You played on a few songs on Asian Dub Foundation’s album Enemy Of The Enemy, including one with Sinéad O'Connor. Did you work directly with Sinead on that at all?

O’BRIEN: No. I was a huge fan of Asian Dub Foundation. I got obsessed with them. And then we brought them out on tour with us, actually. They opened up in Europe for us on Hail To The Thief. It was amazing. And they were making this album with Adrian Sherwood, who's a dub pioneer, and they asked whether I'd play some kind of sustaining guitar on it.

I did “Enemy Of The Enemy.” It was a very short session. It was in the studio in Wood Green, and it was super cool. They were great, and obviously Adrian Sherwood is a legend. And no, I never got to meet Sinéad. I just did that little riff on the track. I think I played it once or something, and then Sinéad obviously does her stuff on top, which is extraordinary.

What was it about the Asian Dub Foundation? Why were you such a big fan?

O’BRIEN: I mean, they had incredible energy. What I loved about it was they were very political. They were like the Clash. And what they were talking about, and their communities, and being first-generation Asian Brits. And musically, what I loved about them was that they had that kind of dub element, that big fat bass and the drum and bass patterns, drum machine. Dr. Das was the bass player. And he told me that his bass riffs, which are very cyclical and repetitive, were basically ragas. You know, they were ragas from Indian music. So he was adapting them, and I just thought it was amazing.

They had an incredible rapper at one stage. The first rapper was amazing, Deeder [Zaman]. And Steve [Chandra Savale] was a guitarist, and I loved his style of guitar. He used wah and delay and Strat, and just really, really, really inventive. And I love that kind of raga, and I love the whole dub element. They really fused that amazingly. I just thought they were unlike anything else. And their gigs were extraordinary. They were so powerful, so exciting. I saw them loads of times. One gig was at this place called the Barbican, which is where we're playing. It's a beautiful theater. And it's all seated. By the end of the show, the whole of this auditorium were up, and the stage had been invaded. It was just a magical evening. They were an amazing, amazing group of musicians — collective, really. They were collective, if you like.