Thea Gilmore interview: The folk singer on fighting Ukip, the demon she keeps in a cage - and why children are terrifying

I was furious about what Russell Brand said about voting How someone so intelligent could make such a dumb statement – about there being no point supporting a system you are disenfranchised from… it's deeply irresponsible. You cannot change the system you live in when you are not engaging with it. If you don't engage with politicians, they don't have to reach out to you. It's our democratic responsibility to get out and make our mark.

Ukip are brilliant fearmongers Their stance on immigration is a beautiful way to make people terrified. There's a Ukip stand in my town centre – how dare they peddle this hatred? Without immigration, this country would not operate properly; they gloss over that. If there was a Ukip-Tory coalition – well, it's the stuff of nightmares and I'd be looking to get the first ticket out of here. Not that another country would have me.

I've got a demon in a cage I keep him locked up for the most part, but sometimes something or someone will unpick that lock and there is a sudden eruption: suddenly this demon emerges and it can be quite shocking. I'm 6ft tall and physically imposing, so I can be quite intimidating, but I don't mean to be. It happens when people are rude – it nearly happened the other day with those Ukip campaigners in my town centre: I almost went up to them and kicked them in the arse! I worry about how angry I can get at things.

I don't think happiness makes for a good songwriter In life, worry and a good imagination are the worst mix – and I have both; but I couldn't be a good songwriter without imagination, and worry and anger are the things that drive me; people who are less happy do make better songwriters.

We have lost the idea of the lasting fan As recently as the 1990s, people could buy into a band and stay passionate about them for life. I was 15 when Britpop came, and even now, with Blur releasing a new album, people respond with passion. But we are reaping the consequences of living in an age where music is so disposable and trend-based. A part of that is the way major labels take the person out of the music – where they are really coming from and what they naturally look like. Young people don't buy into their music: they might listen to it, but they won't come back a few years later and say, I wonder what that person is doing now.

I've had some surprising collaborations on my new album Joan As Police Woman was the most unexpected – mostly that she said yes [they re-recorded Gilmore's 2002 song "This Girl"]. She brings a toughness and wiseness to her music – a bit of rock'n'roll that I, as a middle-England girl, can't quite muster. Billy Bragg is there, too, as he aligns with my politics.

Children absolutely terrify me I help to run a vocal group at my children's school [Gilmore has two sons, aged eight and three], and I stand in front of 30 children, looking at these blank canvases with all this potential and spark, who are looking to me for direction – and I think to myself, if you screw up their beginning, that's indefensible.

You shouldn't listen to anybody Life is so varied and multilayered that no two lives are the same, so anyone who thinks they can tell you how to live is talking out of their backside. There's only one you, and most people in their heart know the right path to choose – they only go wrong because they've listened to other people's advice.

Thea Gilmore, 35, is a singer-songwriter. Her new album, 'Ghosts & Graffiti', is released on 1 June (theagilmore.net)