NME VIDEO: We Are Scientists – ‘Our New Album Will Be Out in February’
Chris tells NME that they’re looking at “February-ish” for the release of the new album and talks about the producer they’ll be working with.

We Are Scientists just announced some extra dates this summer, in between their festival appearances at some very “intimate” venues:

JULY
23  // Bristol / Thekla
25  // London / The Garage
26  // Portsmouth / The Wedgewood Rooms
27  // York / Duchess
30  // Norwich / Arts Centre
31  // Manchester / The Deaf Institute

AUGUST
1  // Glasgow / King Tut’s

Tickets on sale at 9 AM this Wednesday…Ticketmaster.co.uk and See Tickets has some of the shows listed there and available for purchase on Wednesday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEITH!!!!!!!!!

Pass along all of your birthday greetings to Keith on Twitter (@scientistbros) or post on their Facebook wall!

We Are Scientists were featured on the Myspace series, Let’s Big Happy, this week:

They also played a show at the Brooklyn Bowl on Wednesday and their set included THREE NEW SONGS!  Check out the review and photos by Ken Grand-Pierre at Gigape here. He also has more photos of the show here on Flickr. Thank you, Ken, for being the only We Are Scientists fan in NYC to always post fantastic photos from WAS shows there.

And lastly, The Wiseling has: A Creator’s Portrait with We Are Scientists

Daytrotter: Hooks, Witty Tenderness, Bad Advice And The Good Guy Train
Click ahead to Daytrotter’s website to listen to a three song set with the guys.

The Cornell Daily Sun: We Are Scientists perform at Ithaca College

The Ithacan: I’m with the band

See the rest of The Ithacan’s photos here. 

Erin Henrici took a BUNCH of photos that are at Facebook right now, here’s a couple of ‘em:

Erin’s video footage of “Impatience”

Gamy Wong also has some great photos of the show, the whole set you can check out on Flickr but here’s a few:

Looks like We Are Scientists will be making the festival rounds this spring and summer. They’ve just announced shows in Spain, Ireland and Scotland:

May

3 – Madrid, Spain – Sala Sol

4 – Palma de Mallorca, Spain – 2 + 2

5 – Girona, Spain – IN-SOMNI Festival

11 – Dublin, Ireland – Camden Crawl Dublin

August

3 – Inverness, Scotland – Belladrum Festival

Check out the shows page at the WAS site for ticket links.  

And now…part two of Adrian’s interview with Chris and Andy and more of Polly’s photos. Many thanks, again, to Adrian Stone, Polly Thomas and Amber Gregory for allowing me to post all of this on my site!

Adrian: Would you rather be a pigeon or a squirrel?
Chris: Pigeon or a squirrel? I’d rather be a squirrel.
Andy: Yeah, a squirrel, no contest.
Adrian: Yeah. Would you rather be a bird or a squirrel? ‘Cause a pigeon’s so…
Chris: Yeah. I mean, if you’re talking about, an eagle or something, that’s different than a pigeon.
Adrian: You have to be a lower class bird, though. You can’t be-
Chris: What about a duck?
Adrian: Yeah, you can be a duck.
Chris: I wouldn’t mind being a duck, maybe. Ducks are pretty cool.
Adrian: You’d rather be a duck instead of a squirrel?
Chris: Yeah, or even like, a little- like a wren or a sparrow or something. Those cool little birds.
Polly: I had a squirrel hop on my arm in St. James Park yesterday! They’re cute!
Chris: I think they are basically rodents, right?
Polly: Well, they have little cute faces.
Chris: Yeah, they’re way cuter than rats, for example.

Adrian: What is your favorite kind of cake?
Andy: Favorite kind of cake?
Adrian: Yes, favorite kind of cake.
Chris: Why don’t you take this one?
Andy: We have a bakery near my- where I live, in Primrose Hill, called the Primrose Hill Bakery- you see what they did there?
Adrian: Yeah.
Andy: It took me a while to work out where I live. And they have like, just a regular chocolate cupcake, and I think it’s the best fucking cake I’ve ever had in my whole- I don’t even know what it’s called, just like, y’know, a proper homemade cupcake with icing- it’s fucking amazing. So whatever that is. I guess a chocolate cake.
Chris: I’m gonna give a fairly controversial answer and say cherry pie is my favorite kind of cake.
Andy: Oooh.
Chris: Yeah. Not really cake-
Adrian: It’s okay, it still counts.
Chris: But when other people might be ordering a slice of cake-
Adrian: You would order cherry pie?
Chris: I would order a slice of pie.

