White Light Black Light

... Chao told me that the Coachella gig had been 'a hot spot', but several fans had been following him on the 20-date tour since then. Two days before Brooklyn, I speak to him on the tour bus in Boston. 'I love going to sleep in one city and waking in another,' he says, lighting a cigarette, which strictly speaking isn't allowed on the vehicle. 'The band is really positive, a great family - I can imagine touring with these guys for years. We went all through the West, stopping in the desert to make fires. Deep down .... not just to the big cities.'

But why travel to the heart of the beast if you seem to hate America and all it stands for?

'I always criticise the government, not the people,' he says with characteristic intensity. 'And if I am criticising, it's better to understand what it is you criticise - more and more, for people in South America and Africa the US is like the devil. There's a heavy cost for the way of life here in the rest of the world. When I criticise the government everyone applauds - I just don't understand why there aren't thousands protesting outside the White House every day.

'Everyone always said you have to make it in the States,' he adds. 'But I always thought the best way was to make it in South America first.' ...

// posted by Alice @ Sunday, July 15, 2007