Ten years ago, The Wrens, a rock band from New Jersey, were doing big things. They'd released two albums to critical acclaim; they were gaining name recognition; they seemed to be creating a strong presence on the indie scene. When their small label was sold and redeveloped, The Wrens were then offered every musician's dream: substantial money and a shot with a major label -- but only if the group agreed to modify their melodies and lyrics to make them much more radio-friendly.

The Wrens refused. The label proceeded to drop them and decided to focus on another band they thought had potential: Creed. With the label's support behind them, Creed's popularity exploded, while The Wrens languished in obscurity for almost a decade, writing music that was under the radar and waking up every day to work in their regular jobs -- finance departments, ad agencies, Pfizer.

But with the release of 2003's "The Meadowlands," a sonically gorgeous and lyrically devastating album, The Wrens came back to music with a purpose. They bring their show to the Black Cat tomorrow night; members Charles Bissell and Kevin Whalen were kind enough to take time out of their busy schedule to e-mail back and forth with DCist and answer a few of our questions.

-- You guys have been on tour for a while now, but still hold day jobs. How has holding "normal" jobs affected your ability to tour and your creative process? Is it a chore to take time off to play live or do you look forward to it?

Kev: still hold the day jobs - i wish we didn't have to do the day job and could just play and make music - that is always the dream - but when you can't make that happen - you have to find ways around it - working in an office and then w/the band is what we've been doing since 1991 so at this points we're sort of use to it - still dreaming of that day when we can quit - but if that day doesn't come - so be it - it doesn't hurt the creative process - you get a lot of material living a life - driving around in van - loading up for a gig - then driving again - gets a bit "samey" after a while.

Charles: I got laid off last spring/summer so I'm the odd wren out. I have to admit though, that it's been sooo much easier getting stuff done and staying inspired if for no other reason that I'm no longer sleep deprived. I've never been so productive or never had a chance to.

-- Have you considered just doing the band full-time?

Kev: every day - when my alarm goes off at 5:45 a.m.

Charles: every day at 5:45am when kev's alarm goes off, I consider how happy I am to be doing it full time.

-- Has breaking through after so many years affected your expectations or the dynamic of your success?

Kev: its the best thing ever - you always dream and even start to believe in the dream - and then when it doesn't happen like the dream - its rough - but now - we get to enjoy every second of it because we know how long it took.

Charles: It's also that if it had happened at say, age 25, or hell, even 35, it would've been one thing. Now, after a certain point, priorities in life kind of shift around. So even though it's super satisfying, it definitely keeps things in perspective after this much time.

-- Do you feel like Secaucus didn't get the reception it deserved? Or do you feel like you've become a better band since then?

Kev: secaucus was great. to be a part of - all the hours - living in the house - recording in our basement - the record was exactly about us at that point - young band with tons of songs and crazy ideas - it was great - i don't know if we are better or worse - just different now than 1996.

Charles: naaa, Secaucus definitely got everything it deserved and then some. The meadowlands probably got more than it deserved. Since then, we've probably became a worse band that just makes better records now.

-- Do you ever regret burning the masters to The Meadowlands? (After taking such a long time to complete the album, the group held a party to burn the masters to prevent any second-guessing)

Kev: No - it felt great.

Charles: nope. Although it didn't really stop us from still going back and changing stuff. We just didn't have any masters to go back to and had to start from scratch again.

-- But how are you going to cash in with a remastered gold-pressed limited edition five years from now?

Kev: There will be no cash - : )

Charles: HAAA - we'll probably re-record it all over again.

-- The liner notes say you recorded "The Meadowlands" entirely in your living room. It sounds much better than a lot of studio albums. What were the pros and cons of doing it that way?

Kev: its free - more time to work things out - since we live together in a house -we are always just more comfortable in that setting -

Charles: that's really very flattering, thanks. And yeah, the pros are that you can get it to work just the way you want. After a while it sinks in that the sound of the record - the sound of the guitars, the echo on a vocal etc. - are just as important as the individual parts themselves, as the lyrics, as the rhythm & tempo, etc. They each have an effect and to change one, changes the effect of all the others. The Cons are that you have to figure out the technical end of how to do that yourselves, I guess. That and the close proximity to the Oreo bag in the kitchen.

-- After you past experience with the music industry and the politics of it all, do you think you'll ever sign to a major label again if the chance comes along, or are you happy with the label Absolutely Kosher?

Kev: we love abkosher and we've learned to stay away from the "business" of music because that kills bands - no, the majors aren't interested in us - and we never lose sleep over it.

Charles: nope. Who'd want to jump ON to a sinking ship?

-- How do you feel about the press's tendency to play up the toiling-in-obscurity angle of The Wrens?

Kev: its true - we like to joke - that if you hang out w/us.. you'll become successful - obscurity is fun actually - you get to make the music you want to make.

Charles: it's cool. It's only half the picture. The other half being, I guess, how we lost our way musically and it took us four years of making the record to find it again. But we can't even begin to explain that one to ourselves let alone anyone else. Probably not really worth it anyhow.

-- Do you wish we'd just get past it or do you think it's instrumental to your music and storyline?

Kev: like i mentioned its the truth - and that is what makes our story - there are a million bands like us - its just - the wrens are four guys who have created this little world where, its just us four, no stupid cheezy side projects - we take forever to make records - and we don't sweat the small stuff.

What music are you listening to right now?

Kev: arcade fire (ed. note - we SWEAR TO GOD that we didn't make them say that) - we played w/them last year in a snow storm up in canada - just us, them and like 70 people - super nice people - great band.

Charles: yeah they were probably the best band we played with in the last year and half we've been touring again. Them and okkervil river. Always playing catch up with records: the comas, will johnson's 'vultures await', the hold steady, the books, frog eyes, the list goes on.

-- Anything new out there influencing or inspiring you?

Kev: almost everything i hear has great stuff to it - i sort of like everything.

Charles: I've come to realize that I don't like most records but love almost every live show. Weird. Or maybe just curmudgeonly.

-- What's in the future for The Wrens?

Kev: we want to do duets w/famous people.

Charles: probably thinking back to our glory days of '03 - '04.

-- There's a new album coming out soon, right? And I've heard there might be a solo record..?

Kev: a solo record? ahahaaa - charles?

Charles: more myths. But I'll go with the same joke I made the other day - I like to consider the meadowlands a first solo record (ba DUM dum!). [sound of old men throwing dental plates at each other]

The Wrens play with Army of Me and The Upwelling at the Black Cat tomorrow night; the fun gets started at 9:30, and you can go for the remarkably low price of $10. The show comes marked with the DCist fangirl stamp of approval. Whatever that means.