How have reactions been to the new [Menos el Oso remix album] Interpretaciones del Oso?
It was something we released that we all wanted to do, but we didn’t do a whole publicity push for it; it was a companion to the record. We thought it turned out really well. It’s nice to hear someone else’s interpretations of the songs we did. We get it back and it’s like, “Whoa! That’s what you were thinking? That’s insane.”
[Recently completed album] Planet of Ice was your first time recording with new member Alex Rose. How is he measuring up?
It was the first time we were able to have an actual keyboard player write with us and be part of the whole process. While [former keyboardist and current producer] Matt [Bayles] was a very key part of the band and his keyboard was part of the Minus the Bear sound, he definitely was more of a producer-engineer guy. He knew sound and atmospherics really well. Alex has been able to come in with that as well as actually being able to play the piano. Matt has been gearing up to be a producer and engineer and have his own studio for a long time, so it all made sense. And it’s perfect for us, because we can still work with him. For any transition that a band has to go through, this was the smoothest we can think of. Yeah, we like that Alex. We’ll keep him around.
Any particularly memorable moments from the Planet of Ice recording process?
It was funny to work with Alex because he would hear a lot of things that we wouldn’t hear. So the joke was at the end of listening to a song, everybody’d go through and say everything’s all right, “But what does Alex have to say?”... We played a lot of Wii bowling. I don’t know how we would have gotten through the recording session without our good friend Cameron, because he saved the day by lending us his Wii. There was a lot of Wii bowling and tennis going on. I tell ya, we were sweating. With The Honorary Title, Chin Up Chin Up.
May 8, 7:30 p.m., $12.
House of Blues, 632-7000.