OK, Heres how it worked...Dan was interviewed via audio by this chick, who relayed questions to Dan posed by participants in the chat room. OK, normally I make it my rule to absolutely not voice my own opinions on In the Blue and remain unbiased, but I have to say a word about this chat. Dan doesn't necessarily feel this way, but I think the interviewer was extremely rude and immature (interrupting his answers by saying "Bullshit" and making badly timed fart/sex jokes). The questions that made it into the interview were submitted by knuckleheads who just wanted to cause a ruckus who never even heard of SDRE (typical of a Yahoo chat). There were at least a few good fans in there and there was some good (and bad) information gathered from this interview. You'll see what I mean. Below I've transcribed only the question and answers portion of the chat. As Dan spoke, another person was typing his answers out into the chat window.

Dan: Hey, this is Dan from Sunny Day Real Estate.
Dan: I'm calling from the East Coast somewhere... I'm not sure.. I think I'm in Providence, RI.

aidem46: Craziest tour moment?

Dan: I don't have any crazy tour moments actually, but William does, I wish he was here right now.
Dan: I don't have any crazy tour stories, nothing that that really sticks out anyways. I'm sort of a boring guy so not a lot of crazy things happen to me.

zooey_franny: I'm so glad you guys are back together and putting out new music. Can you explain the reason why you swore not to play in California - and decided to play there again?

Dan: I can not divulge the reason why...I wouldn't go to CA the first time around, I can't give away that secret. But now I'm having lots of fun going to CA now.

willychilly112: What is your favorite song that you have wrote?

Dan: That's a tough one, I like them all, but I think "Rain Song" is one of the prettiest things that I've come up with.
Dan: It was about love.

mus1c2000: What do you like to do in your spare time?

Dan: I definitely, definitely don't like to farm, I hate farming, I hate it, lol (inside joke) I like to play on my acoustic guitar and I like to spend time with my family and I like to walk in the woods.

ariadne196: I saw you in Charlottesville on Friday and you sounded incredible! I've read in a couple of different places that y'all don't really like to play a lot of stuff from your Sub Pop days (e.g. Seven). Is this true, and if so, why?

Dan: Well, you saw the show right? So we played Seven and tons of stuff from Diary, so we do play it. We really like it too.

inthebluejohn: Hi, this is John from In The Blue, I was wondering if the band has any plans after this tour is finished?

Dan: Oh, what's up John...and yeah, absolutely, definitely plan on doing some writing which is very necessary for us and we will be... I think we
Dan: I think we're looking at doing a European tour towards the end of Feb.
Dan: So obviously...writing a record and going on tour is in the cards and hopefully a lot of fun interactive stuff.
Dan: And by the way, In The Blue is a very cool SDRE website.

byebyejune: Dan, can you tell us anything about your book?

Dan: Oh yeah of course. I'm glad you asked.
Dan: It's hopefully going to be ready to come out in December, and I have a website called danhoerner.com that I'm going to sell it on and hopefully that site will be up and running towards the end of November
Dan: And the book is kind of a silly collection of short stories called "The Little Monkey Chronicles" it's illustrated by Chris Thompson who did all the art for Diary. He's a great friend and collaborator.
Dan: I'm really looking forward to putting it out, I'm really excited.

mus1c2000: What's the most embarrassing thing you've ever done on stage?

Dan: Hmm...No, but I did poop in my pants while jogging, I think I was like sick and I had this diarrhea thing going on, I was in the situation where I had to fart and I pushed it out and poop came out ... I had to jog a few miles with poop in my pants.
Dan: It was totally unexpected, lol

aidem46: Coolest place you've visited?

Dan: Aside from my farm. My farm is the coolest place, but second to my farm is...I really enjoyed Japan, it was cool over there.

mus1c2000: How did you come up with the name Sunny Day Real Estate?

Dan: It's kind of derived from the Talking Heads song. Nate was kid of the original guy, Nate came up with the idea.
Dan: And we were all into it because it sounded kind of weird and chaotic and the two things don't really go together, so it was kind of interesting.
Dan: It was kind of a play on selling a sunny day, a play on the concept of ownership.

ariadne196: How did you guys happen to meet Jeremy? Were you looking for a new member at the time?

Dan: We met Jeremy, he's a friend of William's, so William had known him for a couple years.
Dan: We were going to have Jeremy on an acoustic label. Nate went over to Europe to tour with his band, and me and William really wanted to play in a band so we asked Jeremy, so the three of us started a band.

willychilly112: Do u listen to nsync?

Dan: Um.......no.

willychilly112: Do you guys have a lot of groupies?

