WHAT does Francis Rossi normally do in a wood? "That's a leading question! Probably shag," says the Status Quo stalwart, who will be down down, deeper and down in Dalby Forest on Sunday, doing his bit for Forestry Commission conservation projects across the North York Moors.

The Quo are no strangers to playing in the great outdoors, particularly abroad. "We've done forests all over Europe, regularly in Scandinavia, where the weather is similar to ours, and it's so dark in the winter that they say they just have to go out in the summer all the time," says Francis.

"In Denmark, they have 250 outdoor festivals and I know it's unfashionable to say, but they're family events and they work really well.

"We're quite looking forward to the Dalby Forest show because, though we've played a lot of these shows abroad, they've not been done a lot over here, so it's a great buzz to be doing it."

Since their formation in 1967, Status Quo have played all manner of settings from holiday camp residencies to stadiums, from Live Aid at Wembley to a pub tour.

"You have to do all sorts of performing; that's the nature of performing. If you look at those young groups that come off the TV, they can sing but there's been no learning curve, so they're just puppets. You think, 'They look cute on telly but where's the personality?'. They don't know how to talk to the audience, how to engage them, how to put a show together," says Francis, sounding all of his 54 years.

The Quo, however, can back up his words with action. As Francis recalls, they will cope with any conditions. "We once played to 40,000 in a foundry, and we came out with soot on our faces, thinking 'What the hell is going on?' but we played!"

Will the Dalby Forest show be different to other Quo performances? "I'd like to say we're doing a special show but that would be bull. We go into summer mode, and this is a festival gig, but in a nice woodland setting rather than a field with 250,000 people and nowhere to have a pee.

"Once we're on that roller playing outdoors, we're just playing outdoors wherever. It's going to be Status Quo just doing what we do."

Francis is in chipper mood, buoyed by the success of Quo's Heavy Traffic album, released last year. "It's selling very well; it's a much better album than we've done for a long time, and we have to own up to that.

"Something happened when Matthew Letley joined the band on drums three years ago. We've got much more confident as a band, and I've started writing again with Bob Young, which everyone thought of as the Quo dream team," he says.

"We've been doing this job for years, we know how to do it and all we have to do is believe in it. We have a fantastic album out as far as we're concerned; we got a hit single out of it, so I'm feeling great and the band is happier than it's been for years."

Francis is writing new material but next up from the Quo will be a new covers' collection, The Riffs Album, their third such record. He has mixed feelings about a project that has been in the can since last year.

"We stalled on releasing it but it'll probably come out this year and if it keeps the band alive, and if it means we can stay with the same label we've been with all our careers, then good - even though it's possibly one step forward, two steps back," he says.

"I'm not keen on doing them: the first one was good, the second one was rubbish, and though this one was fun to record, doing two tracks a day, it's the peripheral Quo fan who buys it.

"But as much as I knock covers' albums, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra plays covers, Mozart or whatever!"

With his fitness regime, gym workouts and two hours of guitar practice a day, Francis Rossi keeps rolling along: "The more people tell me to go away, the more I dig in my heels and think, 'No, I'm not going to go away'."

Status Quo play Dalby Forest, near Pickering, on Sunday, supported by Little Egypt. Site opens at 6pm; concert starts at 7.30pm. Tickets: £26; ring Forestry Commission hotline on 01842 814612 or buy on the evening.

Updated: 11:45 Friday, June 20, 2003