Adrian: Do you ever- Chris, do you ever- when you shave your moustache or something, or you grow it, or you have a beard- do you ever notice how much the fans really care? Like, there are pages and pages of arguments about your moustache and Keith’s fringe…
Chris: Really? Yeah, well-
Adrian: Yes, we’re very peculiar about it.
Chris: I think I’ve seen some comments, I wasn’t aware that it was kind of ongoing. I remember back in the early days…
Adrian: Yes, it’s very important now.
Chris: What- is there some kind of consensus about- like is there a consensus opinion? Or-
Adrian: No, it’s pretty divided. I think it’s more…people are more, like, willing- more violent- well, not really violent ’cause it’s just…talking-
Chris: So far.
Adrian: Um, aggressive, about Keith’s fringe.
Chris: What are their feelings on it? Like, when it gets too short, do they get upset?
Adrian: Yes, yeah. They get pretty upset when it gets too short, yeah.
Chris: I love it. I love it.

Adrian: I mean, I keep saying “they” like I’m not part of it or something, but yeah. I take part in these- I’m just as weird.
Chris: I really want Keith, for the next record, to have a different hairstyle.
Adrian: They would freak out.
Chris: Just let it be known. Let it be known that Chris is trying to make that happen.
Adrian: Oh my god, they would freak out. You know what would be really horrible? If like, he dyed his hair-
Chris: Oh no, no.
Adrian: …or got rid of the grey. They would freak out!
Chris: He would never do that.
Adrian: No, but if you wanna freak them out. I know he wouldn’t, but if you wanted to freak them out. You could just photoshop a different color hair on him.
Chris: “Check out Keith’s new look!”
Adrian: “Yeah, check it out!” And there would be teenage girls crying in the street, and…
Chris: Oh, man.
Adrian: It’d be horrible.
Chris: Sounds like heaven.
Adrian: Sounds like heaven?
Chris: Yeah.
Adrian: Shows how much you care about your fans, Chris.
Chris: I care about- that they have a rich experience, and that includes, y’know, the depths of sadness.

[Andy leaves to get some drinks.]

Adrian: I’ll ask you this now, since Andy won’t know anything about this. You used to have a song called The Ballad of Torgo, didn’t you?
Chris: Umm…
Adrian: Maybe?
Chris: Yeah… Well, I’m trying to remember if that was- if that is the accurate title. Yeah, I think it was called The Ballad of Torgo, yeah.
Adrian: Was that about- have you ever seen Manos: the Hands of Fate?
Chris: Yes-
Adrian: Is that what it’s-
Chris: That is what it’s about, yeah, yeah.
Adrian: Yes! [Chris and I high-five] I love that movie so much!
Chris: Yeah, it’s amazing.
Adrian: That is the best movie of all time.
Chris: How could it not be? In the song, it says “Torgo, lay your hands of fate on me, on me, on me”.
Adrian: Oh my god!
Chris: That’s a lyric.

