Mark asks:
"Did you re-release the song in January to hijack the
charts, Gay Dad-style?"
Bic: "Absolutely."
Laurence: "We're the Australian Gay Dad!"
David: "It's really not our cup of tea. So, no."
Gary asks: "What did you do for the Millennium?"
David: "I read a book, a book called Disgrace by a
guy called Coetzee... and then I went for a walk."
Bic: "I drank absinthe and ran about naked in the
country."
Laurence: "I videoed the millennium. I haven't seen it yet.
On the actual day I was on the South Downs. I walked into a fog
bank and couldn't see the fireworks."
James Whale asks: "How did you pick yourselves up after
leaving Levitation?"
David: "Drugs - but it didn't help."
Bic: "We didn't really pick ourselves up. We wandered the
wilderness."
bob asks: "After all of the Levitation and Cardiacs
experiences, is it really surreal appearing on TOTP with
Darkstar?"
Laurence: "Yes."
Bic: "We haven't done it yet."
David: "It's good to take the Levitation/Cardiacs ethic and
take it in front of so many people."
Laurence: "Ethics? I thought we were from Sussex."
David: "It probably would have been a lot more exciting to
do it when you were younger."
Jet asks: "Graceadelica? Named in homage to Primal Scream
and Jeff Buckey?"
David: "Not particularly. I came up with it. I
listened to Grace by Jeff Buckley last night in the bath."
Laurence: "The song was written the very first day we got
together."
Mel Brady asks: "You've toured with a lot of big bands - who
were the most pleasant and who were you not keen on?"
Bic: "Longpigs were definitely the most
pleasant."
David: "The Fall were the worst."
Laurence: "Mark E. Smith was insane. He kept offering us
outside for a fight."
Bic: "He punched out his own sound engineer."
David: "Mercury Rev were really great to tour with. We were
fortunate enough to meet up with them later at a number of
festivals and continued our friendship."
Frederick asks: "Bic, what's your fave guitar?"
Bic: "The one I use. A Yamaha SG from the 70s. It's
a refugee from Levitation. It was actually broken in two at one
point. Look out for it on the Pops."
Nicodemus asks: "As year 2000 begins are you feeling
optimistic, pessimistic or holistic?"
Laurence: "You tell us!"
Bic: "Optimistic."
David: "Autistic."
Laurence: "Elastic."
Pete Hibbit asks: "Bic, what are your views on the fact that
you will never hear your band the Cardiacs music on the
radio?"
Bic: "I think it's awful. A lot of people have taken
an unnecessay dislike to us. John Peel refused to play us because
he said one of our covers was too disturbing, but all it was was
a picture of the band."
Laurence: "The Cardiacs are a classic English eccentric
band."
Bic: "Pete, have you heard Spratley's Japs yet?"
Jo Waters asks: "Where will you be touring this year and
where can I get tickets from?"
Laurence: "Your place."
Bic: "Bristol, Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds and London in
March."
David: "Between the 4th and the 8th of March. If you go to
www.dark-star.co.uk all details are there."
Nicodemus asks: "What chance a Panixphere album at some
point?"
Bic: "We'd love to."
David: "We talked about this at a party a month ago. Panic
Sphere is a band with me and Dave and two members of
Cardiacs."
Bic: "It depends when we're all free."
David: "We get totally wrecked and then play. There's about
60 parts to every song."
Bic: "It started off as a joke and then people started to
try and book us."
Sarah Dobinson asks: "What happened to Bic's solo stuff that
was apparently recorded post-Levitation?"
Bic: "Hi Sarah. It will probably come out this year.
The album's finished."
Lindsey asks: "Which band or musician has had the most
influence on your music?"
Bic: "There's so many different bands."
David: "PIL is one band we all agree on. If not the way they
construct songs but their attitude to being in a band."
Laurence: "I played bass cos no one else would do it."
Bic: "The first thing that made me want to play guitar was
The Who. I heard Pinball Wizard and wanted to go
"Duduuuuuuuuh". Years later I found out that was the
bass. You must watch The Kids Are Alright if you haven't seen
it."
