UN: Fission, Fusion and things Made of Concrete was initially released by the bands themselves. How did the re-release on Indianola come about? Was it just a matter of them hearing the album and needing the bring it to more peoples attention?

Chris: It was really unexpected, but a friend of the guys at Indianola just popped up on our message board one day and said "we should talk." I think he just heard a few songs off MP3.com and really liked it. We never really intended to put the album out on a label, but they were such great people and really loved the record, so they put it out. So basically, they heard the stuff and needed to get it to more people's attention.

UN: Was this album initially supposed to be the final recording for the band? It said it the bio that this was once looked upon as the final farewell for the band. Did possibly the more experimental approach rejuvenate everyone into keeping the band together?

Chris: Yes, this was supposed to be the final recording for the band, and will definitely be the final recording released under the CafFiends name. I would have to agree that the experimental tracks do really make us want to make more music and in the same vein as some of those tracks.

UN: What would you attribute the bands new found sense of experimentalism to? From what I could gather the bands previous releases were a bit more straight forward, and you guys went all out with a diverse approach this time around.

Chris: It really had a lot to do with the styles of music that we were listening too and the fact that we didn't really care about impressing hardcore kids anymore.

Jon: I wouldn't say that our sense of experimentation is anything new. I've always considered us an experimental band 'cause we've always tried to push ourselves. We just decided with this album to totally cross the line and try and be more than just a progressive hardcore band.

UN: The album name was inspired by the book The Blinding Curve of Energy. Was exactly about the band inspired the name of the album? I have to tell you I had no idea what to think of the title when I first read it. It definitely seemed to have some thought behind it, but where exactly it came from I had no idea.

Jon: Actually, the book is called "The Curve of Binding Energy", by John McPhee. Don't worry, it gets mixed up all the time. It always takes us about six months to come up with an album title. We were kicking around ideas like "Arroyo" or the 2001: A Space Odyssey inspired, "Monolith". Then I remembered there already was a Kansas album titled Monolith. I had been listening to a lot of experimental electronic music from the sixties known as "Music Concrete", and the idea of the fixed concrete sounds reminded me of the absolutes of life and how those are concrete and never change. I was reading the John McPhee book, which is about atomic energy, and I thought it would be great to juxtapose the absolutes of life against the volatility of exploding atoms. So in short, "Fission, Fusion and Things Made of Concrete" is about the absolutes and variables of life.

UN: With a band that can basically do anything, do you still have to set boundaries for the band? Like say for instance I couldn't really see the band expanded into a hip-hop approach for a song. Do you think that to a certain degree now that this album is released and people are exposed to the new approach, that you can basically do anything?

Chris: What's funny is that Jon has produced some hip-hop records that are nothing short of phenomenal. As far as this band is doing, we would like to be diverse, but I also feel that excessive diversity doesn't make sense sometimes. How can a band have a signature sound if they do everything???

Jon: Yeah, Eddie and I produced this hip-hop album for our friend "Dialogue" a couple of years ago. At that time we were listening a lot of James Brown, and Motown stuff, and the album has this total funky 1973 feel cause it's all real drums and analog synthesizers and stuff you would hear on a Herbie Hancock record. So in a way we've already done hip-hop.

UN: Would you still say that the band is indeed a hardcore band? A lot of the songs are still heavy hardcore, but you have certain songs that really have nothing to do with hardcore at all. Do you think it's a compliment when people say that you aren't just another hardcore band? Originality, especially in hardcore, is hard to come by.

Chris: I love it when people recognize that even when we do play the "hardcore" songs that we're trying to do something different. It's a huge compliment.

Jon: We're more of a hardcore band live. We play with other hardcore bands. When it comes to recording it's just us in the studio with no outside influence. No producers, or label executives, or anyone to impress. So we become truer to ourselves then we might be at "the big mosh fest". Inside the studio we truly become our uninhibited selves and we just make records.

UN: I would also say that you guys put a lot more time and thought into the production then a lot of bands do these days. Was it a conscious decision to use a analog production? Everything sounds incredibly natural and that is not really common place these days. I was especially impressed with the drum sound. I'm sick and tired of triggers and anytime I hear a natural snare I definitely appreciate the production a whole lot more.

