Interview: We Are Scientists

"Return The Favor" will make my Top10 songs of 2013, for sure. What is it that makes you write all these good songs? Is there something in the water that you drink?
There is, indeed, something in the water that we drink - it's called "any alcohol."  We add any alcohol to pretty much everything we drink - water, soda, other alcohols, cereal milk.  It definitely helps us write our tremendous tunes, and it helps us vomit into gutters at 4pm on a Wednesday.

"Business Casual" EP is out October 14th in Europe and the next day in the US. Tell me all about it.
Five songs, two from our forthcoming album, two recorded at Tim Wheeler's NYC studio, and one recorded by Keith, cold and alone in his bedroom.  It's a bit of an appetizer, to hold everyone over while they endure the interminable wait for our new album.

This EP means we're waiting for a new album in 2014? 
Yeah, the album is on it's way.  I guess I'm not supposed to divulge too much, since we're meant to be promoting the EP, but suffice it say that, come early 2014, everybody that cares about having ten new We Are Scientists songs collected in one place will be very, very happy, indeed.

As time passes and you grow wiser and older, is still "everything out of context" or have you found "something you're into"?

Well, I've found that passing things off as "a complex" was really "oversimplifying" things.  I also do actually really hate it when people call me on the phone - I welcome hang-ups.

Why did the boxer have to die in the video of "It's Hit"? That is one sad ending for a music video.
He had to die because, in the end, all boxers die, either in the ring or at the ripe old age of 104, in a jacuzzi, enjoying a pina colada with several of their favorite wives.

Are there any rules that actually stop you?

No.  None at all.  I'm that guy who's always secretly using his electronics - including ipods and Kindles and radar scanners and radio-jammers - while planes are taking off and landing.  I simply won't follow those rules.  What makes it all rather pathetic, I guess, is that if they simply make it a hearty recommendation, rather than a hard-and-fast rule, I'd happily just read a magazine or do sudoku or fall asleep with my head in the lap of the neighboring stranger during those sequences.

I loved the scientific approach in "My body is your body, I won't tell anyboby. If you wanna use my body, go for it.". Has being scientists paid off or was college a waste of time?

Without being too graphic, let me just say that, in terms of the clandestine use of other people's bodies, college was time very, very well-spent.

I loved the acting in "Steve Wants His Money". Bring SWHM back, please.

Done.

What video games are you into these days? 

I'm pretty into Grand Theft Auto IV, but mainly because, now that GTA V is out, I get to feel like one of those snooty, nostalgia-dwelling hipsters.  I might as well be twirling my waxed mustached and snapping my suspenders and running my xBox off of a steam engine, that's how retro I feel playing GTA IV.

What is the kindest and the weirdest thing anyone has told you about your music?

Oh, I guess that our brilliant work in music is unsurpassed, and will probably make our name live beyond eternity.  That's pretty kind stuff . . .

Name one thing in life that is not negotiable.

Physical attraction to Keith Murray.