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Q A boring record?

A Not boring like you’re falling asleep at the wheel, but not reaching for astounding wordsmithing or anything. I just mean [mundane] things like [the play] Our Town. I used to worked at a community theatre when I was younger and Our Town was one of the plays we’d have to do and I would fall asleep all the time. So I decided I wanted to do that musically: a play I didn’t really like but I’ve watched 30 to 40 times, not including rehearsals, and I still can’t remember what it’s about.

Q So you wanted to make a boring album based on Our Town?

A It wasn’t a concept album but I wanted that feeling. And about five songs in I was like, that’s enough of that. I think the nine-minute-long trip to Dairy Queen after soccer practice song may have been too much. Anyways, it was a long process, a lot changed throughout the thing.

Q And then in 2012 [longtime bassist] Eric Judy left.

A No one’s entirely sure why Eric decided to leave the band. I get it. This is a lot of years working in the same office, essentially. No big deal, I told him, but in the back of my mind I’m like this is a huge deal. But I do get it, that’s a long time for somebody else to pull your strings. To be honest, I’m still trying to work it out for myself.

I’ve been in some car accidents, but none were as close to getting me killed as this record almost did. It did me in.

Q Are you guys on speaking terms?

A No, we don’t really talk. I’m sure we will eventually, but maybe he got sick of me. That’s doable. You’ve been on the phone with me for 10 minutes, imagine doing that for 20 years.

Q It’s easy to assume that going from an indie band to a massive pop band had something to do with it.

A The problem there isn’t so much that you change as people change in how they deal with you. As a human being you’re no longer given the same scenarios. It’s like travelling to a foreign country where fundamentally things are the same and what’s proper is different. And that can’t happen without changing a person on some level.