No, we almost never improvise on stage. We're not clever enough for improvisation. We'd just mess it up.

I think people are just getting bored of the clichés. And I think people are finding more and more they can do different things and try other things out and not be dependent on ... whatever. I think that's a very good thing in music in general. And a lot of people are doing that a lot now.

There were so many things going on at that time. For the band and personally, with everyone getting into this music-business thing, touring, all that ? everything was getting kind of heavy for us. I mean, we're just four boys from Iceland.

No, that's just how it turned out to be. Usually we never have a definite plan of what we're doing. That's just sort of how it ends up. We just get together, set up our gear and start jamming. Someone starts playing something and the rest of us are just mucking about.

We tend to improvise and expand on the songs when we're on stage, and on the last couple of CDs, it was fine to put out something that felt unfinished, because we knew we were going to expand on it live. With 'Stories of a Stranger,' we were focused on how strong each song could be.

No way. At this stage in the game, it's like asking, 'Why not a sky-tram?' It's not in a let's-dream-about-it phase. This is not a theoretical exercise. The Tunnel is actually going to happen.