Adrian: [to Chris] I know how you feel about parody music, like Weird Al. I don’t know if [Andy] feels the same way. I know you really don’t like it-
Chris: What?
Adrian: You don’t like parody music? Like Weird Al?
Chris: Y’know, it’s not that I don’t like listening to Weird Al, or Lonely Island, or whatever-
Adrian: I was gonna ask you about The Lonely Island. That’s what I was-
Chris: It’s not that I don’t like it, uh, I just don’t- I think Keith and I have always said we have no interest in making it, really. But we probably phrased it in a humorously hateful way.
Adrian: It always seemed pretty hateful.
Chris: I think we’re fine with that stuff as a listener, but it really- people always ask us why we don’t do, um, if we’ve thought about doing humor songs, y’know. And our stock answer is really that we feel like that genre fails to achieve what straight music does.
Adrian: Right. I wasn’t gonna ask you to do humor music, ’cause that’s always one of the questions that I feel is asked every interview…
Chris: Yeah. I was just catching Andy up, and getting him ready for your question now.
Adrian: Oh, okay. Sorry, yeah.
Polly: Your really old music, does that not count as humor?
Chris: Yeah, that’s why we got the hell outta that game. Our really old stuff was humor music.
Andy: I think We Are Scientists is quite unique in its- where it sits, because like, for a while, I used to have a problem with the fact that they- I did used to say this to you guys- no, I didn’t have a problem with it, but I used to be like, ‘do you mind that you do like, comedy, but then the records are fucking awesome and serious?’ And both of you were just like, and this is years ago, and they were both like, ‘no, nope, couldn’t give a shit. Makes total sense to us’. And I get it now, like I totally get it, I think that the two things work. It’s awesome, like we can play a fucking serious song, and then these two just go make everybody laugh, and then we play another serious song. I really- there’s not- I don’t really think there’s anybody else that I’ve ever gone and seen, or- y’know what I mean?
Adrian: Yeah.
Andy: That does that quite so successfully, and believably. I think that’s really cool. I like it now. I used to be like, ‘why do you do that?’ Not about the banter, just about the kind of general- but I think it’s fucking…
Chris: Y’know what’s funny about that humor during the show thing, is that Keith and I used to, like when we were in college- we were in uni together…
Adrian: I’m not British, you can say “college”.
Chris: I know. Sorry, I shoulda said “uni” to him and “college” to you. Um, we were really into singer/songwriter-y stuff…and in that genre, I think it’s actually really normal and common and expected for the singer/songwriter to kind of do, like a really pretty, beautiful, awesome song-
Adrian: By “singer/songwriter” do you mean, like, M. Ward?
Chris: Uh, I’ve never seen an M. Ward show, but if M. Ward does stuff with just an acoustic guitar, then that’s what I mean. Like, um, Glen Phillips from Toad the Wet Sprocket had a solo career after as Glen Phillips, and he would play in Santa Barbara all the time and we would go up and watch him ’cause we both loved Toad the Wet Sprocket. There was this guy, Matt Nathanson, who graduated from our cluster of colleges and, although now- he’s fairly successful now, in the states, as kind of a rock band format, but he used to just play acoustic- he’d play an acoustic 12-string and sing. That kind of stuff, I guess. Even, y’know, even to like, Ani DiFranco, or Liz Phair, solo versions. But, in that genre, you play a song, and then you chat. Then you talk about- you tell a story about the next song.
Adrian: They’re probably just lonely on-stage and need someone to talk to.
Chris: I mean, it probably does- you can’t just stand there if it’s just you on-stage. That’s what- I mean, bands don’t look any cooler, really, just standing there, like, tuning, y’know. But rock bands don’t do that, and I bet that’s kind of where Keith and I came upon that, is just- ’cause that genre of music, it’s just completely expected. And, in fact, the best singer/songwriters are definitely really good at kind of chatting and telling stories between songs. The one thing that they do, that we never do, is they recycle their material, which is fair if you’re telling a story about a song, if you’re like, ‘well, here’s how I made this song,’ you don’t expect the story to change every time, but they- you do notice, like, they’ll do the same jokes and stuff…I like that we don’t do that, even though the show would probably be funnier ’cause we would just choose the best material.
Adrian: I don’t know if it would really be funnier, ’cause I- well, personally, I-
Chris: It would seem lame.
Adrian: Yeah. Personally, I prefer improv.
Chris: Yeah. Well, you’d be able to- I think you’d be able to tell if we were actually doing lines or whatever. That’d be ridiculous.
Adrian: It would be funny if you did it ironically.
Chris: That’s true. It would be.
Adrian: But it would get unfunny fast.
Chris: Yeah, I agree.

Adrian: Are you still- I know you probably get asked this a lot, but are you still thinking of doing a TV show? Are you still gonna try, maybe, to do that?
Chris: Yeah, yeah, we’re- we definitely remain interested in TV. We’ve been waiting for ages on this MTV show called Handheld, that I had- if you had asked me two weeks ago, I would’ve said has pretty much petered out, but I’m hearing recently that it may happen. So, we might shoot something for MTV this fall, that I think would air this fall. But it’s not our show, really. We- we’re kind of like, on-screen dudes. Although, it involves us…it involves going to different cities, all over- like Rio de Janeiro and Moscow and like, cool cities, and making a short film. There’s four teams, and we’d be one of the teams that makes a film every week, and then they show the short films on the TV show, and like, viewer’s vote or something, I don’t know. So it’s like eight different cities, eight weeks.
Adrian: That sounds interesting.
Chris: Yeah. We get to make our film, but it’s not our show.
Adrian: Well, if there’s a voting- ’cause we got you that last.fm thing. So I’m sure we can get you to the top.
Chris: I do think we would potentially have a lot of luck with the voting because I think the other people are just comedians. We’re the only band people.
Adrian: Yes, and you have crazy fans.
Chris: So we have a fanbase. Comedians don’t really have fanbases, in that way.
Adrian: And we’re- we’re, uh…I’ve had too much to drink now, I can’t-
Chris: You’re passionate, you’re passionate fans.
Adrian: We’re passionate enough to be able to figure out how to break into the-
Chris: How to cheat!
Adrian: How to cheat, yes!
Chris: Vote again and again and again, yes.
Adrian: That’s what we did for the last.fm thing.
Chris: Exactly. We’re gonna ask that you guys find out how to cheat the, um, British, uh-
Adrian: You don’t even have to ask. Yeah, we’re gonna-
Chris: Okay. So, when we put out Andy’s single this fall, we need to get that to number one.
Andy: Yes. Come on, come on.
Adrian: Oh yeah. It’s gonna happen.

