Here's our conversation:

T.O. Snob: First of thanks for taking the time to speak with me. Your new album comes out in a little over a month. How would you describe it versus your previous work?

AT: The may thing is we tried to progress musically and maybe be not as dark. We tried to keep the subject matter in line with our interests and our past work, but there are a few songs where we wanted to branch out and try for a more upbeat, major sound, which is something we haven't done a lot of. Songs like "Yes" and "Foxglove", "As Long As There Is Whisky In the World" have more of that feel than anything we've previously worked on.

T.O. Snob: Yeah, "As Long As There Is Whisky In the World" reminds me a lot of a Pogues tune. It's just got that vibe, and it's about booze.

AT: I am a fan for sure.

T.O. Snob: What inspires you to keep writing?

AT: This is what we do, it's our lives basically. This band, working, touring, writing. It's just what I like to do for pleasure as well as work. I hope that I'll always be so lucky to have a creative job. There are a lot of people who follow us routinely and we're lucky enough to have fans that are willing to let us experiment and try out projects. That's just something we want to keep doing.

T.O. Snob: This is album number five. How has the songwriting and recording process changed for you over the course of those records?

AT: I feel like the longer the band's been around, the better we're doing. We're more successful and because of that you become way more busy. I just find myself constantly being involved in little things I never thought I'd be doing. For example I'm just getting together artwork for the band, t-shirt orders, things that are really more of a business angle than the creative things. I think when you start a band you picture yourself just being creative all the time. I guess helping design t-shirts and that kind of thing IS being creative but it's not what I pictured. In terms of the writing process this album was unique for me because I just wanted to get away from all the work and all the extra things that come with being in a band. I went to do a solo two week camping trip and all I did was write. That was a really great experience for me because I was able to collect my thoughts in a way I've never been able to do before. I felt like I was able to spend more time just being able to create material, material I felt good about or was the best I could do.

T.O. Snob: Well it comes through because it is a great album. When I listen to it it seems that booze and alcohol are a recurring theme, is there anything to that?

AT: Ha ha, it's just a part. We've always been drinkers and we've always been social people. We're certainly known among our fans as people who like to be out and party. Our rhythm section are constant lovers of the night life. They go out every night, they're just those kind of guys. I'm social too, I like that sort of stuff. Mostly though it's just you write about what you know. I think a good drinking song is just a fun approach to songwriting. I like every album to have a drinking song. It's just fun you know and that's what music's ultimately about. You're trying to stir people's emotions. It's not like I'm writing an album of all drinking songs, I think that would be boring after a while. But I think that every album's gotta have one.

T.O. Snob: Some artists pay more attention to lyrics and for some it's the riff or arrangement that are most important. What's the most important element of a song to you individually and to the band?

AT: Our entire angle for writing is the idea that those things are the same. The lyrics should always go with the music. The only time we do something where the music is not a part of the lyrics is when we want to do a strange distinction as a method. For example we did this song on our last album "Spring Break 1899" where it's a really dark song about being a complete shithead and wanting to die, but the song is set to this very happy 1950s kind of music. But that's the idea. There's this dark sense of humour in there. We try to have all of our songs match the music. We try to ask "what are we trying to say in this song", and we try to make the music really specific according to that. Just like if you were composing a soundtrack piece for a movie, you don't just put some random music over a scene that has an obvious emotional incident. You don't have "Walking On Sunshine" while someone's crying unless you're using that as a device. So we try to be very specific. We write songs all together and make sure it's all part of it.

T.O. Snob: I saw you guys opening in Toronto a few years ago for the Reverend Horton Heat. I notice there's no Toronto date on your itinerary yet. Are we going to get to see you soon?

AT: Yet. Yeah we're gonna do a Canadian tour later this year. We were there in October opening for Gaslight Anthem and then we did a headlining tour in Canada in May. So we're giving it a little breathing room before we come back and do as much of Canada as will let us play.

T.O. Snob: No border issues I hope.

AT: Well, the other thing is we kinda have trouble getting into Canada. It's been a battle and we hope to have it resolved by then.

T.O. Snob: I've just got one last question for you. If someone were to look at your iPod playlist what would surprise them?

AT: The main thing is that I actually don't listen to that much music. Ever since music has been my life and what I do for a living I don't listen to that much music. I do have an iPod but when I listen to music I like to listen to stuff I'm not hearing at all or hear on the road. I've been listening to a lot of Latin music. That's something I'm really into.

T.O. Snob: Thanks I really appreciate you doing this and good luck with the record. It's a great one.