Scene: some hotel or other in Sweden. Ben has his newly cropped mohawk, and he’s prone to running his hand through his now non-existing hair every two questions or so. Daniel looks like the world famous raccoon; his makeup is running and his hair is standing up in strands at odd angles.

I- interviewer
D- Daniel
B- Ben

I- (suddenly realizing they’re on the air) Would you start by introducing yourselves?
D- Yeah, I’m Daniel.
B- Hi, I’m Ben.
D- And we’re silverchair...yeah?
I- You’re from Australia, and you went a long way here. Is it worth going so far?
D- It is, it’s definitely worth it to come to such a wonderful country.
I- Have you been here before?
B- I have. I came here once when I was about 5, with my parents. I can’t really remember it, we came on holiday. I can’t tell you anything else, I can’t remember.
D- I’ve never been on a family holiday.
I- I hope you get time to see something because it’s beautiful.
D- Yeah, we’ve seen lots of beautiful girls in the last 24 hours. And beautiful buildings and beautiful sculptures (pointing to the back) especially over there in the lobby, as you’ll see when you walk out.
I- So, when and how did you start silverchair?
D- Um, we got together when we were about, how old, 14?
B- Yeah, 14.
D- And just started playing our own songs; we always had a thing to just play original songs, and we started writing, and then we got in this competition that we won, and got signed right away to a label called Murmur, in Australia, and that was it. We put out our first album. Yeah.
I- You’ve done, what, 2 albums now?
D- Yup.
I- Tell me about them, what kind of...I don’t want you to describe your music, but instead – what’s special about your music?
B- Well, the first album had 11 songs on it, the second album had 13 songs on it. That’s all I can think that hasn’t got anything to do with music.
D- (laughing) Yeah, I’d say I think he’s wrapped it up – 11 and 13.
Which means, we were able to write two more songs in 2 years than we could when we were really young, we only managed to write 11 songs; then we had 24 months to write 11 more songs, and we actually wrote 13, so we’re pretty happy.
I- So who’s writing the songs in the band?
D- Usually me and Ben here.
I- Do you remember the very first song you guys wrote together?
D- Yup, it was called Mexican Walking Fish On Tripods.
I- What is it about?
D- Mexican Walking Fish On Tripods is about this Mexican walking fish who thought he was a camera, so he climbed up a tripod and just sat there, and lived on the tripod. It was pretty good.
B- It was pretty stupid, but I dunno, yeah.
D- We liked it.
B- It was funny.
I- Did you ever release that song? Are you ever going to release it?
D- No, that was a bit too...that was when we were experimenting with funk. We used to be a hard core funk band. Just play stuff like...we used to do old school punk songs. This was after we decided to just play original songs. We used to do old school punk songs and funk versions, like black flag and minor threat funk songs, that was pretty fun.
I- One thing that you are kind of famous for is that you’re doing awesome music yet being so young and sound so mature. So what kind of musical environment did you grow up with to get so skilled?
B- My dad listens to a lot of B B King and a lot of Frank Sinatra, but I don’t think that shows in our music.
D- My parents listen to, like… I dunno. My dad listens to hard old school punk stuff, like Sex Pistols and The Clash, he’s into that, he’s always been into that. My mom listens to more stuff like Mozart and um, Bach, but I don’t think that shows in our music, that’s just how I was brought up. So it’s kind of this cross-pollination of old school punk music with classical. I think that brings out an original tone (trying not to laugh) in our music.
I- What other Australian bands are there to like?
D- There’s lots of Australian bands that are really good. There’s one called Spiderbait at the moment who are pretty big in Australia. Magic Dirt are really good. You might know such acts like (to Ben) who’s a famous Australian band?
B- There’s like, Army Of Prawns.
D- Army Of Prawns, yeah.
B- They’re pretty big at the moment.
D- Army Of Prawns, how many records did they sell? I think they’ve sold, I think gold is 35,000 in Australia...
B- They’re in like, triple platinum; they’re pretty big.
D- Army Of Prawns sold like 500,000.
B- Then there was Feedback, The Stolen Youth, No Reason; they’re all hell big Australian bands.
(Daniel’s got his head down and he’s shaking. Ben is running his hands over his shaved skull, grinning)
I- So (referring to Daniel) he’s just giggling over there.
B- We don’t know any of those bands, I was just joking.
(Daniel gets up, turns his back to the camera, walks away from it and laughs)
B- The band feedback, I was just joking.
I- I thought it was something else (laughing) you’re obviously jet-lagged.
B- Yeah, we’re feeling a bit silly.
(Daniel returns to his seat, still a bit giggly).
I- So how old were you when you got into the music business in the first place?
D- Well...
B- About 14.
