What is it like to be a Canadian in the music industry? I don't know. I don't really think of it. We spend so much time South of the Border it seems like we're kind of Americans in a way. However, Canada does a have a rep for producing a lot of bad music if you would, I'm not going to name any names, you can figure it out on your own. Being Canadian in the music scene honestly is way better than being American. We get money from the government for anything from our website to international tour support. Anything you can imagine, the government is willing to give you money to help your band pursue its career. We got (factor grants) for $10,000 for international tour support. What is the origin of your band name? Paul came up with the name. The concept is energy, more or less is what he was trying to get at. Any reference to the band on Sub Pop, Red Red Meat? No, I'd never heard of that band until we got signed to Sub Pop. What is it like to be on Sub Pop? Great. They've been nothing but supportive. In terms of independent labels, they're among the best, if not the best ever. What does your tour van look like? Actually, we just got a new van. But the one we had before that had a nice little odor to it. What model are you driving? Right now we're driving a Ford E350, it's diesel, 2003 model. We got a trailer. Quite nice actually, a lot nicer than what we're used to. Do you have any special amenities for the road? We have a laptop to keep track of everything. We have a Playstation 2, but I don't really play it that much. What would your ideal or dream tour van or trailer look like? I think having a van that was jacked up with big wheels would be kind of funny. It would be cool if it was snowing or whatever. Also, having a lift so that we wouldn't have to physically climb into it would be cool. And sometimes I think having a machine gun mounted to the front would be good, you know when you're driving sometimes... Animals or people? Either/or, whatever gets in the way. Groupies? Whatever, we're not worried about what we're going to hit. Who drives? I do a lot of the driving. And our road manager does a lot of the driving too. I prefer to drive.
On the first leg of the tour, you didn't stop in Philly -- is that personal or just coincidence? Yeah dude, that new Roots album. It just dissed me super hard, so I'm like we're not coming to Illadelphia man. No, that's just one leg of the tour. We are starting in Madison and we're going down to do South by Southwest. And then we're going to the U.K. and when we come back, we're going to do the East Coast. I think we start in New York City and there's a good chance that we'll hit Philly. I just think it's still being banged out. You were mentioning the new Roots album, do you like it? What's your favorite track? I love it dude, I totally love it. I really like the track with Talib Kweli on it. A great album. I'd never listened to the Roots before I picked this up. What's in your CD player right now? Aesop Rock's Daylight. Given the choice, who would you rather sleep with: Cat Power or Liz Phair? How about both of them? Do I have to choose? You have to choose. I think Liz Phair because she has a cooler name. What are your feelings on your new-found fame? I get asked this question quite frequently and I never know how to answer it. Because the only thing that I find different is that people actually show up at our shows. And I guess it's been like a trickle-down type deal that just slowly grew and grew and grew. On this last tour, it was definitely really evidenced that something's going on. But in terms of fame, people don't stop me on the street or anything. But I guess I'm just the bass player, not the lead singer. Did you have a big following in Canada before you came to the US? Quite honestly until we started touring like a lot, we had never really been further East than Calgary or further South than Portland. Seattle, it took a little while to break the market, but now it's good.
