Following George Bush's surprise choice of Senator Dan Quayle as his Republican running-mate for the November Presidential election, we ask Carl "Cut The Crap" McCoy lead singer of Fields of The Nephilim and spokesman for a generation, to take a long, hard look at the truth behind the razzmatazz.

Carl, is Senator Dan Quayle indeed the hydraulic lift that will lower the Democrats into the fire of political purgatory, or is he, as some are saying, a reactionary arch-conservative behind Robert Redford's smile?

"Um... basically we're not that political, us. Politics is well, well... political really... by nature. I know what you mean by a hydraulic lift though, we 'ad one of those down at The Marquee when we started using the New Marshalls. When you get to the stage we're at - I don't mean the stage at The Marquee, I mean our, like... position - you need... bigger things. In that way, I think, for us hydraulic lifts are pretty much the same as guitars. 'Cept you can't play 'em."

Yes but Carl, are not Bush's recent thunderous attempts at a Churchillian performance in reality a tissue - thin, selfish diatribe that will eventually have him disappearing into the bowels of the Louisiana Superdome?

"I like that word... thunderous. It's sort of powerful. It makes me think of... thunder. The thing about thunder is it's loud and you can't do anything about it. It's a bit like us really, 'cept melodies are really important to us. And words. If you think about it, thunder's sort of meterological really, innit? Hang on, I know what you mean. Hiding behind a Robert Redford smile, it was the Sundance Kid. For a minute there I thought we were talking at cross-purposes.