What do you get if you mix a cat, a lion, a monkey and a hippo? HELEN PERKINS meets Silversun Pickups' drummer Christopher Guanlao to find out.

.

It's 11am and Christopher Guanlao has just got back from a long run in downtown LA – which is very unlike him.

He explains: "I'm supposed to be a rock and roll drummer - we should be wrecking hotel rooms or something like that.

"You would never think that if you could see me right now. We're leaving for Europe to go on tour in a few days and I'm a little worried about being totally unfit - you can't have a drummer with a paunch."

Still, apart from the bands' last minute attempts to run off the calories, things have been looking up for them recently.

Their latest album Swoon went down well in the States and after several years spent supporting for bigger, household names like Snow Patrol and the Foo Fighters, the group of four are now prominent enough to start designing their own lighting shows.

Their music has gained more choruses and a little more studio polish but, luckily, they haven't lost their ability to poke fun at each other.

Christopher explains, with a laugh: "If you consider our band in terms of animals then Nikki would be a cat. She'll swipe at you…in a nice way. Joe is probably more like a lion because of his beard and shaggy hair. I'm more like a monkey and I'd like to think of Brian as a Hippo."

The increased interest in the indie-rock menagerie must be pretty clear - they have been playing big venues on the west coast of the US for several months. However, although Christopher became aware of the group's progression up the charts quite some time ago, his mother still considers him as the boy messing around with his drum kit.

"Parents try hard to support what your doing and mine put up with me learning the drums - which can't have been easy. But wasn't until we were invited to be interviewed by American talk show host Jay Leno that my mum ever thought I was going to get anywhere in the music industry.

"She waited in the crowd while we played and after Jay came over and said to her 'So I guess all those drum lessons must have been worth while then'. Ever since then my mum has taken everything about the band completely seriously."

Christopher seems confident that even if things don't work out he will always have a place in the music business.

"If you want to play in a band learn to play the drums - there's always a shortage of drummers. There's no better job – you meet so many people. I thought Dave Grohl was going to be a complete prima donna until I met him and then he sat me down with a beer."

The Silversun Pickups took their name from a corner shop where they would go in the night to get drinks and crisps - or pick up chips as Christopher calls them - when the bad was in its infancy.

Now the group is touring all over Europe and Christopher is being forced to recognise their success - even if it means swapping the late night pickups for the early morning workouts.

Silversun Pickups play the Rescue Rooms in Goldsmith Street on Saturday June 27 at 7pm. For tickets call 0871 310 0000.

HELEN PERKINS