Adrian: Do you guys have any music recommendations?
Chris: Yeah, sure. Tall Ships. Tall Ships are great. Let’s see…
Andy: New I Am Arrows single.
Chris: New I Am Arrows single, coming this fall. It’s gonna be- it should be pretty mega. Well, um…Dev Hynes’s Blood Orange record, I think is- came out a couple of weeks ago on Domino.
Andy: We collectively agree on Tall Ships.
Chris: Yeah, Tall Ships is great.
Adrian: I also agree on Tall Ships. They’re amazing.
Chris: What else? Is there anything else happening? Well, what’s going on with Ben’s music? Is he-
Andy: Masterswan.
Chris: Can you go to his MySpace page or something?
Andy: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Ben’s got like, a- Ben’s just done a whole EP and he’s got it up on his own…page. Face…
Chris: Facebook page?
Andy: Facepage.
Chris: Check out Ben Burrows’s…
Adrian: …Facepage?
Andy: No, I don’t know- what’s it called, FaceSpace…
Adrian: Facebook? MySpace?
Andy: Facespace, Face- Mybook. Mybooks.
Chris: Mybooks?
Andy: Go to Ben Burrows, forward slash, mybooks. No, no, no, go to facebook, dot, slash…you know what I mean. Search his name somewhere. Yeah, that’s right.
Adrian: Just put in Google, “Ben Burrows facebook”.
Andy: Yeah, yeah. Faceball. Ben Burrows, facesmash.
Adrian: Facesmash, yeah.
Andy: Yeah, sorry, yeah. Tall Ships is a good one from the band, I feel.
Chris: Yeah, yeah.
Andy: A current- I think all three of us are like-
Chris: We endorse Tall Ships. We all- we listen to all- something like, 25 submissions for support for this tour, and we chose Tall- and we listen to them, y’know, ourselves-
Andy: Especially you.
Chris: Well, I actually listened to all of them, and I whittled it down to like, five or six-
Andy: Aw, yeah, you really did.
Chris: Sent them to you guys. Tall Ships was the band’s choice.
Andy: And I asked Keith if he would listen to five, and then I asked a friend of mine to listen to the remaining three, and then I listened to one and went, “YEAH!” Yeah, yeah. Big effort.
Chris: Yeah, Andy did the leg work.
Andy: Yeah, I like to discover things right from the up.
Adrian: Isn’t Rewards’s album coming out in the fall?
Chris: Well, yeah, the Rewards album, obviously, is mega. I have it. It’s fantastic. I play on it.
Adrian: Oh, you do?
Chris: I do.
Andy: Oh yeah, that’s cool. That’s awesome.
Chris: Yeah. It’s a good record, it’s a good record. Spooky. Pretty. Sensuous, like Aaron himself.
Adrian: Oh yeah, I can imagine. So, you play on his album?
Chris: Just on one song.
Adrian: Is Keith on it, too? [Chris shakes his head.] No? Keith’s not good enough.
Chris: He tried out for it.
Andy: They both sing backing vocals on a song off my album from last year, which is gonna be on a film- Justin Timberlake/Woody Harrelson movie that’s coming out in August. And all three of us are on that.
Adrian: …A Justin Timberlake movie?
Andy: Well, it’s fuck- Woody Harrelson! He’s the fucking dude!
Adrian: Okay.
Chris: Woody Harrelson’s great, yeah, he’s awesome.
Andy: It’s quite a pretty big film, y’know, I’m quite chuffed about.
Adrian: Yeah, yeah! Yes. Nice.
Andy: My fucking little album!
Chris: Wait- is it the Mila Kunis movie?
Andy: It may be-
Adrian: Is it that one that’s basically just a rip-off of the Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher one?
Andy: It’s, uh…Friends with Benefits.
Chris: Yup.
Adrian: Yeah. Okay.
Andy: Oh yeah, fuck, I don’t give a shit what the-
Chris: I think it’s gonna build on that, and be kind of an improvement on it. That’s my assumption.

