The Decemberists recently jumped the Kill Rock Stars ship to board the Capitol vessel; everyone seems to be pretty cool with that. Usounds writer Scott Roots talked to Nate Query, bass, from his hotel room in Dallas, Texas about stuff not really related to the move to Capitol.

Scott: Before we get started are there any frequently asked questions that I should avoid as to not annoy the shit out of you?

Nate: [laughs] Certainly everyone wants to talk about the prog rock on the new record; everyone wants to talk about signing to Capitol Records. But everyone sort of has their attack on what’s interesting. So you have free reign.
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Today, USOUNDS talks with Henry Binns of Zero 7

USOUNDS: Billy Ocean and I chill out to your new album, The Garden all the time. Billy Ocean is actually a water pipe and not the greatest of all time rhythm and blues tinged international pop performer of this century. Anyway, your singing debut is featured on The Garden. Zero 7 is notorious for having guest singers, but do you plan on singing more tracks yourself in the future?

Henry: I really don’t know. Singing on this one was a bit of a happy accident, so, we’ll see………what do you think? Should I? Am I any good?

USOUNDS: A million times, yes. You might even think about doing a duet cover of “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love for You” with Sia and then remixing the shit out of it. Now that I think about it, if Billy Ocean ever has an accident, Peabo Bryson would make a fantastic successor. The Garden seems a little more upbeat than your previous records. Anything you wanna tell us about the new album?
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Tom from Snow Patrol graciously took time between shows to answer a few conventional questions for us.

USOUNDS: Your tour started in Denver on May 23rd. Did you know that Denver is nicknamed Menver because there are supposedly assloads of single dudes there? What would you tell the people of Menver to expect from your live show?

Tom: Come to this show and get yourself a girl. Oh! and free beer?

USOUNDS: Free beer is a good motivational tactic. Menver is actually the #1 city for singles in general, so hopefully you guys were able to sow some of your wild oates over there. What were your favorite tour stops in the past?

Tom: It’s great to see what lies between the two coasts (US) and we love an adventure but I’d have to say the places I enjoy are the port towns. I think they have the best history and the most colourful people. I think this is probably because I’ve always lived in port towns, I can relate better and I start freaking out if I haven’t seen the sea in bit.

USOUNDS: Yeah, I think as far as port towns go, it’s all fun and colorful until someone drowns. What is your opinion on the “Not proven” verdict that is controversially used under Scots law? Do you feel that this verdict can unfairly hurt someone’s public standing, or do you believe that it is a court-based judgment that should not consider civilian opinions and should possibly replace the “Not guilty” verdict as an alternative to condemnation?
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Today USOUNDS brings to you an enchanting conversation with Australian rockers, Wolfmother.

USOUNDS: Hi Myles, Chris, and Andrew. Is there a good story behind your band name? Because we know there is a voluptuous half-naked lady on your website entwined in snakes, and that’s hot.

Wolfmother: The band name came from a recurring dream that we all had when we were 12 where we were being chased by giant lizards through the snow. They were throwing fireballs at us and just as they were about to catch us, the ice broke and we sank to the bottom of the freezing ocean. As we sat on the sea bed slowly drowning the water began to turn into a room filled with dense ferns and palm trees, we realized we were surrounded by 12 wolves, they spoke to us without talking. They took us to a door. Through the door was a large chamber. Seated on a throne at the far wall was the wolf mother. She comforted and fed us, she taught us many things and trained us for war. The lady in the picture is the Sea Witch, she is the evil enemy of the wolves. She has an army of giant lizards. She can summons monsters from out of the ocean.
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Today USOUNDS treats you to a conversation between our archivist, Jan Fossbeck, former German tourist and radical communist, and Dan Snaith, better known as the musician Caribou (Manitoba). They get to discuss the amazing new Caribou album, as well as the live tour, vagina balls, crazy dreams, and dancing children. Enjoy

Jan Fossbeck for USOUNDS: The tour with Junior Boys and Russian Futurists will be great. I am already whipping myself into a frenzy preparing for it. What will your live show be like?

Dan Snaith of CARIBOU: Actually there’s more to that tour than got announced already – it’s gonna be a monster. We’re just confirming the final dates now. our show is going to be along the same lines as last time (two drum kits, guitars, keyboards, samplers, synced video for each track) but we were kind of flying blind last time and have really figured out how to make shit better, sloppier and madder this time around.
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The Stills are back in the studio recording their follow-up to Logic Will Break Your Heart… they’ve got some new news to spill, so without further a-do, here’s our interview conducted by clueless drunken writer (and Stills fan) Chaz Bartok:

Chaz Bartok: Hello? Is this thing on? Who’s this? Never mind… (static). Hello? How is the new album coming? What can fans expect?

Dave Hamlin, The Stills: We’re having a great, great time putting together and recording all the songs that’ll make up our second effort. We’re almost done pre-production and we go into the studio on march 28th. This record is gonna be really different than our last one. Most of the songs on “logic”, I wrote when I was a very young man and they came from a completely different person than I am today. I’m not very old now, I’m just older than I was 5 years ago. Sometimes you get younger with age, but I’m happy I got older.
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Ian Parton is the leader and mastermind behind The Go! Team, who put out one of the finest records of last year. Our own Chaz Bartok managed to get an interview with the man himself…

Chaz Bartok for USOUNDS: You got a lot of critical praise and attention this year. How do you keep from getting huge heads and, you know, stepping on the little people and ordering underlings around and such?

Ian Parton of The Go Team!: There are no egos in the band – the idea of anything to do with being fussed over makes me sick. if anyone ever offers me a limo i’m not going in it.
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