You've played in Boston several times in the past, how do you enjoy it?

Darren Jessee (drums): Boston's always been supportive. In the last three years, it's one of the places that's had the most supportive crowds. It's been one of our biggest places actually.

Robert Sledge (bass guitar): I like Boston. It's cool, I haven't really been around that much, but I think we've played all the clubs here now. They have a similar style.

You guys just returned from a tour in Australia, and you've also played concerts in Europe, Japan and the United States, have you noticed anything different about the crowds around the world?

DJ: Just the language barrier itself in Japan creates a different atmosphere, but the crowds are always excited. They know your music and love to jump around. They're also really attentive and quiet. As soon as you start to say something, say anything, they're silent. Australia and England, on the other hand, have especially rowdy crowds.

We heard you got into some trouble on a daytime talk show. What exactly happened there?

Ben Folds (piano/vocals): We were probably a bit rambunctious for this show. It's the equivalent of Regis & Kathie Lee. Pretend in this parallel universe, Regis is also a band leader. They kind of wanted to kick our asses.

RS: The band leader went at Ben first, then he started going after me and I wouldn't listen to him. Then he went at our sound man, and he was stuck there. The leader kept screaming about us as "fucking Americans" and the sound man just told him to shut up.

How does the song writing process go for the band?

DJ: That process is always different. Any one of us might come in with an idea and all three of us will start working on it. If it starts to click we'll keep it. Obviously Ben, being the main songwriter, presents most of the music, and it's mine and Robert's job to try and take it as far as it can go. We all have our hands in it.

What does it feel like to be making videos? What do you feel about the influence MTV has on music?

DJ: Personally I don't care too much about MTV, but I know I have to make videos because it's a format a lot of kids watch. Kids get turned onto new bands that way, and it's something you have to be aware of. It's weird, but it's fun sometimes too. Other times though, it can be a real drag, especially when you don't like a video and you have to keep seeing it in the rotation over and over. We're much more of a music band, we spend so much time on the music and the live show. When it comes to videos, we feel we've fallen short a bit. Our videos aren't as good as they could have been, but we're going to try and do better.

What was it like being on the Lollapalooza '96 and H.O.R.D.E. '97 tours?

DJ: H.O.R.D.E. was great, we met some really good bands, made friends and had a good time. Lollapalooza was much more work and a lot more rock stars around. I just think H.O.R.D.E. is just a much more musical tour. It's gotten a lot of flack for being a hippie tour, that kind of Blues Traveler vibe, but personally, if I'm going to walk around at some festival in the middle of summer, all day long, I don't mind those kind of people because they're easy to be around. At Lollapalooza, the crowds are basically just mall kids.

How did the string quartet come about at the Horde shows?