Adrian: Are you working on any other stuff? I mean- do you do things for other bands, like with Rewards? Are you on anyone else’s album?
Chris: I haven’t. I haven’t done anything of note, but he’s on some other stuff of interest coming up.
Andy: I’m quite excited about Rufus Wainwright; I might end up on some of his album.
Adrian: Who? Rufus- oh, Rufus…Wuuu-ainright…
Andy: Yeah, you’ve heard of Rufus WAIN-right, right?
Adrian: Yeah, I just can’t say-
Andy: You just can’t bring yourself to say it. Ha ha!
Adrian: I have problems with my “R”‘s and my “W”‘s.
Andy: I think you have problems with saying Rufus [sputtering] Wain [coughs] wright, yeah.
Adrian: I was in speech therapy when I was a kid!
Andy: No, no, no-
Chris: Oh, you’re such an asshole!
Andy: I was more- I was more- if anything, I was suggesting that you might not like Rufus Wainwright, that’s what I meant. I wasn’t taking the piss out of anyone’s speech! Oh, no…
Chris: You didn’t think you were! You didn’t think you were.
Andy: That’s it, that’s a Ricky Gervais Extras moment- I don’t know if anybody’s- but yeah.
Adrian: Oh, I’m so offended.
Andy: Yeah, so hope- I’m hoping to end up on a couple of tracks on his album- on his new album. We like to multitask, us lot.
Chris: Multiple tasks.
Andy: But our main thing is getting back into the studio and doing this fucking record.

Polly: I have a question- why have you chosen “Time of my Life” as your entrance music?
Andy: ‘Cause it means everything to us.
Polly: Is there a back-story to it?
Chris: I don’t think there really is.
Andy: We just thought it’d be really fun. It makes us feel good before we go on.
Chris: Yeah- I think we, uh- we do a lot of a cappella singing when we’re- I would call it non-formal a cappella performance- when we’re walking around the streets together, or when we’re in the dressing room, singing a lot of old- a lot of songs, new and old. That song definitely originated from us just, I think, either you or Keith started singing it, and then we were probably like, “we should have that as our walk-on music”. But also, it’s really important to each of us on a very personal level. And if you could note that I teared up when-
Adrian: Yes, I will.
Chris: And that Andy-
Adrian: Yeah! You’re both-
Chris: And that Andy basically couldn’t talk.
Adrian: Yeah, you’re both- you’ve got a lot of tears right now, I can see that.

[Andy then starts talking about how badly he needs to “wee” and tells us just how long ago he broke the seal (25-30 years ago). He goes on for 64 seconds about his constant need to pee, so we end the interview for photos and a pee break. Before we end, Chris helps the fans out with a nickname for Andy's and dubs him "Old Peepee Pants".]

In June of last year, my favorite We Are Scientists superfan, Adrian Stone, made the pilgrimage that most of us fans that are non-UK residents wish we could do- see a bunch of We Are Scientists concerts in the UK. Right before the concert in Brighton, Adrian got to interview Chris and Andy, and along with an amazing photographer, Polly Thomas, to help document this momentous event, I am delighted to say that I can finally post the magic that happened that day here on What’s the Word. Part one is posted below. I’ll be posting part two of this interview on Monday:

(***Thank you to Adrian, Polly and Amber for letting me post this on my site***)

Adrian: You opened for Muse recently. How was that? ‘Cause I’ve seen them live, and they’re so incredible. Is that intimidating at all?
Andy: They’re miming, though, they’re miming.
Adrian: They’re miming? Oh, right, I didn’t know that. That makes…
Chris: I think that’s, actually…I don’t think that’s a secret, right? They acknowledge- that’s like, part of the amazingness of the show, is that they’re miming everything.
Andy: Yeah. Basic knowledge, isn’t it?
Chris: But, well, was it intimidating? I don’t know. You certainly don’t feel like you’re…I think it’s intimidating to play in front of 26,000 people, which was the size of the Moscow one.
Andy: Especially when you’ve got- when it’s just the three of you on a stage where they’re allowing you to use two flashing lights, on or off.
Chris: You feel a little silly. But…I don’t know, I can remember- y’know, I’m sure we’ve all been to big shows, and you judge the opener, y’know, kind of differently. It’s more like, if there are some catchy songs, y’know, you’re pleased, I think, as an audience member, and pleasantly surprised, usually. I don’t- I don’t often expect much from an opener.

Adrian: I judge openers pretty harshly.
Chris: Really?
Adrian: Yeah, especially-
Chris: Shit!
Andy: Their crowds were really cool to us.
Chris: Yeah, they were. I think there was more awareness of our songs than I thought there would be. I assumed that we would be quite unknown, but it seemed like there was a fair amount of…there was always some group of people that made their way toward the front for our section of the show and would sing along and jump up and down and stuff, while 25,900 other people kind of milled around and chatted.

