You’re about to embark on a worldwide arena tour. Do you ever feel rusty after time off? 
I do, but sometimes those can be the best gigs. I remember last summer we played this outdoor festival in Canada, and we hadn’t played for a month. Going into the gig I was like, ‘are we going to remember everything?’ But that opens up some inspired moments because you’re playing to catch up with the song in this really cool way. Last year we played 120 shows. You’re not going through the motions in every one but you’re not thinking that much about what comes next or what pedal to hit. But sometimes the best way to have a great gig is to remind yourself that performing is a special thing.

Can arena crowds appreciate the quieter moments of a gig, or does every performance have to be maximalist to work in such a huge venue? 
It helps to go to a couple of arena shows and understand what the vibe is. When we played Madison Square Garden last year it wasn’t as crowded as you want it to be, probably 10 or 11,000 people; granted there was a crazy blizzard outside and it was the beginning of a new covid wave. And yet it felt really intimate. You can tailor the room to whatever you want it to be. It’s amazing because you initially feel like you’d have to go out there, shred it and blow it up. But sometimes it’s just nice to have a quieter moment. People appreciate a dynamic show, for their ears and just their general enjoyment of the flow. Once you realise that, then it’s easy to be like, ‘let’s just go play our music, play our show, play our flow the way we want, and turn this arena into a theatre or into a club.’ If you’re open to the moment and your shared experience, that’s where the best connections can be made.

Your lyrics contain murky existentialist questions, to which the soaring music itself feels like a rebuttal. Are you consciously striking a balance between melancholy and joy when you’re writing? 
Sometimes the songs I’m most proud of start with a symbiotic relationship between a small lyrical idea and a musical idea. It’s rare that I have a book of poetry or a bunch of lyrics that I don’t have music to yet. And it’s rare that I have music without any sort of melodic structure. I feel those moments happen. You’re futzing around in the studio, you hit three chords, you start singing in this way and magic happens. There’s a very simple lyrical idea and it tends to work perfectly with whatever music is coming out, and you’re like, ‘oh wow, there’s something here that’s making the hair stand up on my arms’.

Given the length of your career, it’s amazing that there hasn’t been a B-side or rarities collection yet. Is there a vault of unused material searching for a home? 
It’s funny you ask because I’m trying to write another record but I don’t have the motivation. So I’ve just been going through all my archives, transferring all my old tapes. I’d like to start releasing a lot of stuff that would excite fans of our band, a document of us learning how to record and learning how to try to write songs and arriving at how certain songs may have started. There isn’t a crazy trove of songs but there’s a lot of stuff people would like to hear; trial and error experimentation. But it’s rare that I finish a song and don’t put it on the record. I’m kicking ideas around trying to find something unlike the last few records I’ve made. I’d like to try something else in terms of how this band can interpret music on the stage. So I’m just trying to work as much as I can and try to be aware of what’s making me excited when I hit on something. 

Can you write on tour? 
Last year in Paris I wrote a song on an off-day with an acoustic guitar in my hotel room, and it’s the song I have going right now that I’m most excited about. Sometimes you hit a chord and you have a melody, and it doesn’t matter if you’re on tour or if you’re stressed and exhausted, it just works. That’s what you always look for, like tuning your guitar a different way; anything to be inspired. So, I can write on tour as long as my mind is open.

The War On Drugs, OVO Hydro, Glasgow, Tuesday 20 June.