There’s an article on the Mae Shi in this week’s paper (which you can check out here), and the guys in the band gave me a lot more information than would fit in the article. You can read all about it after the jump.

In the meantime, you can listen to the Mae Shi:

MP3: Run to Your Grave

And another song is on this week’s Easier Than Reading podcast here.

The Mae Shi play Saturday, April 26 at East End, 203 SE Grand, with Pre, Panther, and Fist Fite.

How was SXSW?

Jeff Byron: I think we would've gotten bored if we weren't playing all those shows. There's nothing to do at SXSW besides drinking and racing to see a band you already missed. At least playing 18 shows gave us a really purpose, every second we were there.

Bill Gray: SXSW was pretty funny, I felt a bit crushed by the end of the first show, but by the end of the 18th I felt like we had to play at least 18 more to feel completely satisfied. I dunno, it felt like we were machines incapable of anything else, but I feel very human today. I think my gut feels the misery of all humanity at the moment.

Jacob Cooper: I think the remarkable thing about SXSW was that we got to really treat it as an endurance challenge. It was more crushing when we had a couple hours off, as opposed to loading in, playing, quickly loading out, and repeating this over and over again. This was my first trip with the band as a new drummer, so in the end I think I learned how everyone’s chemistry worked. I think it was a great first impression; they wanted to try to kill me with 18 shows without ever properly touring. It felt good to pass.

Your website says you will be taking the show “a little more seriously,” and that it’s your “attempt to grow up.”

Jeff: Who wrote that? I think we've always been trying to find creative ways to put on a show. I want to play shows where everyone has fun. Is that serious? I don't know. One thing we've always struggled with is playing big venues. We don't feel comfortable on big stages, and we'd much prefer to play at a birthday party in someone's parents' basement than in the Wal-Mart Sports Arena. We're definitely going to have to think of something when we have to play festivals with mass audiences. Maybe that's what our website means.

Bill: I think those two lines mean something different for everyone in our band. A little more seriously to me means really fully exposing ourselves for whatever it is that we are and following through with every idea we said we we're going to do. Attempting to grow up might mean just creating honest work and not worrying about childish things like "cool," clothes, cash, holy war, Jurassic Park... YOU KNOW, stuff. I really have no idea what it means to everyone else!

Jacob: Every Mae Shi record has been different to me, even as a listener. This is really the first time Mae Shi has ever properly toured a lot and taking the touring circuit "seriously." So in some aspects, we are definitely growing as a band as we expand to unknown lands. Who knows though, this might just mean we need to stop goofing off and making bad jokes with one another in the van.

Brad Breeck: When that "a little more seriously" sentence was written, we were in a stage of kind of rethinking what our band meant. For a long time we kind of struggled with our live show. On one hand, we were kind of known for being a crazy high energy live band. On the other hand, we were aware of the fact that a lot of times it fell to pieces. So we were kind of a hit or miss live band. And that's totally cool, we are all about putting it out there and seeing what happens, and if it fails, so what—we tried. Anyways, when that sentence was written we were in the process of trying to get better and more consistent at putting on a show that "worked." We also started adding some fun stuff to the performance: lighting cues, costume changes, etc. The "attempt to grow up" thing refers to the kind of central thesis to this band, that thesis being that the band can be a tool for learning to do and doing all the things you've always wanted to do. You want to make movies? Make a music video. You want to design stuff and make art? Make a t-shirt, make some album art. Etc., etc. The band can be a vehicle for achieving your goals, and not just musical goals. Use the band to grow yourself and become what you want to be.

How does such a large group work together so effectively?

Bill: Patience.

Jeff: The Mae Shi has always had a reflective gratification property about it. The more each one of us puts into the band, the music, the shows, etc., the more we all get out of it, individually. It's easy to stay dedicated when you love what you're doing. I like to think we use our personality differences to get more out of the band. We get more colors that way, and the music is less homogenized. We're constantly being pulled in separate directions, to the point where we get a little explosion of creativity. Of course it's always give and take. Because there's so many of us, it takes us years to actually make a record.

Jacob: The beautiful thing about this band is that every member can bring ideas to the table, and everyone listens really well to one another. There is this ongoing saying in the band that if someone doesn't lay an idea out, someone else will end up forcing it out of them. We are all really dedicated to this project I think because it’s the force behind everything else we would like to achieve. If we want to try to get somewhere or learn something new, the Mae Shi will be the engine to get us there. I really want to go to Japan. I honestly don't think a lot of things would've happened without people having personal differences with one another in this band. Not to say we have a lot of them, but instead of being negative about it we tend to just take it into another new direction.

Brad: It's not always the most effective or efficient way to work actually. It can be challenging. But it almost always yields results that one person on their own wouldn't have achieved. We make it work by reminding ourselves that we are all friends and that the end product will be awesomer than we could have imagined it being from at the beginning. Not that it's all difficult. The group discovery process can be super super fun and gratifying. We all have lots of side projects, I think that might keep us fresh and keep the energy. Usually, we usually have big goals that we're working towards, and those help keep us excited and pushing forwards.

Are there any artists you look to for inspiration?

Jeff: Andrew W.K., Queen, Prince. I don't know. I like artists that put more than just music into music. Sometimes.

Bill: It changes almost everyday, but right now: Sparks, Joe Meek, early Chumbawumba, the Minutemen and Saccharine Trust! I mean, at least musically. Visually, this guy Landon Meier out of Denver has been freaking me out in a good way, I think. I’ve also always had my mind blown by Don Van Vliet [Captain Beefheart] no matter how typical that is!

Jacob: I really like movies, I wish Mae Shi would score a film. It would be perfect.

Brad: Music that most influences me in relation to the Mae Shi: Todd Rundgren, Melt-Banana, Sparks, Tod Dockstader, Van Dyke Parks, This Heat, Public Image Ltd., Cornelius Cardew, Giacinto Scelsi, Queen, Nobukazu Takemura, Tetsu Inoue.

HLLYH sounds remarkably accessible without having lost any of the trademark chaos.

Jeff: I think we've always been trying to make accessible music, at least for a while now. Maybe we're just figuring it out.

Bill: I can't think of a Mae Shi album deemed unaccessible so I guess Mae Shi have always been making accessible music. At least that's how I see it, but who knows, I'm wrong a lot.

Is ith a by-product of “growing up”?

Brad: It's definitely not a by-product of "growing-up." I get the sense from some reviews and comments that some people think that we JUST figure out how to write songs properly or something. Which is ridiculous. That would mean that our previous records were made without intention, which is not the case. We did use more traditional pop structures and melodies on this record. Some of that was intentional, some of that was a result of losing a member [Ezra Buchla] and having to rethink the way we wrote music for this band. At some point we realized that we COULD use more traditional "SONG" elements and still make it sound like Mae Shi, so we ran with it.

What would define a “bad” Mae Shi gig? How do you know that you’ve had a good gig?

Bill: Sweat!

Jacob: As long as I give out at least 10 autographs, that means I have had a good gig.

Brad: If it's not fun for us then it's "BAD". If it's fun then it's "GOOD."