Chris: We've always been huge fans of analog recording and vintage equipment; it's not always the easiest thing to use and never the cheapest way to go. Though the production is not perfect, I feel that it's very distinctive.

Jon: There was a lot of analog signal path on this recording, simply because 80% of the gear in my studio is old analog stuff. It just sounds better to use analog gear to tweak tone than to have a computer crunch numbers. The main console I have in my studio is a 32 input analog console with transformers on all the inputs. I also used a Midas console on most of the recording done outside of the studio, primarily the drums on Twenty-Three. We didn't use any DSP or Pro Tools or anything like that until we got to the mastering stage. We did however track most of the songs on a digital tape recorder, but that was it. That's simply because it's what I have and it's easier to roll around a DA-88 machine than a Studer 800. I used an old Ampex AG440 reel to reel on the mixdown of the album that really helped give the album a non digital tone. It's not so much that we wanted a certain sound when recording this album, but my audio ideologies, and the way I always do things in the studio.

UN: I'm not sure if I'm just imagining things but I definitely see a common thread between this album and The Shape of Punk album by Refused. Would you guys consider the band an influence at all? I think that was one of the first hardcore albums to really break down walls and say fuck the norm we like other styles and want to explore them.

Jon: Believe it or not, I think only one of us even owns that album. We have all listened to it and I think we all like the Refused, but I think we actually get more influence from say, The Beatles, than The Refused. I think we were just in the same place in our musical lives where we just wanted to make an album against the norm. I am flattered when people compare us to bands like The Refused and Snapcase, and I guess we do look up to them in a way, but we have never desired or tried to emulate them.

UN: I'm curious to ask when you guys play live do you stick mainly to the heavier material or is everything thrown in together? I'm not sure how some of the stuff would work in terms of a loud, live setting.

Chris: We typically play just the heavy stuff live because it's simple, but when we have a local show, we try to do at least one of the experimental songs such as 23. We are actually planning on doing a show soon where we play Fission Fusion and things made of Concrete in its entirety.

UN: Is it safe to assume that all of you guys listen to a wide variety of musical styles? It seems odd to me when people say they only listen to one style of music. That would be like someone saying they only experience one emotion. It just doesn't happen.

Chris: Yes, it is true.

Jon: I remember when I was sixteen, I had bleached hair, and patches on all my clothing. I loved punk and skateing. I wondered how I was going to change when I got older. Would I always wear chains, and skate with my friends. Or was I going to sell out and become normal. Today, I'm twenty-four I almost always wear a collared shirt and pants. I never sold out or became normal, I just grew up. I think it's the same with music. In your teen years you listen to what's cool and what your friends listen to. As you grow your tastes expand, and you get to know yourself more.

UN: Due to the bands love for analog recording would you guys like to see a vinyl version of the album ever see the light of day? I think the album would make an unbelievable double LP.

Chris: Doing a release on vinyl has always been a dream of this band. If Indianola wants to do it, it's make me really happy.

Jon: What I really want to do is release a 5.1 mix on DTS or DVD-Audio, or something like that. That way you could rock it in surround. We recorded enough guitar tracks we could put a different amp in each speaker.

UN: I'm curious to ask if you would say that you look at music as something that you mainly do for yourself. If it wasn't, chances are you'd think to much about what other people would want and the bands sound would become diluted on the way. Fame or fortune doesn't seem to be what you guys are after. What would you consider success? Making an album you could look back on and say we made a piece of art, a unique album that defies categorization.

Chris: I never expected to make money playing this style of music. Success to me is being able to share your music with people who really can understand and enjoy it.

Jon: When you make music that other people want to listen to and you have a fan base, that's success. You have to keep your self in check and realize why you got into music in the first place. It gets hard when you get to the level where you have to make that choice of "Do I do this for fun, or a living?" Cause you can't ride the fence. Either you work the nine to five and rock out on the weekends, or you got to be totally committed to turning your music into a commodity. I think every musician dreams of being a star, but personally I am content playing in a coffee house or dive club and just having fun and sharing with my friends.