What’s the most chaotic thing that has happened on stage at a Superjesus show?

We were playing at an Australian food and wine festival in London. This was when we were drinking a lot. How should I say it – we had sampled the produce to a degree that was perhaps more extreme than the moment called for? We never jam, but every song we played that day started becoming such long jams that members of the band were just walking off stage, going to the toilet and getting a drink. I did a rant at the audience at one point. Our manager was in the crowd, and he timed it: it went for 27 minutes.

We’re not like that any more. We were young and silly. Not only did we never play in London again, that was our last gig as the Superjesus. We broke up for 10 years! We didn’t even break up – we just sort of got home, said bye and drifted away. Maybe it was the shame. “If we never speak to each other again, it never happened!”

You’ve reformed the Superjesus for your first album in 20 years, with a couple of new members. What’s the biggest lesson that you’ve learned from changing the lineup?

Trust your own instincts – do not be swayed by other people’s strong opinions just because their opinions are loud. Sometimes my feelings and my opinions are quiet, so the loudest person in the room seems to be the one that gets heard. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that their opinions are the best.

You have to have difficult conversations when you’re deciding who is and isn’t in the band – in those moments, every word you say is important. I don’t think pointing out the bad things is necessarily advantageous. I try to point out all of the great things that that person has contributed to the band and keep the bad things really vague. I package it all up in a nice little basket and send them down the Nile – then they’re happily drifting down the river before they think, “Wait – what just happened?”

I’ve learned a lot of lessons in my time. I always used to think that if somebody was older than me, they knew better, which is a complete fallacy. I also used to think that a male musician must better than me just because he’s a guy. I definitely don’t think that any more.

I’ve heard your fans are requesting your new album as a CD. Are you pleased by the possible return of CD culture?

I definitely feel it’s coming back! People really love holding a record and appreciating an entire body of work rather than just a song. If CDs come back, that’s great for musicians, because we don’t sell music unless somebody buys a record. You don’t really want to travel with vinyl when you’re on the road, because it’s big and fragile and expensive to make. CDs are cheaper to make and they’re smaller. They are so much easier to travel with than any merch, even T-shirts. You travel with T-shirts, you need to have extra-small, small, medium, large, extra-large – that’s a lot of shit to carry!

What’s your most controversial pop culture opinion?

I am a closet lover of pop music. I’m a huge fan of Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift. I don’t like to tell people that, because in my circle that’s super uncool. But I respect people who work really hard to make good art. But in rock’n’roll, you don’t really want to be saying you are a fan of Miley Cyrus. In the Superjesus days, people would ask about our influences and we’d always say, “Oh, Smashing Pumpkins and PJ Harvey.” But in my heart of hearts, I was always too scared to say that I loved Wham and Culture Club! That was controversial then. But I still have a deep, deep love for pop.

What’s been your most memorable interaction with a fan?

A fan once came up to me after a show and gave me a teddy bear wearing a bumbag. Inside the bumbag was a VHS that said “For Sarah” on it. I took it home and put it on and it was this guy, singing a song to me at the camera. His girlfriend was in the background just chain-smoking and staring at him while he sang this sexy song to me. I still might have it somewhere.

He used to come to all the shows – and then he gave me that and I never saw him again.

Which book, film or album do you find yourself returning to, and why?

Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Big Magic. I’ve read it over and over. It is her ethos about how art is created – I have always felt it, but I didn’t understand it. I thought it was just luck if I created something. But after reading Big Magic, I realised it’s not luck, it’s about being open to channelling ideas that come to you from another world. It’s a spiritual angle on songwriting that, once you understand it, makes it even more fun. The ancient Greeks would say, when they created something, that a genius would come to help them. Every artist had their own genius. But as time went on, people started calling themselves the genius. So I try and call in my genius to help me.

Gilbert also says that you have to seduce an idea like a lover – you don’t want to be sitting at your desk with your hair everywhere and needing a shower. I clean my room, make sure I am presentable, light a candle. Then it’s easier to woo an idea.

The other day, I was working on a song and I was stuck for ages on it. I was telling my neighbour, and she said, “Did you put lipstick on?” I’d forgot! So I did, came back and had it done in about 20 minutes.

What’s the oldest thing you own and why do you still have it?

It would probably be my 1951 Telecaster Thinline Deluxe. It is a beauty. It’s my oldest and most precious guitar. I’ll go get it – oh shit, now you can see I am in my underwear. Well, that’s the benefit of being on Zoom!

I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often, to be honest. What’s been your most cringeworthy run-in with a celebrity?

I met Courtney Love at a party. It was a long time ago, so I was smoking a cigarette inside. I’ve always been a big fan of hers, so I was scared when she came over to talk to me. She is a very close talker! She said she’d heard about the band and started telling me all this songwriting advice that she had been given by Billy Corgan. But she was standing so close, her face was almost touching my face. It was so uncomfortable – I didn’t know what to do, because I’m a fan, and I’m also scared of her! She grabbed my cigarette out of my mouth and started smoking it – she went to hand it back to me, and I just went, “You can have it.”

Do you have a nemesis?

Oh yeah! You have got to have a nemesis. I don’t want to say who it is, but I use them to silently cultivate a competitiveness to push me harder, keep me driven. I never say who the nemesis is, because that would ruin it and make it weird. I think everyone should have a nemesis. That’s how you get shit done. It’s got to be someone that does something similar to what you do – that’s why I don’t name who it is, because I’m always coming across them.

Do you have a party trick?

I can play legit airdrums with my toes. I spread my little toes to play the hi-hats out at the sides and my two big toes in the middle are the kick and the snare. I used to take my shoes off and play music with my toes at parties all the time. People would sit around and jam with me! Who doesn’t want to jam around with toes?

Thank you. I promise not to mention you were in your undies the whole time.

Nah, do! It’s funny.

• The Superjesus are touring Australia in June and July. Their new album, The Superjesus, is out now.