Dan: Yes
Dan: There's definitely some interactions I'm sure....
Dan: This is premarriage by the way

ariadne196: If each of you were to recommend one album to go out and buy, what would it be?

Dan: I would say that you gotta get the first Clash record.

mus1c2000: What's your favorite city to perform in?

Dan: Oh boy, that's a tough one man
Dan: I gotta give props to Chicago, but then New York, Detroit and Atlanta, and L.A.
Dan: I gotta give them all props, and of course Tokyo
Dan: I think probably my favorite show in NY was at CBGB's was really fun... At L. A. I really like the Troubadour

mus1c2000: What kind of girls/guys do you go for?

Dan: I like all kinds.
Dan: I like all kinds of you know...the attractive side.

mus1c2000: Do you have crazy fans who "stalk" you guys?

Dan: No actually, we don't have anybody that has ever made me feel threatened, we have cool fans that go to a lot of our shows and stuff, but totally cool.

willychilly112: Were you a nerd in elementary school?

Dan: No, actually, I felt like I was ... got along pretty well, had friends and I'm sure I have a nerd side , but I think that kind of came a little later.

shut_up_and_loveit: What city was the biggest armpit to play in?

Dan: I would have to say Winston Salem, it's just a horrible horrible dump of a place
Dan: It's some old cigarette manufacturing place

ariadne196: Do you prefer performing in larger venues, or smaller clubs?

Dan: It depends, it really depends on the crowds, I've played shows in front of 25 people who all went totally nuts and made it the best show ever. And I've played in front of 15,000 people and it sucked.
Dan: But it's totally fun to play in front of large crowds that are into you.

willychilly112: How much can u bench press?

Dan: I have no idea, I haven't bench pressed since high school

ariadne196: Who is your favorite artist? Do you consider them to be an influence on your own work?

Dan: I don't really have a favorite artist, there are many artists that come and go in my consciousness that impress me and inspire me.

inthebluejohn: Dan, are there any plans to open for a mainstream band at the moment?

Dan: There's nothing in the works, but I think ultimately we do want to go out and open up for a bigger band and have a chance to play our stuff to an audience that's never heard us before.
Dan: I love playing to the Sunny Day fans though, but at the same time, when we play in LA we play at like The Palace, and every time we play there, it gets so loud and the tix go to the Sunny Day fans, and that's cool.
Dan: But I really want to have a chance to the people that have never heard us before.

mus1c2000: If you could share the stage with anyone, who would it be?

Dan: I'd have to say that if I had the chance I would sing and clap along to Mesarat.

willychilly112: Are your parents proud of you?

Dan: Oh they're stoked, they couldn't be happier.
Dan: I have many many brothers and sisters, 10.
Dan: A big family is rad though

willychilly112: Dan, what is your nickname?

Dan: I don't have nicknames actually...and it bums me out though...no actually...I wish I did, but I don't, if somebody makes one up that's not shithead, I'll consider it.
Dan: Although the bus driver on this tour calls me El Duke.

willychilly112: What drugs do u take?

Dan: Fuck no
Dan: Even if I did, do you think I would say yes on Yahoo! web chat?

willychilly112: I think your name should be pooper scooper as your nickname, what do you think?

Dan: lol

willychilly112: What is your first song u recorded?

Dan: Well, keep those ideas coming kids.
Dan: The first song I ever recorded was "I Love the Replacements". I wrote it.

mus1c2000: Is it tough being in a band, being on the road all the time?

Dan: Yeah, I miss the farm... and you know, like sometimes it's a blast , but a lot of times it's really draining.

byebyejune: Dan, thanks for leaving a message on my friend's answering machine after the Nashville show... not really a question, but you guys were so awesome to do that for us.

Dan: I remember that! What up dude! It was cool, I thought it was funny, kinda clever.

ariadne196: Did you do most of the writing for the new album, or did Jeremy? Or was it split 50/50?

Dan: We split everything 50/50.
Dan: I did a lot of lyrical work on this record more than I've done on past records

mus1c2000: Where are you guys from?

Dan: We are all from Washington state and we met in Seattle.

willychilly112: Do you go to strip clubs?

Dan: No

aidem46: Favorite drink?

Dan: Gin and tonic.
Dan: I'm pretty mellow though, I have kind of a low tolerance for alcohol so I get pretty wasted after 2 gin and tonics.
Dan: I also have a very low tolerance for being hung over the next day, and if I get drunk, which is extremely rare and the next day I feel so utterly horrible that I just don't even drink

ariadne196: I thought I noticed a tattoo on your arm at the last show. What is it of, and does it have a special meaning for you? Do you have any others?