Adrian: Was it anything like opening for REM? ‘Cause they’re- I mean, they’re probably a lot bigger, but…
Chris: It wasn’t, really. It was actually quite different. Well, for one thing, the REM shows were much smaller.
Adrian: Oh, really?
Chris: Yeah. So actually, Muse may be bigger than REM, then. They definitely play bigger shows than REM.
Adrian: Where did you play with REM?
Chris: We played throughout Europe. We started in Estonia and went down to Spain.
Adrian: Okay, so it was just, like, general Europe. And you played with Muse in Russia?
Chris: Yeah. But, I know Muse definitely play one level bigger venues than REM, in the places we played with REM.

Adrian: I wonder if REM are bitter about that.
Chris: They do seem pretty darn bitter about Muse, and I think it has to do with the ticket counts, yeah. I think REM’s one of those…they’re clearly more iconic.
Andy: I think if Muse are still doing shows the size that REM are doing now in 15 years’ time, then that’ll be a fair test. Do you know what I mean?
Chris: 20 years, right?
Andy: Yeah, exactly. I mean, I think Muse are kinda, to be fair to Muse, they’re definitely kind of- they’ve carried the crown for biggest live act of now, but that doesn’t mean that they- yeah. They haven’t achieved the REM sort of status, have they? It’s kind of interesting.
Chris: I think- yeah, especially in the United States, like, if you walk into a mall or are sitting in the waiting room of a doctor’s office or whatever, the chances of hearing an REM song are like, eight to one. You’re pretty much going to hear an REM song, every day. But…yeah. I don’t know. Muse has the edge right now in Russia, for sure.
Adrian: So, you played with both of them in Europe, in crowds that maybe don’t necessarily speak English. Is that any different than playing in front of crowds that do speak English?
Chris: Well, we feel very inhibited in terms of talking between songs- [someone at the bar turns some music up really loudly and Chris leaves to ask them to turn it down.]

Adrian: I wanted to ask you about I Am Arrows. Are you making another I Am Arrows record?
Andy: I’ve got a- I’ve done a new single, which is gonna come out, I think, like, in August.
Adrian: Oh, okay. Nice.
Andy: I haven’t really had time to do a whole other- a whole album, ’cause I’ve been doing quite a lot of stuff. But I have done a new single. So that’ll come out, I guess, hopefully in August. The artwork’s real nice.
[Chris returns]
Chris: Who did it?
Andy: This guy called Sam. I’ll show you, if you-
Chris: Cool, yeah.

Adrian: [directed to Chris] were you gonna say something? Before you left? Are the crowds that don’t speak English any…are they similar to the crowds that do speak English?
Chris: Well, y’know, there’s- I think the aspect of our show that is kind of the chit-chat between songs tends to dry up a little bit when we’re playing in front of foreign crowds. I’m not sure it wouldn’t work; we really just never even try to talk in front of non-English speaking crowds. Sometimes we get chastised for that by fans after the show. [Chris puts on an unrecognizable accent.]“But why don’t you talk? You famous for being funny! Why don’t you talk?” That’s my generic, non-English speaker accent. It could be from anywhere.
Andy: Anything east of London!
Chris: Yeah, so, that’s the main difference, I think. I mean- y’know. Certainly, I can name plenty of non-English speaking countries where we don’t have very many fans and those shows aren’t very good, I guess.

Adrian: Are you working on the fourth album now? Have you written anything for it?
Chris: We are working on it. We’ve got, like, some scraps, I would say. I’d say we’re at the scrap phase.
Adrian: Really?
Chris: Yeah.
Adrian: ‘Cause when I saw you at San Diego Indiefest in March, you said if you weren’t playing new material by now, that you should be looking for new jobs.
Chris: That’s, uh…that’s a tough quote to have thrown back at us, ’cause we’re definitely not playing any new material right now. And we’re not qualified for any other jobs. So…yikes.
Andy: I think we’re on course. We haven’t got stuck in- I think Keith’s kind of…y’know, he’s got some songs kicking around. He plays them really quietly and quickly and then runs out of the room.
Adrian: But you don’t know when you’d be recording, hopefully?
Chris: I think we pretty much need to record in October, barring some total creative meltdown before then. That’s the plan.
Adrian: Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. I would really like a fourth album.
Chris: I mean, we’re gonna make- I guess my point is just that if the material’s not there, we’re- there’s no real deadline. It’s kind of, y’know, you look at festival season next year, and possible release dates, and things like that, and kind of back it out from there. If we wanna do the easiest schedule, then, it means we have to record in October. Otherwise it creates problems.
Adrian: Are you still mostly just listening to Weezer? Is the next album gonna be like the blue album?
Chris: No, no. I think the last album was our Weezer-y album. I don’t know what this album’s gonna be like. There’s been…I think there’s definitely been sort of a direction struck out that is on the heavier rock side as opposed to…indie, I guess. But that may or may not actually bear out.