D- Yeah, 14. 14 we were actually in the music business, we were friends and kind of jamming at the age of about 8. But we weren’t really a band, we just did some stuff for fun. We didn’t actually get together as a band and decided this is what we’re gonna do until about 14.
I- Pretty early. Describe the first year, how did you all react to this big fame that came over you guys?
D- Uh, it was a dramatic change to our life style, cause we were just really beach bums, all we did was sit around and surf and listen to music, that was it. Then all of a sudden we’re travelling the world, playing shows to lots of people and having to do interviews. We’re not really into the whole...all the music business, we just do it cause we’re into music, and all the crap that goes with it is just something that comes with the territory, I think.
I- Did you know what you got yourself into? Did you expect everything that happened, or...
B- No, we didn’t expect anything that’s happened to us, it’s all come as a pretty big surprise. All that we set out to do was just play in a garage and maybe play some gigs at our local pub or something. That’s all we really wanted to do. We didn’t expect to be travelling the world, playing to a lot of people.
I- Have you changed a lot, I mean your personality, have they changed since this happened?
D- Nuh, uh… I don’t think you can really ask us because we wouldn’t know. I think everyone has...we’ve changed, but I don’t think it’s because of this, I think it’s just because everyone changes as they get older, and we’re just like everyone else, so I guess we change as we get older. But I don’t think we’ve developed egos or anything.
I- Spoiled kids running around.
D- No, not really. One time I got a BMX for Christmas, so I felt a bit spoiled. That’s about the extent of it.
I- What sacrifices did you have to make in a grown up world where people expect so much from you?
B- Um, we’ve had to give up some of the sports we played, I used to do a lot of sports at home, you just had to basically give them up, and that’s basically it. Usually when we’re at home our lives are still pretty normal, like we go to parties and we go to school and we go to the beach and still do all of that stuff.
I- Yeah, how’s school going, can you finish school?
D- Yup, we’re doing our last year at the moment, so we’re doing okay.
I- So what happens if you’re in your last year in school and you have to go away for a month to tour, what happens then?
D- We have a tutor on the road, and he’s also like one of our friends, so it’s pretty cool.
B- We’re probably gonna go on to tertiary education, we’re all probably gonna go to uni next year anyway. Yeah, I dunno what you’re doing, but I’m getting a degree in music, I think.
D- I’m getting a degree in law, I think. Yeah, so it should be good.
I- A degree in law. So could you think about giving this up for a couple of years to do something else, or...
D- Maybe. Because lawyers tend to lie and they get a lot of stuff through bullshitting, and I’m really good at lying, and also we did a study of law at school and I came second in the state (grinning) and Ben, did you come...What’d you come?
B- What was that in?
D- In that tertiary law thing.
B- I came about 19th or something.
D- Yeah, in the state, so he still looked pretty good. So we know our law, and rules, regulations, etc.
I- Can you still hang out with your friends at home without feeling like “we have far too much life experience to be with them” or is it still the same?
B- Yeah, it’s still exactly the same as it was before, they don’t really care who we are, you know? We can be in the biggest band in the world and they’d treat us exactly the same.
I- So what about the money question? Is that not like “oh, they have so much money they can throw(?) this big party for us”?
D- Nah, they don’t take advantage of our financial situation. I don’t even think a lot of them are aware of it, and I don’t think they want to be. Neither do we, really. So we’re just the same as we used to be in terms of how we act around our friends and stuff.
I- Being 17-18, that’s what you are right now?
(Daniel nods)
I- Yeah, you’ve already done a lot of things that most people dream about. So what do you dream about now, what’s your ultimate dream?
D- I dream about...see, people in their teens dream about travelling the world and seeing places, and maybe playing rock music to people. And now that we’ve done that, we dream about the things we should have been doing, so we actually dream about sitting on couches and watching Telly, eating boiled potatoes and, (to Ben) what else?
B- I dunno; dream about doing nothing.
D- Yeah.
B- Dream about having time off and just being bored. Dream about waking up in the morning and trying to figure out what you’re gonna do for the day.
I- See, you did have to make sacrifices after all. That’s a big sacrifice, not having your free (interrupted)
D- It’s also got advantages, ‘cause it gives us something to dream about.
I- So what did your parents think about your big success in the beginning, and what do they think now?
D- They were pretty content with what we were doing. They didn’t really react at all. They didn’t care if we were successful or not, as long as we were doing what we wanted to do.
I- Did they follow you on tour in the beginning?
D- Yeah. One time we went on tour, and we had this 72 seater bus, so we invited every single person we knew – one missed out ‘cause we know 73 people exactly – so we took 72 people on this bus and that was it. So they were pretty happy.
I- (laughing).
D- We didn’t have any hotel rooms either, ‘cause it was too expensive, so we all just sat in an upright position for a month on tour.
B- That was pretty fun, though.
