Paul Weller thinks he’d be in a “padded cell” if he hadn’t been recording music through the coronavirus lockdown.

'The Changingman’ rocker has spent the last year working on new LP ‘Fat Pop (Vol. 1)’ and he has admitted he was grateful to still have a creative outlet when the world shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Asked what it would have been like without access to a studio over this time, he said: “I’d probably be in a padded cell. I’ve no idea.

“I mean, perhaps I make it sound easier than it is.

“The songwriting part of it still involves an awful lot of finessing and chipping away.”

And the 62-year-old star joked he made the record so he could get a “break” from his young children.

Paul - who has adult kids Leah and Natt from his first marriage to Dee C. Lee, Dylan from a relationship with a make-up artist named Lucy, Jesamine and Stevie Mac with former partner Samantha Stock, and twins Bowie and John Paul and daughter Nova with wife Hannah - laughed: “I did the record so I could get away and have a f****** break! But I think I used [the time] wisely as well, you know?”

The former Jam frontman admitted he “really enjoyed” the first lockdown because he didn’t feel any pressure to do anything or guilt if he just sat and relaxed in the sun.

In an interview with Uncut magazine, he added: “Actually, I have to say, I really enjoyed the first lockdown.

“For the first time ever, you couldn’t do anything, so you didn’t have to feel guilty, and the weather was amazing and there were no aeroplanes.

“Nature was in full bloom and the birds were singing.

“When humans disappear, nature reclaims itself.

“That’s what would happen if we disappeared tomorrow. It’s us that’s f****** it all up.”