Toronto indie roots band Rock Plaza Central are set to release their new album, At the Moment of Our Most Needing..., on May 26th. I recently had the opportunity to ask singer/songwriter Chris Eaton about the album and more.

Here's how it went:

T.O. Snob: First off thank you for taking the time to do this. You new album, At the Moment of Our Most Needing... comes out on May 26th. What should fans expect from the record?

Chris Eaton: That's a really hard question. I think the album has a little more rock to it than the last record. Maybe more dynamics. But generally, I hope our fans trust us and will go along for the ride. The process was much different from the last record, in that most of the songs had never been played before we went in. So we took some more time feeling them out than we had on previous records. Wow, that was a boring answer.

T.O. Snob: What inspires a Rock Plaza Central song?

CE: I'm trying to figure that out myself lately. I guess the answer is anything and nothing. I can go months without having any sort of inspiration for the story of an album. Melodies pop into my head pretty regularly, and often that's where I'll keep them. The ones that become songs are generally the ones that survive my horrible memory. But I certainly wasn't expecting inspiration this time to come from a Faulkner novel. Are We Not Horses was inspired by misremembering lyrics at a show. Once the initial idea comes, strangely enough, most of my best lyric writing comes while walking to the grocery store.

T.O. Snob: You're also playing quite a number of dates in Toronto and southern Ontario in May and June. Is there something special about a home town show?

CE: I don't generally think about where we are when we're playing. Most of the time I have my eyes closed! We tend to play more in the States, because that's where people started asking us to play first. But the reason why there are so many shows in that first week in Toronto is that we booked a big show at Lee's on June 13, but wanted to do something for the actual CD release, so it made sense to go back to our roots and do a bunch of smaller shows at places like the Tranzac, where we did most of our early shows together, and the Dakota, where a lot of us seem to hang out an awful lot. We try to do what we think will be fun.

T.O. Snob: On top of being a musician you are also a published author. What do you prefer: writing fiction or song writing? What does each offer you as a method of creative release?

CE: I've finally found the time to get back into writing these days, and I'd forgotten how much I love it. It really is an amazing feeling to sit around by yourself and just think up things. I wish I could do it all the time, but the last time I had time was right before Horses came out. Writing fiction is sort of like playing music in a band without the safety net, or even the tent. If you're not having the best night in a band, especially this band, other people will step in and do something that knocks your socks off and gets you back into it. With fiction, on the other hand, if I'm having a bad writing day, it's up to me to get me out of it. That's the lack of safety net. But with writing, I'm 100% in control, and that's being able to leave the tent if I want. I think I need both.

T.O. Snob: Do you have any other special talents people aren't aware of: sculpting, needlepoint, skeet shooting?

CE: I had an art show once, collaborations with this wonderful artist and friend of mine named Melissa Marr. And it was fun. But probably something I won't do again. While there were parts of the finished project that I could trace back to myself and feel proud of, I wouldn't exactly call it a talent. I've become very good at making fudge over the years.

T.O. Snob: With your background in writing in mind it surprises me somewhat that you have a number of instrumental tracks and songs like "Oh I Can" , which have relatively few words on the album. Why is that?

CE: Maybe because I do both fiction and lyrics, so I get my words out in other ways? But that's not true. I play a lot with repetition in my fiction, too. And I think for the amount of things that can take place on one page of one of my books, I'm probably not using many words per idea. But in lyrics you can achieve something even more intense with that repetition. "Oh I Can", in particular, is like a mantra or something. When you're trying to work yourself up to something, you're constantly trying to convince yourself, and I think, by the end of that song, you're convinced, whether you can actually do it or not. It's equally surprising to me that people equate being a writer with being wordy. I've never really gotten into Dylan, for example, because I wish most of the time that he'd just shut up. (The rest of the band will probably kill me for that.) It kind of feels like showing off or something, but it's really like the comedian who comes to the party and won't stop trying to be funny all the time. I'm much more impressed with song's like Smog's "Your Wedding", which just repeats, over and over, "I'm gonna get drunk, so drunk, at your wedding." I think that captures that emotion of despair way better than six verses of back story and contrived wittiness. The rest of Rock Plaza Central are also really brilliant musicians. I just love listening to them play. So when I think of songs, I try to make sure there are parts for that musicianship to come through. Sometimes the songs might even start out with more lyrics, like "Glad For" or "Joyful" on the last record, but by the time they're recorded, I've cut a lot out so I can enjoy the music.

T.O. Snob: Define success for Rock Plaza Central.

CE: My dream would be the ability to continue making music and fiction without the financial issues. And I'd love it if I could play most nights, but if people would come to us instead of the other way around. Celine Dion seems to have it alright. I certainly don't need as much as she does, though. So if Vegas is listening, set us up with a show. We're cheap. Seriously, I kind of envision a more community-based future with music rather than the current manufacturer and consumer mentality. We're all doing this for each other, the musicians and the listeners. Supporting your favourite band ensures that they can keep doing it.

T.O. Snob: If you could tour with anyone in the world who would that be?

CE: Anvil?

T.O. Snob: If someone were to look at your CD collection (or iPod playlist), what would they be most surprised to find?

CE: As a band, we really don't agree on very much. One of my favourite artists is Busta Rhymes, though. There's a wordy guy who doesn't waste anything. He proves everything I've said up to this point is a total lie.

T.O. Snob: What the heck does "Rock Plaza Central" mean anyway?

CE: The centre of rock. What else could it mean? Only Spanish people seem to get it.

T.O. Snob: Is there anything else you'd like to add?

CE: Must. Resist. Math jokes.

T.O. Snob: Thanks again for doing this with us.

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