Dan: Yeah I have two tattoos.
Dan: The tattoo on my arm is a Celtic animal interlock, it's three dogs and they represent wisdom, appetite and aggression

shut_up_and_loveit: Ever bring your significant other on the road? Pets?

Dan: Yeah, definitely, Dawson is part of the merch side of Sunny Day Real Estate, and she has been on every tour that I've done, but she's pregnant now, so she's not on this tour.

willychilly112: Who do you guys idolize as a kid?

Dan: My brothers.
Dan: It's really true, my brother Mike was kind of a football hero, all around sports guy, but also really funny, he could act, he could do a standup backflip just on the ground, I thought that was the coolest thing in the entire world.

mus1c2000: How old are each of you?

Dan: And my brother Tim is kind of a baseball star, and they were my two closest brothers growing up, I kind of thought they were superheroes or something.
Dan: I have no idea how old everyone is to be honest with you...I could guess though.
Dan: I think William is like 28 and Jeremy's like 27, but I think they could be 26 and 27.
Dan: It's something like 25-28
Dan: I really have no idea.

willychilly112: How long have u been married? Was she a groupie that you hooked up with?

Dan: We met after Sunny Day was broken up for the first time.
Dan: There was no connection to Sunny Day though ... I had a crush on her for many years, she worked in this pizzeria in Seattle I used to go to, I had a crush on her for like 5 years before I finally said hi.
Dan: We knew some of the same people and we had a mutual affection for playing tennis, so ultimately that's how we met, that was my in.
Dan: Sunny Day broke up the first time because we needed some space, we were kind of overwhelmed, it blew up kind of fast, and we were all kind of confused, and very punk rock and just out of control, egos and attitudes and all that B.S.

ariadne196: What made you decide to become a farmer? Did you grow up on one? And what kind of farm do you have?

Dan: I did not grow up on a farm actually, I grew up on the outskirts of this town called Spokane, my mom was a secretary at this cemetery, so I never had that kind of inclination when I was a kid. I always just had this dream
Dan: I think I was like 10 or 11 when I wrote my first short story, I had this environmental thing even back then
Dan: I highly recommend anyone who's interested in some kind of alternate economy concept and farming, check out permaculture.
Dan: It's cool, it's just a method of farming agriculture without relying on chemicals or synthetic materials.
Dan: You should just check it out if you're interested.
Dan: The concept is ultimately...it's kind of like...it requires kind of an entire mental paradigm shift, you try to step out of the day to day money oriented mode of existence and enter a sort of ...I dunno
Dan: Just check it out if you're interested.

deft18ones: Sunny Day Real Estate, where can I hear ur sound online?

Dan: I think there's stuff obviously on Napster, so you know...any music sharing site.
Dan: And I think that we've got some audio on the Time Bomb site, I don't know if we have any on sunnydayrealestate.com yet, but it will soon, hopefully with video too.
Dan: We're also trying to put up some pre-production stuff on the site while we work on the new album too.
Dan: So check that out www.sunnydayrealestate.com

byebyejune: Dan, do you still check the message boards when you have the opportunity? Do Will or Jeremy ever check the boards?

Dan: Yes
Dan: But I haven't been able to post recently because I've been pretty busy on tour and all the time I'm online I'm working on my book and my company so I haven't really been able to write anything in
Dan: Plus, last time I did, I got in trouble.
Dan: I got this guy spammed.

byebyejune: Dan, if I wanted to send you guys something in the mail, I would have to send it to your label or your management, right? Is there any chance you would actually get it?

Dan: It depends on whether or not it's naked pictures
Dan: We really do get all the fan mail though
Dan: You should go to Time Bomb

wanderingminstrelmusic: Has Sunny Day ever performed any covers live?

Dan: I get fan mail and fan e-mail, fan e-mail usually comes from Artist Direct, and then fan mail goes to Time Bomb
Dan: No, actually, we never have, and I'd like to do one.
Dan: The first time we go to Europe I want to cover the Clash song "I'm So Tired of the USA"

wanderingminstrelmusic: I heard there were other new songs recorded that didn't make it onto TRT. What will become of them?

Dan: Yeah there is actually. There's two. One of them in my opinion is one of the best songs that SDRE has done, but it's not quite done, it needs a little fine tuning. What I'm hoping to do is get some soundtracks, I hope that we have a chance to find the right soundtrack for it.
Dan: We've had some amazing success with soundtracks in the past.

ariadne196: Any plans for a new album? If so, how soon can we look for it?

Dan: Yeah, I'd like to start writing for the new record as soon as we get back from this tour. I'd like to start working on it in the spring and hopefully have it out by fall of 2001 or maybe the winter.
Dan: Okay, that's it! Bye!
Dan: Thanks for coming!!