Bat For Lashes star Natasha Khan fears the music industry has been over-run with drugs and alcohol amid a culture of "self-destruction" among young male musicians.

The singer fears many men in the industry embrace the dark side of the music industry as it makes them feel like they are "cool" and "rock 'n' roll", and female stars end up in trouble when they follow suit.

Khan is convinced there should be more protection for women when they are starting out.

She tells Britain's The Times, "I met Elly Jackson from La Roux the other day and we were chatting about how there has been an upsurge in female artists recently, but how, when you get a manager, they don't say, 'These are the things you need to do to support yourself so don't go mad'. That if you drink loads of alcohol before a show it will f**k you up... Health-wise, I've been in dodgy places because I've pushed myself too hard."

She adds of her male contemporaries, "They don't eat. They don't sleep... There's that narrative of self-destruction, which boys love to do. There's a lot of drinking and a lot of drugs and I'm not really interested in them."

Khan insists she has even turned down the chance to work with certain people in the industry because of their bad habits: "There have been times when I've made choices not to work with people like that. I don't really want to surround myself with lost people, and unfortunately, in the music industry, that's the majority. That might sound stuck-up... but it's not when it's your job. You wouldn't expect to go to hospital and have drunk nurses doing bad jobs... and then go 'It's Ok, it's cool, it's rock 'n' roll'... because it's not... It's just... boring."