Get In The Van 20 Questions with Aussie trio silverchair. Valerie Potter finds out about heavy humpers, phone calls to your pets and stinking feet.

What was your first tour ever?
Chris: "The Big Day Out was the first substantial tour we did, with The Cult, Offspring, Ministry. It's a festival that tours around Australia. We were on the small stage and had a great time."
Ben: "It was around the time "Tomorrow" was going really well. They booked us on the small stage when it was just starting off, but I think that was better for us anyway. At Sydney the capacity was 15,000..." Daniel: "...And people were standing on roofs and sitting on the top of falg poles. It was crazy!"

What Cds will you be taking on the tour bus?
Daniel: "I think we'll have a stange mixture. I'm into a lot of old school hardcore music, Ben's into a lot of groove music, like Junkie XL, and Chris is into Australian pub rock music."
Chris: "The Slots- they're going to be the biggest thing in the year 2000! They rip it up!"

What's your favorite porn video that you take on the bus?
Daniel:"I don' know porn videos well enough to know their names. When there's inspiration needed, you flick it on, but I don't know any movie titles!"
Ben: "We saw this one that one of the guys who works for us purchased while we were in New York- it was called Heavy Humpers. Just from the title, you can guess what it was all about. There were very large ladies doing very large things...
Chris: "...With very large objects!"
Ben: "It was quite disgusting. Funny though..."

You have a reputation for playing practical jokes on your tour manager while you're out on the road...
Ben: "I remember one time, I think it was in France, we knew he'd gone out, so we went and got his key from reception and went to his room. First we short-sheeted his bed, then we put all this toilet paper in the toilet and melted choclate all over the seat. Then we hid the TV remote controller.."
Daniel: "And we turned all the paintings upside down."
Chris: "He rang reception and gave them a blasting!"
Daniel: "He said his room was in a disgusting state!"

What's your favorite silverchair song?
Daniel: "Mine's 'Emotion Sickness'."
Ben: "I don't really have one, I like them all."

Are there any songs that you now feel embarassed about, having written them where you were so young?
Ben:"Just one-"Cicada'!"
Daniel: "'Cicada', we fucking hate it!"

What's the weirdest bill silverchair have ever played on?
Daniel: "Sex Pistols, Bad Religion, us, Cypress Hill, in South America. It was really weird seeing Cypress Hill playing to all these Sex Pistols fans! But I reckon that was one of the best tours we've done."

What would be your ideal touring bill?
Daniel: "All the bands I like, I wouldn't want to play with- because they're too good. I like them so much, I'd feel so inadequate."
Ben: "I wouldn't mind playing with the original line-up of Led Zeppelin, but I know that's never going to happen. That's just a dirty pipe dream!"
Chris: "I'm with Daniel- I'd be incapable of playing in front of the slots!"

Who has the hygiene problem?
Ben: " Definately Chris!"
Chris: "What?!"
Ben:"Those babies you give birth to! We've definately got some pregnancy problems- within the rhythm section anyway!"
Daniel: "Ben's feet! He's got a certain pair of shoes that he wears for ever show. When you play the drums, you sweat lots and lots, and he's worn the same shoes for four years!"

Do you carry a spare sock on the bus? [Everyone looks bemused, so the Dino Cazares wanking sock story has to be retold.]
Daniel: "That's fucking disgusting! That's foul!"
Chris: "A spare sock?!" (collapses with laughter)
Ben: "Oh my god! Oh my god!"

Who gets the most shags on tour?
Ben: "No one."

Rumor has it it's Ben...
Chris: "It was Ben..."
Ben: "That was pre-girlfriend. I have sex occasionally but it's like- solo! But I'd never do it on a bloody tour bus! That's just cruddy!"

Tell us something about Anthony Kiedis that no one knows.
Chris: "He didn't tell us very much personal stuff."
Daniel: "He's not very tall- but he's very muscular. I wouldn't fight him."

Have you ever been offered heroin on tour?
Ben and Daniel: "No."

Why are you smiling Daniel?
Daniel: "I haven't!"
Ben: "Yeah, really, Johns. He's screwing chicks every night, using heroin. Er, please don't put that in there!"

What's the most pseudonym you've used to check into a hotel with?
Chris: "You know that movie Boogie Nights? We all use the porn star names out of that."
Daniel: "And whenever you go to the desk for your room key and the receptionist has seen the film, when they ask,'What name?', they look at you and go[gives dissapproving look']. 'Uh, just joking- it's not real!"

What country has the worst food?
Ben: "Japan, for me, because I hate sushi."
Chris: "I don't know, because everywhere we go, we order something that we know. The French are very explorative with food..."
Ben: "'Exploarative'?"
Chris: "Yeah- it's a new word."
Daniel: "I just eat vegetables,fruit and cereal when I'm on tour, because that's the only thing I trust."

What's the most stupid question you've been asked during an interview?
Ben: " A guy asked me what I'd do if I got a boner in the classroom and had to stand up in front of the class. I said, 'I don't know!' I thought it was funny, though."

What's the most money you've been offered to play live?
Daniel: "100,000 AUS dollars for a festival in Australia."
Ben: "That's pretty good when you think about it, for an hour-and-a-half."

Do you still have a tour mascot?
Daniel: "I think it's important to find a tour mascot for every tour, but we don't have one particular mascot. We usually pick something up on the first show, then take it everywhere."

Daniel, do you still phone your dog Sweep when you're away?
Daniel: "Yeah, occasionally. She talks back to me. I ask her how the weather is, she's like,'Pretty cool....'"

Is it true that South America women are teh sexiest in the world?
Daniel: "Yeah. As a whole. They're not necessarily the best looking, but I think they're the sexiest. You walk into South America, you look down the beach and you go,'Ahhh...!' It's just like a sea of sex."

Have you ever needed to take a shit when you're onstage?
Daniel: "No. I've had to take a piss, though. I just told everyone in the crowd that I was going to the toilet. I was quick, I was only like a minute."

Where do you keep all your gold records?
Daniel: "At home, in the storage room."
Chris: "In the spare bedroom."
Ben: "I've got a few things hanging up there."

What's the worst thing about going on tour with your parents?
Chris: "They smoke in the room!"
Ben: "Yeah!"
Daniel: "Everyone thought that when we were touring with our parents, it was like going out with your parents for the day. But when we got to a country, we'd disapper and never see them except when we went to bed, then you'd just walk in and they would be asleep. They were always doing their thing, we were doing ours, and we very rarely saw each other. But they only toured with us when they legally had to. When we turned 18, it stopped."