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"There are so many things that I’m furious about", Natalie tells me. One of them is that I’ve dared to light a cigarette in her company. For this crime, I’m taken to her attic room in the Portobello Hotel. It’s a fitting place for such an elusive character, an ivory tower in fact. Here we discuss 10,000 Maniacs’ latest British tour and the remixed, revamped Hope Chest LP containing their dub-fuelled early work from 1982.

The concerts, like their Town & Country gigs last week, have been startling with much more focus on enjoyment and playfulness. Not only do the two-hour shows contain covers of Free’s Alright Now and Roxy Music’s Dance Away, but Natalie uncharacteristically wore a figure-hugging top. Is this a new galmorous image?

"Was I gamorous? Someone told me I looked like a girl scout. I prefer to see it as sophisticated, plus the band were begging me to wear something new."

You seemed to have a lot of fun, swirling about and chatting to the audience. Did you enjoy the concert?

"Half of it, the second half," she says. "At first I was really suspicious of the audience, especially when that fight broke out. You just don’t expect that kind of thing at one of our gigs."

One of the other unexpected things was the return of John Lombardo who left the band four years ago. Is he planning to join the group permanently?

"He left the group. I think he must regret it now. We had put in so much hard work and he left just before we became successful. It’s difficult...."

I’d been warned in advance that Natalie was easily provoked and prone to flee from "difficult" interviews. Seeking safer ground, I ask for her thoughts on the newly released compilation.

"It was fun to unearth things that people have been requesting for about a year. But I find a lot of those songs embarrassing. I’m sure everyone can identify with the feeling that something they did in their formative years isn’t really their best work," she says laughing.

But songs like Planned Obsolescence and Groove Dub seem like prototypes for the mature Maniacs sound: less polished, maybe, but nothing to be ashamed of.

"I wrote those songs while I was still at school - which gave me the chance to just spit out lyrics without having to formulate them. I didn’t even want the lyric sheet printed with the album! And Groove Dub is the most embarassing song I ever wrote. I was just spewing garbage. Dust Bowl is my favourite 10,000 Maniacs’ song."

Natalie still seems nervous and unsure, but once the subject matter changes from music to the bigger world outside she becomes as animated as Bugs Bunny on acid.

"I never thought songs like My Mother the War and The Latin One would have such an application to my life as right now."

You mean the Gulf War?

"Yes. I’ve this horrible suspicion that in five years time, America will be left alone in the desert. I don’t see why America has to lead the battle cry. There should be a more equal number of United Nations security forces out there. I’m not proud of the fact that America sees itself as the police force of the world. America has spent the last 20 years playing army and people joined it because it was a well-paid job. Four of my siblings are in the army for this reason. There’s so many people out there thinking, 'Why am I here? I want to go home to my family.' I think it’s going to be a bloodbath in the Gulf.

"Because of thse continual conflicts, songs about war never lose their meaning; but I think warmongers are monsters. There is never any excuse for it. How can you encourage someone to kill? War is Obscene! Whatever Iraq did was obscene and whatever we do in retaliation is obscene."

The above represents the edited highlights of Natalie’s anti-war rant. The full version lasted 35 minutes. What, I wonder out loud, is a person with such preoccupations doing in the pop playpen? Don’t you find the shallowness of the competition maddening?

"Groove is in the hea-art!", she says in her finest Lady Miss Kier voice. "Yeah! Deee-Lite and Technotronic! It’s like dancing while the city burns! People just don’t seem to know what time it is! That’s the thing that really frustrates me, that there is so little action."

Then from nowhere she drops this bombshell.

"Sometimes I feel like my entire life is a contradiction. The fact that I deal in petro-chemicals by making music that goes to the world through plastic. Millions of pieces of plastic have been created in my name. Somtimes I feel I should just stop!

"When I was 12, we had a dark room and I used to poor chemicals down the sink. Then I realised those chemicals went into the water supply I needed to drink from, so I stopped doing photography. I suppose if you’re a really great photographer it’s worthwhile."

But lots of people like your music...

"Yeah, but then a lot of people like Madonna and she’s made millions and millions of pieces of plastic."

This is not the greatest way to plug a new album, but then Natalie Merchant marches to her own, solitary tune. She’s a bit like the log lady from "Twin Peaks", distanced by her own unwavering vision. Despite her misgivings, there will be some new Maniacs vinyl next year, and I’m glad about that. Pop needs a deep end.

As I leave Natalie and immediately light up a much-needed fag, I remember her gripping stare, reluctance to laugh, and her overwhelming belief that she can help to change the world. Enough belief for 10,000 Maniacs, in fact.