Your Round

Live's second album, 1994's 'Throwing Copper', sold over eight million copies, which makes them not short of a quid ot two. On a recent trip to London to promote the follow-up, 'Secret Samadhi', they were (unsuprisingly) in the mood for a bevvy or three, and with all the money they've earned, you'd think it would be their round! But, as not one of the American quartet makes a move for the bar, Dave Ling reluctantly says, "I'll get the drinks." Our fearless writer was last seen at the Abbey National, applying for a second mortgage...

ROUND 1 TOPIC: WHAT DOES THE TITLE OF THE NEW SINGLE 'LAKINI'S JUICE' MEAN?

ED KOWALCZYK: "It doesn't have a specific meaning, it's more a behind-the-brain thing. It's one of the album's darkest, densest and moodiest songs and it's conducive to this very cerebral emotion. Lakini was a deity - a real destructive deity, who would rip out your guts and eat them on a battlefield."

CHAD TAYLOR: "We've all met a woman or two like that!"

ED: "But the song's about redemption through death, figuring out the shit that we're in via the bottom of the toilet bowl."

WHAT ABOUT THE ALBUM TITLE, 'SECRET SAMADHI'?

ED: "A samadhi is a spiritual realisation, but the title works on two levels. Firstly to the band, because when we write and play the songs, we enter into the samadhi - a profound state. And we purposely go there. And secondly, the last album ('Throwing Copper') had a title that didn't mean anything. This title implies a confidence that just wasn't there with the last record. This is Live and this is it!"

ROUND 2 TOPIC: WHY THE DELAY IN FOLLOWING UP 'THROWING COPPER'?

ED:"We were an unknown band playing 300 seater clubs when 'Throwing Copper' came out in April 1994. We took it to 25,000 seater arenas in the States, but it took a while. To the original fans, that's a long time to wait for another record, but to those who found out about us a year later, it's not so bad. We've only been off the road for a year and three months."

CHAD T:"In the future, it'll be even less. In fact, I don't think bands will make albums. With the Internet, Live probably won't even have a record company. We'll record a song and download it five minutes later. We want to give our music away - it should be free. We should make our living playing live. I want this music to be instantaneous and easily available."

ROUND 3 TOPIC: WHAT'S THE MOST EXPENSIVE THING YOU'VE BOUGHT?

ED:"As a band, we've just bought our own rehearsal space. It's an old bank, built in 1849, with gothic ceilings. It could be a temple."

CAN YOU EVER HAVE TOO MUCH MONEY?

ED:"Yeah, if your attitude to it isn't right. If you're a weak person, money can become your life. The four of us have dealt with it well; we're frugal guys."

ROUND 4 TOPIC: WHO IS THE ULTIMATE ROCK STAR?

CHAD T:"Someone with a lot of ego. Most of the time that comes from the media or the record company, not from the person. Madonna would be high on the list."

PATRICK DAHLHEIMER:"That is such a negative term. Jon Bon Jovi or modern-day Bono of U2."

ED:"Maybe Axl Rose. But in order to write good songs and maintain your focus, you have to lose your ego and get in touch with the music - not who the media think you are."

DO LIVE ASPIRE TO THE ROCK STAR LIFESTYLE?

ED:"Once in a while, we partake. If you have a long flight, it helps to fly first class. We let people carry our bags. But we try to keep it a balance between all that and staying with our simplicity."

HAVE YOU EVER WORN SPANDEX?

ED:"No, but we'd like to! We've joked about it. Maybe we'll loan some from David Lee Roth."

ROUND 5 TOPIC: WHEN DID YOU LAST BUY CONDOMS (ON THE NEW LP THERE IS A TRACK CALLED 'UNSHEATHED')?

CHAD GRACEY:"I honestly can't remember."

ED:"We're in monogamous relationships, there aren't any girls hiding in the bays of the tour bus. To me, monogamy gets a bad rap. Monogamy is way cooler than fooling around. When you've got that security, you can really delve into each other. But when I was single and on tour, I would always practise safe sex. It is a reality that this generation cannot escape."

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN PROPOSITIONED BY COURTNEY LOVE?

ED:"Not directly, but I've met her and spoken to her on the phone a few times (much hilarity in the background). No, Courtney gets a bad rap, but she's got a huge heart. She's kinda crazy, we all can be."

ROUND 6 TOPIC: WERE YOU EVER BULLIED WHEN YOU WERE AT SCHOOL?

ED:"Fucking right, I had the shit kicked out of me until I was 14. Actually, I bullied Chad - he was the link in the chain below."

CHAD T:"For the first five or six years we knew each other, we were enemies, until one day when Ed asked, 'Can I come over and sing with you guys?' And I thought, 'Ed? Can he sing? Doesn't he just beat people up?!' But it created a great friendship."

ROUND 7 TOPIC: HOW DO YOU FEEL WHEN CRITICS PERSIST IN DUBBING YOU PEARL JAM PLAYS R.E.M.?

PATRICK:"I wanna deck somebody. I can deal with the R.E.M. part, because I first learned how to play guitar to their songs, but I don't own a Pearl Jam record. If they come on the radio, I change the channel."

ED:"The Pearl Jam thing bothers me, goddamit, because they sound like us. We came out in 1992, the same year as their record, so how the hell could we rip them off? But with 'Secret Samadhi', people won't be able to make those comparisons anymore. They won't be able to sit on the fence - the bad reviews will get worse and the good reviews will be better!"

ROUND 8 TOPIC: WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT SEPULTURA SPLITTING UP?

CHAD T:"It's a damn shame, they were an incredible band and incredible people. We played a show with them in Brazil in front of 80,000 Sepultura fans. That was the show where Sepultura tore up and pissed on a Brazillian flag, and two of the guys were arrested by the militia with M16 machine guns - right in front by the backstage area in front of us."

ED:"It was nuts, there was a revolution going on around this band. They weren't a political band, but they were the most political band I was ever around. I can't honestly say that all their fans embraced us, but we ended with 'Discussion', the hardest rocking song from 'Throwing Copper', and it probably saved our lives."