David: "And Sonic Youth's 'The Year Punk Broke'."
Izzi Green asks: "What's your favourite pop act if you have
one?"
Laurence: "S Club 7"
Bic: "What's that? I don't like pop music. I quite like Blur
but you can't call their last album pop."
Pat Heal asks: "Are you big web-heads and do you have much
input into your website?"
Bic: "A lot of input into the website. We
co-designed the site with a web designer."
David: "There's a few probs with the navigation at the
moment."
Bic: "It's like your own morphic fanzine. We do online
diaries and stuff. The bulletin board is quite new, but we want
to put up other stuff, like free music."
huzeyme asks: "What time did you get up this morning?"
Laurence: "I'm not even up yet."
Mack Freeman asks: "If you could have any four people to
dinner, alive or dead, who would they be?"
Laurence: "Bill Hicks, Simon Pegg, Groucho Marks and
Dipsey."
Bic: "Rhubarb, Custard, Tom, Jerry."
David: "Chairman Mao, Adolf Hitler, Karl Marx, Woody
Allen."
Jo Rees asks: "Who's best, Denis Leary or Bill Hicks?"
Laurence: "Bill Hicks, Bill Hicks, Bill Hicks ad
infinitum... Ross Noble and Ben and Arn. They were on pick of the
Fringe - I'd love to have them to dinner. Comedy is the truest
testament of humanity."
Ben asks: "Do you miss Bickers?"
Bic: "No"
David: "No"
Laurence: "I do."
Nita asks: "are you dating anyone?"
David: "No."
Bic: "Nita is a nice name. No we don't."
John Gore asks: "If you had to describe your music in a
sentence, what would it be?"
Laurence: "A sentence."
David: "Beginning, middle, end."
Bic: "Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, end."
Daniel Lion asks: "How disappointed were you after About 3am
and Graceadelica failed to make the Top 40 last year?"
Bic: "3am was the only single. It got to No. 50
without a video or any promotion so we were really happy.
Graceadelica wasn't a single, it was a track on an EP. So it
wasn't chart eligible."
Ben asks: "Where did the nickname Bic originate? I know it's
something to do with malnutrition(?)"
Bic: "I just stopped eating for ages and people
started saying I looked like a Bic biro. I had this phase when I
thought eating was boring."
Ben asks: "Fave Floyd song?"
Bic: "Matilda Mother. But it changes from day to
day. Yesterday it was Scarecrow."
David: "See Emily Play."
Laurence: "Apples and Oranges."
David: "I love Madcap Laughs."
James asks: "Didn't I see you in the New Talent tent in
Nurnberg (Germany) Rock In Park last year?"
David: "Yes, you and the dog. We saw you both. You
left half way through."
Jonathan asks: "Any plans to re-release your debut album
20/20 Sound?"
David: "It's still out."
Vincent asks: "Where in the world would you most like to
perform?"
David: "Copacabana Beach."
John C asks: "What are Darkstar's plans for this year, more
releases?"
David: "Flying to LA on Saturday to record second
album with Danny Saber."
Nicodemus asks: "Many congratulations on your well earned
success. Where next?"
David: "The bargain bin."
nikky dyail asks: "I LOVE YOU do you love your song"
Bic: "Yes we love song we do."
Ben asks: "Bic: Do you use a Lovetone Meatball effect for
the scratching in Vertigo?"
Bic: "Laurence does it but we're not going to tell
you how."
gargoyle asks: "Who's the loudest out of you lot?"
Laurence: "DAVE."
guest3 asks: "What type of girls do you like?"
Bic: "What have you got?"
Nicodemus asks: "Are there any side projects on the go at
the moment?"
David: "See our website for details."
andrew asks: "where do u all come from"
David: "London, Suffolk and Bristol."
Lozzy asks: "HOW OLD R U?"
David: "21"
Bic: "Thanks very much, nice talking to you. See you
later!"