Listen to the full interview

Toploader faced questioning by Rajesh Mirchandani onto their, how shall we say... disgusting tastes, after finding out what was a requirement on their rider!

He met the band to interview them for the 'How Was It For You' part of Backstage, where he quizzes acts on what it's like playing live. Toploader's rider (the things they ask for in their dressing room, at each gig) included a jar of Pickled Eggs! Says Joe "Me and Julian requested that was our one specific thing that we wanted on it." "That's their bumpkin side coming out, you see" say Dan. "They require Scrumpy Jack cider and pickled eggs" "We've already got through a jar... it's very nice. It'd be kind of different if we were staying on a bus I think" says a presumably 'windy' Joe. Rajesh probes the beneficial effects of the savoury snack: "Does the effect of a Pickled Egg differ from the effect of a normal egg?" Joe: "I find it clears the throat better. I use it as a singing aid."

Hmmm. But what else goes on backstage, pre-gig? "Do you hang out with the support bands or do you lock yourself away - like 'we are the stars'?" "Nah, we're dead chilled" says Joe, "we walk around and we've done enough support tours to know that when everyone's happy, everything's so much better. So we walk around, sit in their dressing rooms, we just try and make everyone cool and relaxed." And Dan has an ulterior motive: "Hopefully afterwards people would be up for a party cos we normally are!"

"So now after being nominated for Brits and having a massive album and then 'Dancing In The Moonlight' being in the chart for God knows how long, you must have new fans that come to see you, so who's coming to see you now? Cue Dan: "We've always had a good mixture of fans anyway. It's never been like, a student audience, which some bands have, we've had like, from young girls to groups of lads, and then some older people as well. I think cos of 'Dancing In The Moonlight' we've attracted a younger audience maybe"

After the gig, Rajesh was able to catch up with Joe again, to ask him how it all went. "It was very enjoyable actually," says Joe, "for a wet Tuesday night in Reading, it was very good." Rajesh: "What I was really impressed with was your voice. It was really, really good live... you're not a trained singer are you?" "No. I think live I probably get into it more. I think when we done the album, I was still sort of learning, really. It's the first band I've ever sung in, so I'm getting better all the time, really." "Also, you're basically a one man band up there! Taking nothing away from the other guys, but you play the piano, play the tambourine, whip out the mouth organ..." "With other gigs I've just always sat down and played the piano, really. but now I'm really enjoying getting up and it's more of a show and I can see the audience, I can walk along, and its much more interactive with the crowd, really."

What about the punters? What were the crowd like? "They were kind of young, you know", says Joe. "The first couple of rows were dead young. There's a big cross section we're getting. But tonight, in particular was dead young at the front. But we're getting a lot of people who've never seen us before and I think they're going away being impressed one way or another." Rajesh asks about the climax to the show "It was a wicked encore, and ending on 'Achilles Heel' I thought was a masterstroke..." "We don't want people going away whistling 'Dancing In The Moonlight', we'd much rather they went away whistling 'Achilles Heel', really. It's really dynamic, it starts off really quietly, and it's lovely to watch all the people's faces... some people... that's their song, that's their kiddie - so it's nice to see their faces."

And finally, what was it all like, then? "Great, great for a Tuesday night", says Joe. "Everyone's been a winner, and if people go home and they've seen a new thing or they love what we're doing then that's brilliant. we were rockin' tonight, and that's good."