Dazed Digital: Where would you say you belong musically in the Chicago scene?
Dave Davidson: I think every person has a different perspective on that because the Chicago scene is unique in that there are a lot of different types of bands, especially right now and sort of everybody plays with everybody else – there are a lot of eclectic bills… so uhm, don’t know.

DD: When it comes to comparisons, do you like being told you sound like another band (such as Don Caballero, or Hella, Minus the Bear or others you have been compared with)?
Dave: Well, everyone wants to stand on their own but that is just how people relate to music and other bands are a reference point so it is inevitable.
Erin Elders: We’ve been compared to Can, and that is pretty cool. I like that!
Dave: Yes, we have also been compared as a strange variation of Earth, and also, going back to the Chicago scene, Sea and Cake, Tortoise… but when you play and rehearse with them occasionally that sort of helps create comparisons and they are really good Chicago bands…
Erin: And Brian Eno.
Dave: Yeah, we’ll take that!

DD: Has the crisis affected you somehow? It is pretty gloomy out there.
Dave: The day that we were leaving for the tour was when they started talking about it, like ‘This is a crisis!’ kind of way, while I was at the airport but we haven’t really been watching the news to see what’s happening – we feel a bit removed from the whole thing…
Erin: Well, the dollar being so weak… coming to the UK – we were like: ‘Hold on, How are we going to do this!?’

DD: What are you looking forward to the most when touring the UK?
David: Ah, the cities, like Manchester and Liverpool and London… understanding their regional identities – this is the first time I am here so I am looking forward to walking around.
Erin: I would like to acquire a jet plane, though, rather than using vans…after five months you say: ‘We’re never gonna do this again!’ (laughs)… but, no…playing the shows and watching the audiences and meeting new people gives you a sense of authenticity. Meeting local bands… We have been here in the UK for a couple of weeks now, playing with Foals… It’s really interesting.
David: Yes, we want to see people having fun and seeing where we come from in terms of influences on the technical side of things – see the audience involved in the punk, pop that we listen to…We don’t really want to see the typical classical music scenario, where the audience just sits and listens… I mean, it’s nice… but ... you know what I mean…
Erin: We don’t want to be unattainable…
David: Yeah, people giving and taking energy…
Erin: Smaller intimate venues are best. You get kicked in the face…
David: Yeah! That happened to me! We were doing this show at NYU, then the next night we supported The National and then the next we were in Brooklyn, and it was so packed in this little tiny space – it was the craziest show.  This guy proposed to his girlfriend at the beginning of the set, and then 2 songs in, this other guy shoved another and I got kicked in the head, my glasses flying… and then we had to reassemble the pieces…
Erin: … and the sound went out…
David: …and explosions…
Erin: That was awesome.

DD: Is it true that you were inspired by flamenco guitarists for your EP True, Swallows, Houses?
David: I was inspired as in… it was one of the things that changed my career – when we were starting and recording our first songs, and we were trying to figure out our sound, I went to Spain, and this friend took me to see these places where I saw the way they played the guitar, so differently, how they would use the body of the guitar much more, and it was not only for backing…

DD: You have very original poster artwork going on. How involved do you get into the promotional material?
Erin: A very good friend of ours, a Chicago artist, does the artwork…

DD: Do you brief him or let him come up with ideas?
Erin: We just crack the whip! …  and it works!

Maps & Atlases EP You And Me And The Mountain out now.