In their ten-year career Mickey and his band have never really lost a certain natural style and simplicity, inspiring admiration from a public who too often see their idols lose the plot while going for greater glories.  Mickael Furnon submits with good grace to journalists' questions, which seem to him to be far removed from what is really going on in the group. Why should journalists be so surprised at the band's rapid production rate? "It seems just the opposite to me, it seems like we're not going fast enough. We did think about taking a pause, but we got bored very quickly. I'm always in the middle of writing new songs."  The workload recently has included a collaboration with Pauline Croze, a duet with Jane Birkin, lending a helping hand to Captain Cavern (ex-Cornu), and resurrecting Nopajam, led by the group's drummer – in short, Mickey is a dab hand at guesting with other bands and writing to order. His latest customer is Dick Rivers: the former member of the group Chats Sauvages asked Mickey to write him a few songs. "There's no musical link between us, but I found it amusing when he left a message on my answering machine. He's a funny guy, he doesn't take himself seriously. In his head, he's still twenty years old." The result of their collaboration will be released after the summer break.

For Matador, Mickey admits that he wanted an album that was a lot more poetic and focused on singing than on other albums. "I wanted it to be an exercise in style with a song like Matador, where I describe male-female relationships as if they were a bullfight. Where one wants to grab the hand of the other, who swerves away like a bullfighter. It was more about poetry than politics, because I'm a bit bored of the politically committed image we seem to have." It's this change of emphasis that gets to the heart of what Mickey 3D's fourth album is all about. More harmony and music, less political and ecological sloganeering. This is not a politically motivated album, and Mickey wants people to know! Although it's true that there is a whiff of the political in La mort du peuple on the role of a puppet president of France. Likewise, Il faut toujours viser la tête lays into international leaders who have the worrying tendency to regard themselves as the masters of the world. "It's not a call to arms, it's more saying "It's all crap!" But it's not surprising, when the Americans who think they're the world's cops, that people thousands of miles away who don't know them at all are going to revolt. I don't want anyone to think I'm a militant, I'm no more politically committed than the next person. Everyone has their own ideas. I put mine into my songs, but I'm not out to start a revolution."

If Mickey 3 D is committed to anything it is the artistic world, and putting their success to good use in the service of unknown artists. Their new production company, Moumkine Music has produced Yvan Marc's debut Des chiens, des humains. "We live in the same village. I used to accompany him on guitar at one stage. I want people to discover artists like him, and his deadpan style." But there is a major obstacle for upcoming artists which worries Mickael: pirating. "Listen up. If artists like us, who sell three or four hundred thousand albums have 30,000 of them illegally downloaded, it's not a problem. But if people are downloading guys like Yvan or other artists who are just starting out, they're records that they won't sell. That's more serious because they count on sales to be able to tour the record. If they don't sell a minimum,  then no one will book them. If I have any sort of message it's 'don't download artists who are just starting out, otherwise you are killing off their careers. Buy their album instead!" And while you're at it, why not get Matador as well, you won't be disappointed!

On tour from July 2005