The band has been around for 13+ years. How would you describe the evolution of the band and its music over these years?

Well to be honest I don't think about it that often, I hardly listen to the records, it seems most useful to keep the body of work as a hazy nice memory. I will say that we've always been interested in playing music that we can only play, I've always found it more interesting to invent a musical language rather than learn how to actually play a song in a traditional sense. So our output I think has been a long and slow refinement by self taught musicians learning how to organize sounds in hopefully a unique way and along the way become better musicians in a traditional sense. I'm also much better now at singing certain notes.

You cite The Kinks as an influence in the making of your latest release Everybody. What aspects of The Kinks long and varied recording and performance career inspired you? Any Kinks albums you recommend our readers should be listening to?

I'm not quite sure how that Kinks reference got into the press release. I think i wanted to say the Beatles were important to this new record, but everybody knows you can't cite the Beatles as an influence, I do like The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society however.

What other groups/artists/performers have influenced the band?

Right before and during the writing of this new record I got really interested in some Phil Spector productions especially The Ronettes. I can't claim that much of this inspiration seeped into the record, but I tried. actually there's a song that didn't make the record that is sort of a blatant rip of some Spectorish like qualities, i think we were confused by it, and at the last moment ditched it.

With your various solo projects and other band commitments, how do you determine when you need to make a Sea and Cake album?

It seems to work itself out, but one thing is that I tend to be the one that has to get it started, so as long as I've got a somewhat clear slate it can happen. However we're planning on starting a new one much sooner than later. So after this touring is done I'm hoping to get started on a new record.

Any solo projects coming up?

I just finished an EP that's going to come with this photo book I made, that'll be released I think in October.

You had Brian Paulson perform recording duties on Everybody, freeing up John McEntire from behind the console to focus on drums and playing with the rest of the band. How was the experience and would you look into working with other producers (e.g. Dave Fridmann) on future projects?

I think it worked out really well to have someone outside of the band be part of the project, but I'll say that we really like working with John as producer as well. So i'd be up for using someone else again but I think for this next one we'll likely go with John.

You are just starting out on a 3 month U.S. and Europe tour. European audiences on the whole are generally viewed as more attentive listeners than their American counterparts. How does the difference in atmosphere affect your experience of the performance?

In general we've been quite lucky in terms of attracting the sort of people to our show that are primarily interested in listening. So I don't think I could discern a difference from European and American audiences, now Japan that's a whole other story. The Japanese are intensely focused but also incredibly excitable. It's a little weird but probably my favorite place to play

How have you as a band dealt with the sea change undergoing the music industry?

I'm certain we've been effected, but I feel that we've been fortunate to exist pretty much on our own terms, we're able to do pretty much exactly what we want and I can't imagine it any other way, but we ofcourse need people to continue to buy our records and come to our shows.

You released Everybody on vinyl as well as digital formats. Any plans on making some of your classic albums like The Biz available on vinyl as well?

All of our records have been released on vinyl, i suppose some of them could be out of print vinyl wise. i'll have to check.

The band has created a signature sound with a blend of intricately crafted tunes, fine songwriting and lush, shimmering layers of pop-rock-electronica. Could you describe your process for writing and producing an album?

I usually come up with the basic guitar ideas that become the songs. With those, Archer and Eric and I will work with them to develop the ideas further, come up with new parts and start to arrange more cohesive pieces that resemble what the songs will become, then we get with John and everything changes again. So basically we play and pay attention carefully to what's happening and try and take advantage of musical situations that couldn't occur otherwise. It's basically an intuitive process by design. once we get to the point of recording the basic tracks I'll take them to my home studio and work out the vocals. Then back to the studio, then it's more of a problem solving situation, just trying to figure out what's missing what could be better. It's hard to describe the process because so many split second decisions are made that influence what you might think to do next, that's what it comes down to. It's really an intriguing tightrope walking like experience.

Your set at the High Noon will be warmed up by The Zincs. Who are some of the other hot new acts coming up in the Chicagoland area that you would recommend to our readers?

There's a guitarist, singer here, named Rob Lowe who works under the moniker "Lichens", that i think is splendid. Quite experimental but always beautiful music.
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Mr. Bill and I are going to be at High Noon Saloon come Saturday evening and hope to see you there!. I do like Sam's choice of The Kinks record and was inspired to pull out my record copy for a spin. Iif you have not heard it go buy it at your local record store now! I also highly recommend the following Sea and Cake albums. Buy them local or from Thrill Jockey or if you must, from Amazon.com (and support MMR) - Ankur.

The Biz (1995); Oui (2000); Everybody (2007); The Sea and Cake (1993)