Looking pretty ropey after a heavy night in Shirley Manson's hometown, Glasgow, Garbage are wheeled out for the obligatory press roundtable. Only Butch Vig doesn't make it - just TOO rough a night for him. Still, it was obvious that at least half the people there only wanted to talk to Shirley. So obvious that I felt sorry for Duke and Steve, essential parts of the Garbage sound, sat like spare parts most of the time. It was more than obvious that some people were there to hero worship Shirley for her role as a strong woman in rock (is that a new thing? - did I imagine Patti Smith, Janis Joplin, Courtney Love, et. al.?). First off on the round table questions: What would you like on your epitaph?

Shirley - I told you so.
Duke - I knew this would happen.
Steve - Better luck next time.
And how is the tour going?
Shirley responds that they haven't been in the UK for three years and were very nervous. "We opened in Portsmouth a week ago and it was, ah, not our best show. The last two shows have been fantastic so we feel we're up and running. Crowds have been incredible. We've been really amazed by the level of fan support that we've enjoyed on this tour.... We feel very privileged that we've enjoyed a career for seven years and we've still got people coming to our shows and getting into what we do. It's amazing."

Asked about the best crowds, Shirley says "they're pretty wild in Scotland. They breed them wild up there (laughs).... Each time you get a great reaction it feels like the first great reaction you've ever had." Thanks Shirley, that helps explain the rock'n'roll tradition of 'Detroit, you're the best crowd in the world'.

How receptive have the audiences been to the new material? "Maybe the record is probably a bit lighter. The live show itself is still a rock show; if anything, I think some of the new material is heavier than anything we've done before. Like Silence Is Golden, Parade, Shut Your Mouth are all much heavier than anything we've ever done before. The new record is so eclectic that it depends on what songs we focus on."

That leads, for me, to the question of whether elements of homage or pastiche have crept into this record. how would they describe it themselves? Duke mutters "Pastiche..." and Shirley wrinkles her nose up. Duke offers that "It's a little bit all over the place. I mean you can't just keep making the same record. We don't want to make the same sounds we were making in ninety-five, y'know. You've gotta move on and try different stuff and keep yourself interested in what you're doing and on this record we really felt free to not worry about whether people were going to think there's a label like you just used from years ago and are we going to fit into that and are they going to freak out if we change. We just said 'screw it', we're just going to try different things and see what happens and try to grow. It's taken some people aback a little bit because it wasn't what they were expecting but I think if you give it a few listens, y'know, it starts to make sense and fit into what we've always been doing - which is sort of taking different styles that we all loved growing up and bits of what's going on right now and what was going on in the past and trying to stick it all together and come up with some new combinations." That seems to me to sum up the bits of borrowing I hear in Garbage, the touches of colour from rock and pop's history, creating a post-modernistic tinge to much of what they do.

Do Garbage think their role as producers has had an effect? "Yes", says Shirley, "I think what differentiates us from so many bands is we've had so much past experience in other bands. We've been in alternative rock bands all our lives and you get to a point where you just want to explore and do different things.... Because we're older it's sort of the pursuit of an infinite goal,... just exploring music for music's sake. We don't feel threatened as people because somebody thinks we've made a pop record or somebody thinks we've made a pastiche record. We're making music for ourselves and trying to explore all the possibilities that are open to us and we want to go down as many different avenues as possible because we're curious about how certain records are made. You talk about the pastiche..." (and Shirley gives me a hard stare that hurts). "Great word, isn't it - pastiche?" interjects Duke, saving me from the x-ray heat vision. "Oh, it's a lovely word, sounds like a cake", says Shirley. "Like the song Can't Cry These Tears Anymore. We're fascinated by Phil Spector's production and how those records were made and we love the whole notion of girl groups from the sixties who really paved the way for people like me. Like The Shangri-La's were the first punk rock girls and I think we just wanted to see how these records were made and see if we could do it and see what it felt like to make these kind of records."

Shirley is asked about feeling proud to be a woman in what is, traditionally the man's world of rock music. "I think when you talk about Gwen and Courtney and me, I think that all three of us feel like rarities. There are very few of us left and we hope there will be a generation that comes up and does what we did. Except do it bigger and better and inspire more women so there's more women picking up instruments and producing and engineering and making a noise and being heard."

What effect do you think your music has on people?
Shirley - "I think it nauseates some and elevates others."
The diaries on the website make it seem that recording is a very difficult process for you.
Shirley - "I was miserable making this record and I think a lot of the reasons why this record is much more pop than the past two records. We had a very difficult time during the making of this record which made us seek solace in music and elevate us through making a celebratory sound. It was a weird record to make and there was a weird atmosphere between us. We'd been together, as Butch pointed out last night, we're having our seven year itch. We've been together a long time and there's a lot of friction between us at times. We love each other dearly but when you're stuck together for that length of time and you're growing together, it can be really stressful."

Why the album title 'Beautiful'? "We took the title from Celebrity Skin, the Hole record because Courtney's singing beautiful garbage and when I heard it it's like a great dichotomy and we nicked it. Yes, she knows, and we have her blessing".

What are your favourite garbage songs that you've done? Duke - "Er,… what songs were on the other two records…?" (Laughs). "Speaking in terms of videos and songs, I think Push It and the video for Push It were incredible. For some reason I'm going to Push It. It's not probably the strongest song necessarily but in terms of what we did with it, Push It came about very spontaneously, jamming, and Shirley came up with these different lines."

How about the band's imput into videos? "We've had our problems with art departments for years". Art departments spend a lot of our money coming up with ideas then they bring them to us and we're like uuggh! The first album we literally got a call saying you have to decide on a cover by tomorrow. And we were like 'what the fuck, we don't like anything you've shown us'! I had a pink boa lying around the studio so we photographed it and stuck it together and sent it in" Duke and Shirley enjoy the story so much they tell it together, finishing each others sentences. "Our favourite was Version 2.0. To circumvent the record company we hired this local artist in Chicago to come up with a cover for us. We'd never met him but we liked his portfolio. We went down to meet him and our hearts sank when he arrived in the door with a ponytail and flowing robes and asked us to remove our shoes. At which point we should have immediately known this was going to be a disaster and walked out but, like the idiots we are, we all tramped into this really shi-shi studio and he had, like, 8 or 9 young people and he took their ideas. He was like their guru. We could tell he wasn't listening. He said I've got 20 covers for you and they're all winners. He showed us each and every one and they were all shite! So, then we photographed my jacket and made the sleeve ourselves".

We carry on talking about individual songs then the perennial debate about record companies and about Napster and the internet before the band are swept off to soundcheck. I'm left wishing we'd heard more from Steve and Duke and with an awe for Shirley's presence and relentless energy and opinions. Garbage went on to turn in a high energy show that evening and you can read a review elsewhere on Vanguard Online.