The 5-minute Interview: Mark Chadwick, singer

'After years dreaming of music festivals I finally organised one'

Mark Chadwick, 41, is the lead singer and guitarist of The Levellers, a British folk-punk band with a reputation for championing green and anti-capitalist issues. The band celebrates its20th anniversary this year

If I weren't talking to you right now I'd be...

Eating boiled eggs and soldiers at Teddy's tea room in Shoreham, West Sussex.

A phrase I use far too often is...

Trust me: everything will be fine.

I wish people would take more notice of...

The increasing erosion of communities – it's reached the point where you can no longer find a pub or post office anywhere any more.

The most surprising thing that happened to me was...

After spending years dreaming about music festivals and attending them I finally ended up organising one, the Beautiful Days festival in the West Country.

A common misperception of me is...

That I am a party animal. Now I prefer the quiet life.

I am not a politician but...

Actually, I nearly was and have been approached by Labour, the Lib Dems, the Socialist Workers Party, the Green Party and a number of militant groups. I just found the back-stabbing intolerable.

I am good at...

Using music and conversation to make people think in a different way.

I'm very bad at...

Settling into any routine

The ideal night out is...

Sitting in a pub garden with some friends watching the sun go down.

In moments of weakness...

I bury my head in the sand.

You know me as the leader of a rock band but in a truer life...

I'd have tried to start a movement that broke out of left and right-wing swing politics.

The best age to be is...

38, which I have been for three years now. I'm afraid everyone else is going to have to carry on getting older without me.

In a nutshell, my philosophy is...

Please, please think for yourself.

Robert Verkaik