"I never really intended for it to be such a busy year on purpose, it just kind of happened. I had recorded these songs that I had; just to get them out of the way and I honestly thought that was going to be the end of it. But then I realised that both my record companies were serious about releasing them. So I did the tour out of obligation and it wasn't like work, it was so much fun. It was like this really cosy tour. Travelling around with Martin McCarrick, Billy, my husband and Vic Chessnutt. I adore Vic, he's so great. My voice was EQ-ed for speech, so, for once you could here what I was saying on stage."

If it was that unconscious a decision, did it not occur to you that "Hips and Makers was outselling all of the Throwing Muses' LP's put together?

"No. Not at all. Well, I mean, I knew because Billy is also my manager and he mentioned it. But I stopped paying attention to those sort of things a long time ago. If I was worried about record sales my life would be hell. It has to be a more organic thing. These are my songs and I'm proud of each and every one of them. Once I write them they've gone out into the world on their own. That was the whole point of the "Hips and Makers"; some of the songs were intensely personal and Billy urged me to record them, just to clear the decks. So I did. Whatever happens to them after is going to happen with or without me. I guess it's kind of a mother thing. Everyone would like their children to be successful but not everyone wants their children to be rich."

So why do the solo tour?

"Well it's not very easy for the record companies to do their job properly if they don't have the help of the artist to provide a focus for the promotion and that wouldn't be fair on them."

You said last year that you were band-starved after the tour. Do the two experiences differ to such an extreme? What makes the band idea more appealing?

"I said sometime ago that I thought that throwing Muses is my touchstone. It's my home, it's what I do. They're my best friends and my family. No matter what happens to me I'll come back to it. I have no real choice in the matter. Besides it's much more interesting for me as performer to be with other musicians. I already know what my songs sound like on acoustic guitars, or what my voice sounds like without a band. But when I take them to the band, who knows how they're going to turnout."

This unpredictable quality is paramount in the Throwing Muses equation. A peak at their off-kilter back catalogue will stand testament to a career of experimental ideas. Whether it's the full-on howl of "Chains Changed", the dark brooding of "House Tornado", or the almost pop of "Hunkpapa"; the style, although unmistakably Kristin, is (at least) exceptionally varied. "University" continues this trend. The brash pop of "Bright Yellow Gun" and "Shimmer" to the more polished sound of "Snakeface" and "University". Does this mean Throwing Muses have made a more commercial album?

"Commercial? Well, it's not slick 'cause we could never be slick. But I see what you mean. "Red Heaven" was a much rawer LP. It's picture was not as pretty as "University", which I think is a more optimistic LP. When we sat down with a bunch of songs to record the new LP we found a lot of the songs were more delicate than on "Red Heaven". So we decided when recording to be more self indulgent. To paint a pretty picture of their beauty and spend more time recording things for tracks. Not that the songs were too fragile or could be destroyed. More that they could have a lush arrangement and we could have things smashing in the background. The sound of chandeliers crashing down and stuff. It was a lot of fun but I don't think it was commercial. Just a different kind of songs. Does that make sense?"

Does that mean that the songs are going to go more in that direction or that it's just the effect of having done the solo record?

"I write songs constantly so the quick answer is no. But I must be a nightmare to be in a band with 'cause I'm always writing songs. I cant help it. They just keep on coming. We've already done half the next LP, and half another solo LP. With "Hips and Makers" I finally did something that wouldn't upset all the mothers. In the past Throwing Muses have had people who find them impenetrable as rock music. Like, "Look at that girl up there screaming on the stage, there must be something wrong with her." So I guess that's a good thing. But rock music is so alien to some people my age. In a sense then perhaps it is the effect of doing a solo LP and it's nice to have something that non-rock people can appreciate. I do think that the songs go in waves depending on how I feel, or how the band is at the particular time of recording."

Has the various line up changes effected song writing and recording?

"We've been playing with Bernard for a couple of years, now, so he's not that new to us. He played on a track on "Red Heaven". But when we were looking for a full-time bass player I thought we were going to have to sacrifice solidity for melody or the other way around. Bernard joined and we have both. Our strengths all support each others weaknesses."

You're quoted as saying that Throwing Muses is a triangle of strength and power. Does that traditional idea of the power trio come from your own musical influences? And do you not feel tempted to add another guitar to the mix for live shows?

"I never really thought about it at the time. When Tanya left we just went on without her, and although I missed her it didn't seem an option replacing her. But, yes, I guess I do listen to a lot of three-piece bands like Husker Du and The Volcano Suns. I think Throwing Muses are a great band right just now and I don't think we really need a second guitar. Especially not on this tour because we want to bring the lush treatment of the new LP to the show and to have a second guitar would bring a lot of complications with the wall of sound thing. We do use a keyboard player on some of the songs to recreate the feeling on "University". But on this tour it's quite different than others. I've lost the fucked-up pedal I used on the LP and the songs are still quite different live."

It must be difficult touring as a mother. Do you find the two rolls clash or is the musical mum thing natural?

"I don't know. I guess the two rolls compliment each other in lot of ways. But sometimes it be a pain in the butt. You get up in the morning and you think about an idea but you know that it could be all day before you get near a guitar. Then when you do get in that room and close the door you think, "Where is my baby, am I a bad mother?" My youngest is over with us right now and it can be frustrating. But the guilt is there either way. Whether you bring them with you or not. You still feel bad about your chosen profession. But this is it. This is what I do. It's a lot like car seats; I feel safer when my child is in my arms, but you've got to put them in the special car seat because it's a lot safer. Then when they're in the car seat you feel like they're not safe and want to pick them up. The touring is all planned with breaks so that we can have time off at home and I can see Dylan, my eldest. I find the two things to be very connected. I am devoted to my family but this is my life. I feel the maturity is important in both. By definition maturity is trying to make those other peoples lives better. And if I can make those peoples lives better then I will be better for it."

This confident, assured and normal Kristin is a far cry from the splintered portrait that the stud brothers presented us with in that infamous interview. A fact she is only too well aware of.

"I guess that is something people think when they meet me. It's like "She's so normal!" or something. I think that a lot of my press makes me sound very dramatic and I know that I can be, but I have to go through the same shit as everybody else. Most days. But with the Stud Brothers I have been interviewed by them so many times in the past that I know them pretty well. So they came round to my house and we went into the kitchen and cracked open a few beers. I had been doing a lot of press that week and had managed not to mention anything. But I just forgot that the tape recorder was on. They phoned me a few days later and said "Can we use this stuff 'cause some of it's pretty personal." So I discussed it with Billy and we decided that we would be preventing them from doing their jobs properly if we didn't let them. I don't understand why people find things like that so fascinating, but I know that it sells with the whole Nirvana tragedy. It's still pretty ghoulish though. I preferred the interview Tanya and I did a few years ago at the ostrich farm. That was much more interesting."

In that respect it's much easier to look at the world of Kristin Hersh from the outside than it is to be Kristin herself. Still, her songs exude a certain amount of self-therapy. Even now when all those well documented problems are behind her.

"I always thought right up to the time when I was ill that I was writing about other characters. But when I found out I had a personality disorder it kind of leaves that theory open for interpretation. I would agree that song writing is therapy though. In as much as when I write it does let things out which are probably better off in a song than in my head. I don't think that you could be that objective about it. When something is happening to you at that level it is very difficult to see past it. But like I said I need to write songs, that's what I do. This is my life, and I like it."