D- Yeah.
B- That was hell fun.
I- Do you have any other best touring memories so far? Something that was really cool?
B- That’s probably it. When we took a big group of our friends on tour for the whole tour and like (interrupted)
D- Bathed in saliva ‘cause there were no showers. Yeah, that was really good. That was a good tour. Where was that tour, off Tasmania, wasn’t it?
B- No, just the bottom part of Australia. That was for, like, Melbourne and Adelaide and Hobart, some of Tasmania. All around there.
D- Except we couldn’t take the bus to Tasmania ‘cause it’s a bit of a plane trip, so we had to shed(?) everyone economy class tickets, and then we all went to Tasmania and then flew back and got back on our Partridge Family bus.
I- A really bad tour memory, then?
D- Um…
I- Did you have a stage roof fall down on you or anything?
B- We’ve had plenty of PAs cut out halfway through our set. That’s happened a few times, wasn’t a great memory. But it’s all right, you know? You get through it.
I- So now that you’re turning 18, how does the situation change for you?
D- We can legally sign documents without guardians, we can (interrupted)
B- We can legally...oh, sorry mate.
D- I dunno, I forget what I was gonna say.
B- We can legally drink in Australia. Not that we do drink ‘cause we’re good boys. Actually, what’s the drinking age in this country?
I- 18.
B- In this country?
I- You have to be 20 to buy alcohol, but certain bars have an age limit of 18 and then you can drink.
B- Right.
I- What should I ask more...is there something special you love to talk about? Favourite subjects?
D- We like talking about famous zoos of the world.
I- go ahead.
D- Dubbo zoo in Australia has some fascinating life forms. Has a few panda bears, which are a rare specimen. Actually, Ben looks a little like a panda bear, I’ve come to the conclusion.
B- Do panda bears have mohawks?
D- Yeah, some do.
B- All right.
D- And I look like a rat.
I- (rudely interrupting) You both got your hair cut, didn’t you?
B- Yeah, we’ve had a bit of a change in hairstyle. We thought we’d better conform to everyone else getting their hair cut, so we decided to get a haircut.
(This is where the interviewer makes Ben and Daniel read a poem. Ben makes boom-boom-tsh noises while drumming on his legs, and Daniel raps the poem. Unsatisfied, the interviewer goes on to hand Ben and Daniel another bit to read, only this time it’s in Swedish. This appears to be painful)
I- Can we expect a new album soon?
D- Uh, not too soon. Next year we’re – because we’ve toured so much in the last three years, we’ve been constantly touring and going to school so we haven’t had a holiday in 3 years. So next year we’re hoping to have a bit of a break. We’re not expecting to do anything for a while, actually.
I- Do you have time to write songs on the tour at all? D- There’s not really that much time when we tour, ’cause all of our spare time is usually occupied by sleep.
I- I think that anyone who gets really famous gets a little bit screwed up. You look like really normal people. Do you sometime lie in bed thinking, “who am I?” Does that ever bother you?
D- Sometimes you kinda get affected by it, but most of the time you just adapt to your situation and live.
I- So what’s the situation with girls – is it easier now, or is it like you don’t believe in them, what?
D- We don’t believe in girls. We think they’re an invalid commodity.
B- We never get girls.
D- We find it hard.
B- Girls are like, I dunno. They don’t want to talk to us for some reason.
D- They say we look too much like animals. Girls say Ben looks like a panda bear and I look like a rat, um, Chris looks like a puppy (giggling) so sometimes he’ll get a girl or two, but as far as girls are concerned, we’re too...we’ve got too many animal features to be able to (interrupted)
I- One more thing about your music videos. I’ve already forgotten how that song is called, when you’re sitting in a house that has no...
D- Cemetery.
I- Cemetery, that’s it. Can you tell me about the making of that video? Was that really a house you were sitting in, or how did you make it?
D- Like a set, a movie set, of just this room, and the director of this video also did the first video off this album, and the song’s called Freak. And we just thought that was a really good video so we got the same guy to do the Cemetery one, and he was just really good. And we got a cinematographer to make it a bit more cinematic.
I- Do you know how much it cost to make that video?
D- I think it cost 25,000.
I- 25,000 what?
D- 25,000...
B- Francs.
D- Francs, yeah, ‘cause we like to pay in France, we like to pay in French money. That’s our favourite currency.
B- No, actually 25,000 krona or korona or whatever you call it.
D- Yeah, krona.
B- Krona.
I- That’s a real cheap video.
D- Yeah, 25,000 krona.
B- That’s how much it cost.
I- So I think we’re all done.
D- All right.
I- You’ve been...what do you say?
D- Uncooperative?
I- Yeah, uncooperative. Good luck tonight.
(Ben and Daniel take their leave; the camera follows them as they go).

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