Two triumphant nights in a row over the Bank Holiday weekend. And both start out looking like complete disasters. For starters, Switzerland is one area of Europe immune to 'Born Slippy' fever. "People there don't know dick about us," says Rick. Underworld took the stage to discover "150 people in a tent that could hold seven or eight thousand."
"We were right up in the Alps, we were really cold and we thought, 'Oh my God'," Rick explains. But "We were onstage about ten minutes and the place was really heaving. Really packed out." Then there was Reading. Underworld were booked to play the most indie-centric festival of the Summer at the same time as The Stone Roses' much-vaunted 'comeback' appearance. Darren Emerson admits to being "really, really nervous". It's not looking too rosy until The Stone Roses - or rather, what's left of the once-triumphant Mancs - start playing. The ensuing cacophony drove some fans to tears... "...and everyone buggered off to see us," grins Darren.
Underworld responded to the dance tent's sudden influx of tearful baggies with a mighty set. "We all come offstage feeling different sometimes, but at Reading we all liked it," says Darren, "and that doesn't happen a lot. Usually, it's like I thought it was shit, Rick really loved it and Karl didn't know what was going on. We all had a really good time. It rocked, baby!" "And the Coca-Cola flowed like wine," adds Karl. Nobody else seems to have the slightest clue what he's on about.

"I was sleeping in my room," remembers Darren, "and I started dreaming that Steve Hall from Junior Boys Own had come into the room and started shaking me."
He hadn't. Instead, Underworld - in Japan for the Mount Fiji techno festival - had found themselves in the middle of an earthquake. They were on the ninth floor, it was the middle of the night and nobody knew what was happening. "You could feel every bit of it," shudders Darren. Karl thought he was "on a vibrating waterbed that had switched itself on by accident." Rick and Steve Hall exited the hotel at high speed. Mention of the 'quake leads to a heated band debate over who was the toughest in the infants that night. Rick claims he "didn't hardly notice. But Darren got a bit upset about it."
"No!" protests Darren. "I was the only one who stayed in my room! You ran out straight away! You were the one who was upset about it." "I didn't even know we'd had an earthquake," insists Rick. "I thought someone was taking the piss. 'Am I really shaking? Is the hotel haunted or something?'"
"And nobody mentioned it until the next day," adds Karl. "'Did we have an earthquake last night?' 'Oh, yeah, right...'"

They've sold 400,000 singles, they've got to Number Two in the charts, they've been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. And what sticks in Underworld's mind about 1996? The catering at a Belgian festival. Hmmm.
"The catering was the best catering!" enthuses Karl Hyde. "Silver service! You get offstage, quite late, and you get good food, drink nice bottles of wine. So well organised. Very civilised."
Darren redresses the balance. "It wasn't just the silver service. It was a brilliant gig, one of the best gigs of the year. We've got loads of fans in Belgium and they just went mental."
"It was my favourite gig of the year," agrees Rick. "The bloke who was selling burgers stopped selling burgers, climbed onto the roof of his van and started waving his arms about."

After a couple of hours of insisting it doesn't matter, it's no big deal, it's changed nothing, Underworld begrudgingly admit that 'Born Slippy's success had some effect on them. And another heated squabble ensues.

• Rick: "For about two weeks when Born Slippy went in at Number Two, it was... quite amusing. We were on tour in Norway."
• Darren: "We got a midweek position of Number One. We were like 'Woooh!' Then it dropped to Number Two."
• Rick: "That wasn't a great moment, really."
• Darren: "Oh, come on, yes it was. It was a bonus."
• Karl: "In retrospect, I'm really proud of something like Trainspotting. I've seen it three times in three different countries and every time I see it, it makes me smile."
• Darren: "In that film, 'Born Slippy' was moving. Those strings that we thought were so cheesy worked with the film really well."
• Karl: "We get film offers very regularly and most of them are pretty poor."
• Darren: "That one with the bird in it was alright!"
• Karl: "We won't talk about that one. I don't want to talk about it."
• Darren: "Oh. Nice bird, crap film."