Since you hacked off all your hair, some have questioned if you've gone gay. Have you?

There were questions over my sexuality when first I cut my hair, but it was just another rumor that was laid to rest. When the British press has nothing to write, they just make something up.

Did the papers attempt to link you with another woman, like Melissa Etheridge, or maybe Jodie Foster?

The irony of it all is that I'm not gay. I've never had a relationship with another woman. They actually got pictures once of me and my hairdresser, who is a really good friend of mine. We were laughing and giggling and drinking coffee in Soho, so they thought maybe she was my partner. The funny thing is, she's married. I'm not about to commit adultery.

You've been doing ``Anarchy in the U.K.'' in recent solo gigs. Were you a big Sex Pistols fan as a kid?

I was a little bit too young to really appreciate them the first time around, but they're a bit of an institution. It was really when I met Steve (Jones, Sex Pistols guitarist) in L.A. last year. That's when I started listening to the stuff. I really thought it would be good fun to start doing the stuff, and it is.

At the official American Mel C Web site, they're saying that the boxing match of the century would be you versus Jennifer Love Hewitt. Do you think you could kick her butt?

Yeah! She's in ``Party of Five,'' isn't she? I think she's lovely. I'd never want to kick her ass, but I'm sure I could. She seems quite a slight girl, and I'm rather buff myself.

It's kind of hard to picture the Spice Girls' songwriting process. How does it work? Do you hum melodies?

It's always very different. For the first two albums, we spent a lot of time just talking about things that had happened to us when we were younger, or getting a bit drunk and having a bit of a giggle. Sometimes ideas would come that way. We'd listen to a lot of music and find sounds that we liked and songs we were into. It really varies from day to day.

Can you actually play an instrument?

I do play guitar and piano, both very badly. Guitar is something that I do intend to master and I will play one day onstage. Maybe it should be my New Year's resolution, to keep up with my practice. I've got two guitars and two pianos. How stupid is it that I can't play?

What's the toughest phone call you've ever got from Mum or Pop?

Early in my career there were some photographs of me at a party. In the background of the party, people were doing drugs. So there was this huge story that I was at this great big drug party. I wasn't taking any, but some people there were, like at most parties, I suppose. That was quite difficult, but I spoke with my family about it.

Is the Spice Girls role-model image restrictive?

Not at all. The way that we've always been as a band, no one has ever dictated how we should act or how we should present ourselves. We are good people. We are good role models. We don't go out and do drugs. We're very positive.

So it's a myth that every English person between the ages of 18 and 30 has taken Ecstasy at least once?

Drugs are a huge problem in this country, as it is in a lot of Western countries. I know a lot people who've tried drugs.

But are you one of them?

No. It doesn't interest me at all.

Do English people really eat jellied eels?

Jellied eels are a regional thing that people used to eat in the East End of London. But I'm from the north of England. We do eat lots of chips. We eat chips and gravy and chips and mushy peas, things like that. I've never eaten jellied eels.

You just got another tattoo, right? A pigeon or something?

It's a phoenix. I got it in L.A. when I completed my album. In between my shoulder blades. It's just to symbolize the phoenix rising from the ashes. It was a new beginning for me, with my solo venture.

With all those tattoos, you can't be buried in a Jewish cemetery.

I suppose it's a good thing that I'm not Jewish then.