with it more. I am keenly aware more than anyone of how old I am I've always maintained that there's something reasonably charming about seeing a 17-year old fall over after one beer too many and very far from charming seeing a 47-year old keel over after one beer too many. So that's another reason why I don't drink like I used to but I still have a fair go at it when I'm with friends. I acknowledge my age, but I'm not thrilled about getting older. Nobody ever is, but it's not as crippling as it used to be for me to understand that I'm getting older.

Robert: (When asked about wearing makeup on stage at his age) My makeup is pretty 80s, isn't it? (laughs) my appearance is preposterous anyway, so it doesn't matter how old I am. I don't think I look that different than I did 10 years a go, with or without makeup. It puzzles me why such a big deal is made about it when everyone puts make up on when they go on stage. If I didn't wear makeup on stage it would be very hard to discern my features. I haven't got very strong features so I do it to accentuate my eyes and my mouth. If I wanted to accentuate my nose I'd paint a big yellow stripe on it, but I don't. It's part of what I do when I go on stage. I wouldn't feel in the right frame of mind if I went on stage in bare feet on no makeup. It's part of the ritual of going on stage and performing for people which is in essence what reviewers have missed – you're actually performing for people. It doesn't come that naturally to me even though I've done it for years. I go thru this process when I go on stage, I don't need to wear that kind of makeup to put fuel in my car. But sometimes when I go out, when I went to see the musical Chicago I wore makeup just in case I was asked to go on stage for the encore (laughs).

Robert: My wife Mary. I love her, I adore her. I met her when I was 14 and we took a long time in coming together, giving us that chance, she's my Cindy Crawford.