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There's all this stuff that is happening in Edinburgh now, it's a sad attempt to create an Edinburgh society, similar to a London society, a highbrow literature celebrity society.

I couldn't afford to go to drama school in London. Then I met with the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, and I fell in love with the city. It was one of the few schools that offered me a place. It didn't do me any harm.

London audiences have this reputation for being a bit too cool for school.

Edinburgh is where I started. A lot of the remixes I made were done in my room there, and it was a good place for me to make music.

I went to the Brit School for the performing arts in Croydon at 14, picking music as my main subject, and I'm so glad I did. I knew lots of people who'd gone there, so I always had my mind set on it.

After school I moved to London to get involved in music. I took the whole thing very seriously.

Edinburgh is my favourite city. We'll be doing a lot of children's theatre and galleries.

I used to say Edinburgh was a beautiful actress with no talent. I thought it was just like a shortbread tin. I think that's because I did six Festivals in a row there, and I never saw the real Edinburgh, just a lot of deeply annoying Cambridge Footlights kids wanting to be actresses.

The whole 'School of Rock' experience was really cool, and just meeting new people from all over.

You start in bars and then restaurants, then you want to get into comedy clubs where you feature, then you headline, and once you sell out clubs you're into theaters. I've been able to get there, and it's cool to do that.