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The first question has to be the most obvious one – what inspires you to create a concept album about robot horses?

I'm still not sure what brings that sort of thing on. We make up a lot of songs on stage, and so I'll often have to sing the first thing that comes into my mind. If our current recording process is any indication (we're in the studio right now, and creating a lot of songs as we go), the mood of the music seems to make a huge difference. A lot of the lyrics I thought I had going in don't really fit the new sound, and so new ones have emerged.

The funniest part with Horses is that I often talk about [John Wyndham’s post-apocalyptic 1955 sci-fi novel] The Chrysalids when I talk about the album, and how it's a similar kind of story. We did a gig recently, and there was a copy of the book there, which I hadn't read since grade 10 or 11, and the opening paragraphs talk about dreaming of lights in the distance and trying to get there. I'd always wondered where those lines in our song “Glad For” came from, and I guess now I know.

You’ve got a seven-member band that incorporates at least a dozen instruments. Has the sheer size of the group led to any good on- or off-stage stories?

We include a drinks table in our stage-plot, but certainly there are a lot of venues where that doesn't fit. The great thing about our instruments is that they are very small, so we don't have much trouble traveling with them. We've traveled with three-piece bands that need more space than we do because of monstrous amps, pedals, what-have-you. I bought my first amp for a tour last fall.

With so many artists behind the scenes, how does the band’s creative process work?

It's always remarkable to me, for a band with so many different musical tastes, how we seem to intuitively play with one another. We don't get much time to even practice with each other, so most things happen spur of the moment. The only real issues, I suppose, can come in the recording process, and then it's really a matter of “Did we play too long or too short there?” With a lot of songs on the new record, a few of us laid down some bed tracks, and when the others came in, we suggested they listen to the song, try to decide what kind of genre it was, and then do everything they could to fight that genre. It's been really fun. Really not sure how to describe what we do any more, but that's really the fun of it. Whenever anyone asks [our bassist] Scott [Maynard] what kind of music we play, he just says, “Good music.”

Your sound doesn’t lend itself to easy comparisons – maybe 16 Horsepower by way of The Decemberists? With that in mind, do you have much sense of who your main audience is?

Us? People like us? Actually, I'm continually shocked at the people who come up to us after shows because they're all so different. Apparently the album really spoke to people who were having trouble being in the U.S. military. We've had a number of guys say the album helped get them through their experience there. That's an amazing thing.

After being in the band for more than 10 years, how validating is it to see Are We Not Horses finally earning mentions in Rolling Stone and other major market publications?

I'd be lying if I didn't say it feels wonderful now that so many people get to hear the things we're writing and playing. I think I'm the only one who's been playing as Rock Plaza Central for ten years, but all of us have played in a lot of bands that have never received this kind of opportunity. There are great bands all over the place that just aren't there in the right place at the right time. I mean, there's no real reason why lots of people know who the Bowerbirds are right now but no one knows [New York folk-rock band] Jeneric, and they are both doing similar things equally well.

As a Canadian band, how does the reception you encounter at home differ from what you see in the U.S. or Europe?

I don't think it does, really. I'd say we were received well first in the States, and we've definitely played there more in the past year than here at home, but again I'd say that's partly luck. Sometimes it's hard to be recognized in your own city, too, especially if you've been at it for so long and people get used to you, or you're old and cranky like me and aren't really involved in the local scene in any way. Not that I don't like the local scene, either. There are so many great bands in Toronto right now. You gotta hear Mantler, Gravity Wave, Wax Mannequin, Castlemusic, Timber Timbre, The Boy from ET, and that's really just the solo artists. I just really spend all my time making things, writing songs or books or sometimes some marketing stuff to pay the bills, and I don't have time to get out to as many shows as I would like.

Mixed in among the critics’ reviews on your website is a glowing endorsement from Jonah Hill of Superbad. How’d you come to have a celebrity superfan?

No idea. From the interview in Alternative Press, I guess he either saw us play at SXSW, or was just in a record store in Austin and some guy at the store told him to check it out. We've had a lot of great support from Austin and its record stores. We love going down there. I don't know if he knows that we know he likes the music, either. I'd love to get in touch with him, make sure he has the old disc, too. Maybe give him a shirt. Those rich celebrities, always gettin' free shit for doin' nothin'.

Is there anyone else in the Monolith lineup you’re especially enthused to see play?

I really love TV on the Radio. One of my favorite bands. And Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings seem to be one of those groups we can play in the van and everyone enjoys. So good.

Performance at Monolith is set for Saturday, September 13th at 4:00 pm.

Check out Rock Plaza Central at www.rockplazacentral.com

- Ira Brooker

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Photo thanks: Sebastian Politowicz