Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.

Just me, Russ Carrick, but considerable help from talents in Rhode Island and Philly.  In particular, Emerson Torrey (who owns Satellite studios in R.I./also a member of the Schemers/Rain Dogs) and Quinn Waters (of Caffeine Machine). I have zero pride when it comes to using musicians with better chops than me. I’m after a finished sound...and I will use whichever great musician I can get my hands on.  Unfortunately I haven’t yet been able to find a singer, who’s better than me, that can get the sound I’m going for...but, boy would I like to.  If you know someone whose voice is part Matt Skiba, part Robert Pollard, and part Mickey Dolenz let me know.  I’ll pay them a lot of money.

How long has the band been around?

I’ve been recording music since the summer of 2011.

What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?

I’m usually either scooping up various moments from my life or aiming a guided missile at elements in our culture/society that are causing me the greatest amount of fear and loathing (which there are plenty of contenders for in our current moment.)

The retrospective shit tends to focus on times in my life that are pretty much lost to me forever...the times I lived as a sort of night creature in New Orleans (“Hits the Spot”), the endless effort I spent as an erstwhile lothario (“Never Going Back to Earth”), great times down the psychedelic rabbit hole (“The Astronaut Forgot”)...shit from my mental bookcase that would probably strike anybody but me as pretty pathetic...and maybe even me a little too.  “Dinner with the Sorcerer” captures that...a washed-up wizard that people barely put up with, who won’t shut up about the “glory days.”  (Think Winter Warlock from Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer.)

The songs I tend to take more seriously seem invariably to come back to the sort of Sea of Denial we are all swimming in now.  An America filled with people for whom motivated reasoning is now a way of life...the seeming armies (both left and right) who have turned their backs on science (or expertise) in favor of a belief system that is more comfortable for them.  And how this is taking us to a very bad place.

There’s a great quote by George Orwell: “sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield.”  I’ve written several “Red Alert” songs (Just a Cut, No Denying It, Dance Around the Rubble) that are meant to either warn Americans about the folly of believing only what we want to believe...or serving as a post-Fall record that someone saw what was going on.  (I’m sure I’m not alone in that).

I think sometimes that Americans believe we are sort of immuned to history.  There’s no reason to think that’s true (at all).

What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?

I don’t think anyone would ever claim I was currently “in sync” with current trends in indie music--far from it.  That being said, there are a lot of bands from the last few years that I keep coming back to.  I’m currently addicted to Philly’s-own “Modern Baseball.”  They managed to find a producer on their album You’re Gonna Miss it All that brings out every possible nuance and edge of their sound.  The same with Courtney Barnett on Sometime’s I Sit and Think…  I’m a firm believer that production and mixing can bring tunes to life (or leave them dried out on the pavement.)  On those two albums the artists have used the studio to add all sorts of new dimensions to their already-great songwriting.  The same is true for Wavves on V.  They turn a three-piece band into this rich, textured ensemble.

And don’t get me started about the Dum Dum Girls...Dee Dee Penny (aka Kristin Welchez or Kristin Kontrol) is probably my biggest inspiration--both because she’s the sole author of her sound, and she can do a whole lot with a little.  Great proof that you don’t need Berkley music chops to make something for the fucking ages.

Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?

I started out thinking I was going to remind the world about what was then called “college rock” of the late 80’s.  Then it was pointed out to me that my guitar sounds actually are far more evocative of the 90’s.  At first I resisted this--I was miserable in the “Grunge Era”-- but I had to begrudgingly admit that those fans were right: my guitars have way too much grit in them to be channeling the 80’s.

And this got me thinking how the same gospel I’ve been running around selling about the 80’s (that it was as much about fIREHOSE as it was fucking Kajagoogoo) is true about the 90’s.  For every sludge-filled Alice In Chains-wannabe, there was a Guided By Voices or (closer to home for me) Too Much Joy.

What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?

There’s something about the first moment you see your work for sale on Amazon--for me much more than iTunes.  Sure any Joe Bagodonuts can do it...but I’ve been finding new music to love on Amazon since 1998...so the thought that someone like me could be on some search for new tunes and stumble onto my work...it’s dream-come-true-level shit.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Much like with women and bald men--most don’t care for them, but the ones who do REALLY dig it--my music is guaranteed to “click” with a certain percentage of your readers.  I know because I craft tunes that I personally get psyched for, and I am a tough audience (who’s got a whole lot of tunes swimming in his head.)  I am dead set on not wasting anybody’s time.  So, come on in, have a look around.