David Gray is waxing lyrical. If there is one thing he will not do, under any circumstances, he announces, it is to let any of his music be used in adverts. "That's the position I've taken, however self-righteous it may sound," he tells me when we meet before his recent show at the Carling Academy in Glasgow, "but it's looking increasingly daft now when I see everyone else making a fortune by having their music used to sell cars or something. But I just will not sell out in that way."

Gray is relaxing in his dressing room, looking fit and well on this, the second night of his Greatest Hits tour. I had asked him for his views on the music industry in general and, in particular, the fact that so much importance is now placed on put songs in TV programmes and films.

"It's really strange now," he says, warming to the theme. "How do you tell how well a single is doing? The record companies just don't know how to react to it. The perception is that mass exposure through advertising is the way forward. But not for me."

Why has he chosen to release a greatest hits album at this stage? "It wasn't really my idea. A couple of years ago the record company offered me a fortune to sign a new contract and I didn't do it," he explains. "So they decided that the next album should be a Greatest Hits package. I was a bit cagey about it to start with, but it has worked out well, especially as it will be 15 years since my first single was released. And I broke up my band after the Slow Motion tour, so the whole project now seems very worthwhile. It will be a fitting close to this chapter of my career."

It has been a long haul for the 39-year-old Mancunian. Starting out as a folk artist, he slogged round the clubs, building a loyal following and releasing his first album, A Century Ends, in 1993. In the process, he became one of the top-selling artists in Ireland. But it was in 1998 that his big break came with the release of his fourth album, White Ladder, spawning the hits Babylon, This Year's Love and Please Forgive Me and mixing the folk elements of his music with electronics and indie. It has proved an incredibly successful mix and he might have been forgiven for leaving the formula alone.

I ask him about the change of personnel. "The only guy left is Rob Malone, my bass player," he explains. "Having worked with these guys for years and having travelled many miles in buses with them, there was a lot of baggage building up. I also felt that we had wrung every ounce of creativity from that line up. The process of recording the Slow Motion album was very lengthy and exhausting, although I was very happy with the end product. It was the first time I had really explored the production side of things.

"In fact, there is at least another album's worth of material from those sessions which may, eventually, be issued on a couple of EPs or a compilation, like I did with the Lost Songs album. But by the end of the tour I felt it was time for a change. I also felt that my life had been completely taken over by the recording and touring schedule. I needed to take a break, get fit and spend time with my family, which I've done."

This new-found enthusiasm seems to be summed up in the new single, You're the World to Me. "Absolutely," he grins, "I've rediscovered my joy for life."

With such a complete change, how much latitude does he give the new members of the band in terms of improvisation or ideas for arrangements?

"I wanted them to bring their ideas in. I know how I hear these songs in my head, how I want it to sound, but sometimes I find it difficult to articulate that to other musicians. But with the calibre of people I have now, I know that good ideas are going to come. We've only played one gig so far, but it was blistering."

A live covers album, A Thousand Miles Behind, recently released through his website, features songs by Neil Young, Randy Newman and Bruce Springsteen among others. Does that give a clue to his influences and how he sees himself in terms of singer/ songwriters in general? He seems embarrassed by the question.

"I don't think about it too much," he laughs. "My heroes are people like Van Morrison, John Martyn and Nick Drake, and there are some of my songs where these influences are fairly apparent. What I have tried to do is produce a body of work which has some depth to it. There is an unself-conscious attitude to my songwriting now that I trust completely."

Does he become frustrated at being bracketed with the likes of Chris Martin from Coldplay and James Blunt? Gray rolls his eyes.

"It does my head in, the way critics and the industry in general insist on sticking labels on everybody. When I was starting out, it was difficult to get any press coverage at all. Then they take an interest when you achieve some success. But now, when I am fairly well known, all they want to do is mention Babylon. That's how I'm perceived, which was why I was talking about deeper songs. I don't want to be known for just producing lighter material."

The follow-up to White Ladder was the darker A New Day at Midnight, with a two-year lull after that before Life in Slow Motion appeared in 2005. Is it time for new material?

"There are a couple of new tracks on the Greatest Hits CD, but I am halfway through recording a new album," he explains. "By the time I get back to it, though, it'll be about six months old and it will be difficult to pick it up again. In any case, the future of the record industry is in such chaos, with digital downloads, free CDs . . . who knows what will happen?

"I shall simply try to produce a great new album and then worry about how to get it out there."


  • David Gray's Greatest Hits is available now on Atlantic records.