Scotland’s Dog Die in Hot Cars are the quintessential band for me that I started out hating but now absolutely love. When their first album, Please Describe Yourself, came out, I was working at a place that forced me to listen to it everyday. Add that to the fact that all of my co-workers had no idea who this man was, and it is easy to see why we started off on the wrong foot. But now, years later, I really can’t get enough of their XTC-infused pop, and kick myself for not loving it right off the bat.

I Guess I’m Floating is reporting some good news for DDIHC fans out there: the band is working on their follow-up to Please Describe Yourself. The even better news: you can be a part of the process.

Find out how after the jump.

The band has set up a blog for their second album. Straight from the horses mouth:

"So we never managed to finish the second album. And the months went by and more and more people were saying, well, can we at least hear the demos? and I was like, nut, they’re not finished, but I couldn’t escape the demos and as much as they were home recordings I couldn’t stop liking what I was hearing from them. I wanted other people to hear them also, but my writer's ego couldn’t think of a way in which it would make me happy to do so and, in my arrogance, I would think the listener could be happy when hearing them.

I had been working for a few months on a project which was to involve the online community creating their collective vision of a pop band; creating the music, the characters, the artwork - everything that was part of what defined a band the community could vote for. However, as the project developed so too did the understanding of how incredibly complicated all the parameters would have to be, and how much work it would involve, especially for a lone muso living in Spain. So I laid it to rest and got on with some writing. Then, one morning, encouraged by a guilt ridden shame fest of a hangover, it came to me - Why not ask the interglobal community if they would like to try and finish the second album?

And so a few months and tweaks later and here we are. Here are the first four of the album's demos, (the rest will be put online in the weeks to come) free to download, and accompanied with them every individual track that made up their recordings in simple mp3 format. If you just want the demos, go ahead, they’re free. But if you want to make your own versions of how you think the final songs should be then that’s the baby. And that is also free. Whether you are a singer, a guitarist, a pianist, a DJ, a poet - whatever - you can download the tracks and produce your versions of how you hear the songs. Do you hear an amazing solo of yours ripping though one them? Could you remix one into an orgasm tingling beat beast? Is your voice waaaayy better than mine or even Ruth’s? Show us. We want to hear what you think you can do with Dogs Die In Hot Cars' music.

And then what? What happens when I make my version? Email us it. The intention is that we take our favourite versions of each song from all the Re-recordings/Remixes that are sent to us and with them make the definitive Dogs Die In Hot Cars Second Album. And what do I get out of it? I hear my mother ask - Aside from the satisfaction of contributing to some sweet music making, we will give anyone whose contributions are used towards the definitive versions a portion of any royalties made from the recording and publishing incomes generated by them, plus a very grateful credit. (Read more about that in the Terms and Conditions post)"

This idea is genius. It's like what Radiohead just did with with "Nude" remix, but instead of charging fans $6 for what is essentially more promotion, DDIHC are asking fans to actually become a part of the process, contribute to the record, and if it's good enough end up on the final version. Not only that, you'll get royalties for being a contributing member to the band.

I believe this is what they call a Win-Win situation.