"Most world leaders have been on drugs," says Steve Chandra Savale, aka Chandrasonic, guitarist for ragga-breakbeat-punk collective Asian Dub Foundation.

"It's quite documented. Winston Churchill was on speed, JFK was on steroids, and, of course, most Russian leaders, particularly Yeltsin, were complete alcoholics. Supposedly when Brezhnev ordered the invasion of Afghanistan, he was drunk."

Savale is talking me through the inspiration for "Altered Statesman," a song from ADF's sixth album, "Punkara," which was released here last month. Their new record finds the band on typically raucous form, trading politically conscious raps over their trademark fusion of bhangra beats, dub bass and distorted guitars.