Adrian: You haven’t been writing- or, you have been working on new stuff, but not really, but…are you re-working a lot of the old songs? Because I really like the new version of Dinosaurs. I really love it.
Chris: Yeah, we’re really excited about it, too. We have, uh, talked about trying to do as much of that as possible with the live set. I think Dinosaurs is the first one that feels like it’s actually a little different, but, um, there- other moments have emerged in other songs.
Andy: But I think also Dinosaurs is kind of key ’cause I feel like, and this might just be from my point of view, but I feel like Dinosaurs, the way we’re playing it now, is kind of a good gauge of where we wanna take the next record.
Adrian: Oh, well that’s good ’cause I really love that new version.
Andy: I don’t know, that may well just be my thinking, but I think that is what we all-
Chris: No, yeah.
Andy: Quite exciting, playing it now.
Chris: Yeah, I agree, I agree.

Adrian: Did you change Chick Lit at all? It just seems slower to me. Maybe that’s just because I’m in a different country than-
Andy: Slower? Oh my god.
Adrian: It seems slower than I’ve ever heard it before, but maybe…
Andy [to Chris]: You must’ve been playing it super-fast.
Chris: We definitely- Danny used to play- used to really go on the- well, I would say Danny was more susceptible to Keith’s fairly persistent desire to play everything as fast as possible. Whereas I think Andy is more, like, making it his- like, listening to the song and deciding how he would like to play it, and so we’ve kind of actually got three votes. Whereas Danny would always just do what Keith wanted to do, speed-wise.
Adrian: Okay. I’ve only ever seen Danny, so. It’s not- I like it, still. It’s still really good, it’s just different.
Andy: No, no, no, I know, I don’t mind at all. No, it’s always interesting, y’know, to- you have different musicians playing different things, it’s gonna be, y’know, there’s gonna be major changes. I really like the recorded version of that tune, so I think I like to try and play it with a bit of the groove of the original.
Chris: Yeah, I like it with the groove, too. I think the way- I think the original idea of that fast version was just that, to play it as a 3-piece without all of the-
Andy: Yeah, the noise.
Chris: The sound effects and keyboards and stuff that we needed to- that that was what we were going to do to make it work. But I think, in losing the groove, I feel like it…I didn’t love it. I never loved the fast version, personally. I like having the groove back. But hey, I’m the bass player; I’m supposed to care about the groove. I’m the- I’m the groove guard.
Andy: The groove guard- the lynchpin!
Chris: I guard the groove.

Adrian: So, you’re on your own label, Masterswan.
Chris: Yup.
Adrian: Would you ever sign any other bands to it?
Chris: Yeah. We aren’t actively doing anything to make that happen. I think the most likely situation would be if one of our friends made something and had no real- hadn’t sorted out how he or she wanted to release it, we might offer to do it for them. I doubt we’re gonna begin scouting bands that we don’t know personally.
Adrian: No?
Chris: I mean, people are free to submit. Submissions-
Adrian: Okay, I’ll make sure to put that-
Chris: Put the word out.
Adrian: Yeah, get it out.
Chris: Submissions are welcome, yeah. Masterswan Recording. We’re a very non-prolific label, but we’re a quality label.

Adrian: What has been your most embarrassing on-stage moment?
Chris: Um…that’s a good question.
Adrian: Or you can just say Keith’s since he’s not here, if you wanna embarrass him.
Chris: Oh yeah, Keith’s most embarrassing on-stage moment… Well, there was a- I don’t know if embarrassing is the right word. It’s kinda weird… So, at the London show, I whacked Keith in the face during the last song with my bass.
Adrian: But that wasn’t the other night. Are you talking about a different London show?
Chris: No, no, it was the other night. It was during After Hours, during the last song. He definitely took it like a champ. But he’s actually got kind of a swollen cheek now. He looks kind of like, kinda Sly Stallone. Or more Sly Stallone than usual. A little puffy.
Adrian: I didn’t notice it after the show. 
Chris: I think it kind of- the next day it was much more swollen. Yesterday, it was much more swollen. You can definitely kinda notice it. It’s not a huge- it didn’t really bleed or anything.
Polly: Were you pretending it’s an accident and just taking out some anger instead?
Chris: Yeah, it was a big “accident”, y’know what I mean? Had to put him in his place. Yeah, that was- I was like, “oh, shit! Can he still sing? Did I knock out a tooth?”

