What drew you to music initially?

Apparently I've always been drawn to music – my mum tells me that I would move to the music she put on while I was still in utero!

You spent your childhood in rural WA, before moving to Perth in your adolescence; what specific problems did you encounter in this transtition and how did music help you through it?

Kids were just different in Perth. Different values, different priorities. And I really resented having to leave the place where I grew up, which was a pretty idyllic place. It wasn't like I was an outcast when I moved up to Perth but I guess I never felt completely at home amongst that peer group. But I couldn't necessarily articulate it then. But in music I found common ground with others. Maybe it was a doorway to finding some important commonalities.

In the bio on your website you describe in great detail the pain it caused you for your band Ochre to break up in America on the verge of a big breakthrough there... what have you taken away from that experience and how has it changed the way you approach your career?

I've become a lot more realistic and less idealistic in terms of the way the industry operates. This doesn't mean I've become cynical, because I accept that's how it works, but I do things less on wing and a prayer than I used to. It's also a big part of the reason why I've built a band around my songs and made sure that even though I have very special relationships with all the players in the band, that the band will never fall over if one of them leaves or it becomes unworkable. This means if something changes I don't have to spend huge chunks of time trying to get it all back on track.

Recording for the Highway State Of Mind album was completed almost two years ago; why has it taken so long to come out?

I've kind of got used to sitting on recordings. I've been sitting on a solo album for a year now and the same thing will probably happen with the follow up album. It's one of those things I guess... when you're self-managed and on your own label there's only so much that you can achieve. With the Highway State Of Mind album, we had a lot of songs to work up and pick through and this probably stretched out the time period.

You’ve become known for playing three-hour live shows – do you still do that?

All the time! More than half would be long shows. All our country shows are generally two long sets – like two one-and-a-half hour shows. When [drummer] Tim Stacey came in to the band he thought we were mad but he loves it now. The short metro shows you have to do just feel a bit like a soundcheck (if it's a 30 minute set for instance) and you're only just settling in and then you have to stop. You can take people on a much more interesting journey in three hours than you can in 45 minutes.


Simon London & The Spirits play the Rails, Byron Bay on Tuesday July 18, The Rev on Wednesday July 19 and the Chophouse on Friday July 21. Highway State Of Mind is out now through MGM

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