Adrian: I don’t know if you know, you have- well Andy doesn’t have as many, but Chris has a lot of nicknames with the fans. Keith has a lot of nicknames. Do you have any nicknames besides the- most of the ones we give you guys are kinda cruel, but do you have any ones that aren’t given to you by fans? Well, actually, no, Chris’s are good. 
Chris: Mine are nice but Keith’s are cruel?
Adrian: Yes.
Chris: Uh…I don’t know, do we have nicknames? I don’t really know.
Andy: No. I mean, Fucknuts…
Chris: Fucknuts and Shitballs.
Andy: And Shitballs. Those are our nicknames.
Adrian: Those are good ones. Those are good ones.
Chris: That’s what we call each other.
Adrian: Those are such common nicknames, though.
Andy: That was when we had our summer of love. That’s when we had the We Are Scientists Summer of Love. The Chris and Andy Summer of Love. That’s the kind of thing that comes up- shit happens.
Chris: It does. We call Keith “Farts” a lot.
Adrian: Farts?
Chris: Yeah. Or like, any sort of variation on “farts”. Mr. Farts. If we’re in a Spanish-speaking territory, we call him Señor Farts.

Adrian: Señor Farts… We call you Señor Cain.
Chris: Okay, okay. That makes a lot of sense.
Adrian: Mostly we just call you Mr. Handsome, though.
Chris: Heeey.
Andy: Ah, heeey.
Chris: Alright.
[Andy whistles.]
Chris: Ah ha ha! Yeah.

Adrian: What is your least favorite We Are Scientists song?
Chris: Least favorite We Are Scientists song?
Adrian: Yeah. And your favorite, but your least favorite’s more important.
Chris: Yeah…that’s a good question. Mine…
Adrian [to Andy]: I don’t know if you have one or not.
Andy: What’s that?
Adrian: Least favorite We Are Scientists song?
Chris: You must have one.
Andy: Yeah, um…I’m not huge into that one that goes [sings the melody to Worth the Wait]. We never play that one. What’s that?
Chris: Oh yeah, uh…
Adrian: Are you talking about, uh…
Chris: Worth the Wait?
Andy: Yeah.
Adrian: Ooh!
Chris: That’s funny because that’s the song that’s most like a Muse song in my mind. It sounds a lot like that song, [Chris starts singing Muse's "Time Is Running Out"].
Andy: Right, yeah. Oh yeah, that’s the same song! Yeah, I like that bit. Oh, I like that bit. My favorite song is more important. I like After Hours and I like Lethal Enforcer. I think Brain Thrust Mastery is the best- is the strongest record so far.
Adrian: Brain Thrust Mastery’s amazing, yeah.
Andy: Yeah, I love that record. I mean, I am really proud of Barbara ’cause it’s my only one, but-
Adrian: Yes, Barbara is my favorite. Barbara’s the best.
Andy: So, obviously, I have a soft spot for that album, but I think if I- as a fan, I think Brain Thrust Mastery’s my favorite record. It’s my own personal mission that the fourth one- that the fourth one is fucking kick ass.
Adrian: Do you like Altered Beast?
Andy: Yup.
Chris: Ooh.
Andy: That’s fucking amazing.
Chris: I like Altered Beast a lot. Yeah, yeah. There’s definitely no bad song on, um…
Adrian: Brain Thrust Mastery?
Chris: I think on either of the two most recent ones. I’m sure if I think, my least favorite will be on the first record- I just can’t think of what it is.
Andy: That’s what often happens from a record that really kind of- ’cause it really connected with kind of a team thing, didn’t it? I think on that kind of record, you’re probably always gonna have something that’s kind of like- you look back on and go, “not really feeling that now”. But it’s a great album.
Chris: Yeah, it is. I almost feel like Great Escape is my least favorite song…just ’cause we’ve played it so many fucking times.
Adrian: That was mine- when I started listening to you guys, that was my least favorite song.
Chris: I do think it’s the one, I think that, of our better known songs, it’s definitely, to me, the least- like, it’s the one that I wouldn’t mind if it got- we got discredited for it. We’d lost the credit.

READ PART TWO NOW!

We Are Scientists will be one of the headliners for the first ever Nowadays Festival at the ArtsQuest Center at the SteelStacks arts and cultural campus in Bethlehem, PA on March 30-31. Tickets are on sale this Friday. Go to the ArtsQuest website for more info.