Two of our favorite local acts, Le Loup and These United States are taking the main stage of the Black Cat tomorrow night, in celebration of the release of Le Loup's album, The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly. Both bands have graced the pages and stages of DCist in the past, so today we're trying something different. Le Loup's Sam Simkoff and Dan Ryan and TUS' Jesse Elliot and Tom Hnatow have been having an un-moderated email conversation amongst themselves all day. To get you guys ready for tomorrow's show (which also features Thao Nguyen and Get Down Stay Down), take a look at our intimate, meandering, grammar-be-damned, band-on-band interview.

TUS Tom: I have been told that we both had experiences with "lost" dogs on our last tours. Sam/Jesse, care to elaborate?

LL Dan: What up all - today being my last day in my corporate cube, you better believe I just rolled in at 11:15 in a t-shirt. Eff the man!

I think Sam is best suited to handle the lost dog story...

TUS Jesse: it was a dark and stormy night in Providence, Rhode Island. but only because we had our sunglasses on. it was bright out, and daytime. but still Providence. when -- SUDDENLY, FROM OUT OF NOWHERE -- there burst a rabid, fanged animal, criss-crossing the streets in a mad dash for blood! human blood! there were car crashes, pile-ups, screaming children, crying women, fainting men -- in short, Pandemonium! we were eating brunch. needless to say, our brunch was interrupted. our stalwart friend and tour mates Vandaveer and Robby Catholic, whose names sounds like the names of superheroes, leaped into action! no, wait, they lept! no, leapt! frog-like, Vandaveer and Robby the Catholic pounced upon the rabid fanged animal! they subdued it, the savage beast, with a song -- and a dance! their sunglasses were intact. they the rabid fanged beast a can of Alpo from the corner store. the fanged beast refused to eat...

For the continuation of this harrowing tale and more, keep reading after the jump

TUS Jesse, cont'd: ...only human blood would quench its unquenchable thirst for human blood! Vandaveer + el Catolico persisted! using their powers of cell phone, they called Providence Animal Control. alas, there was an outbreak of parvo in all the local shelters; the rabid fanged animal would not be taken in. also, he would not eat Alpo. still. then -- SUDDENLY, FROM OUT OF NOWHERE -- another stalwart friend, and local Providencian
Extraordinaire, "Uncle" Tommy "Inhaler," said: "I can keep the dog for a little while and post a post about it on the Internet to see if anyone comes to claim it." quickly, and with precision, a name was decided upon. the beast would be dubbed Senor QuadroPedro. no living human being would be safe from the awesome sound of his awesome name! the beast smiled -- sly, wry, toothy, all in one. Senor QuadroPedro was an Awesome Beast, in the way that the word Awesome once was used in times now forgotten even by dogs with most stalwart memory. would his quest to be slaked by the sweet taste of human blood ever be slaked? it was too early to tell. for now, tho, the Beast was tamed. Uncle Tommy Inhaler and Vandaveer were triumphant heroes, el Catolico's good name was again redeemed and reinstated and invigorated after previous sundry exploits, there was Peace in the Land! children screamed, women cried, and men fainted! the tale was passed down through the generations as an example of how sometimes even very very bad people can do very good things, when called upon by destiny and Providence.

LL Sam: okay, lost dog story. jesus. let me start out by saying that i love chicago dearly, but i don't believe chicago shares the sentiment. we spent two days there; day one consisted largely of getting stuck in terrible inbound rush hour traffic, day two consisted largely of getting stuck in terrible outbound rush-hour traffic. nothing in between those activities went too peachy, either. the show, which we were playing the first night at schuba's, culminated in two guitarists breaking the strings on their guitars, thereby knocking everything out of tune, and out of chicago's good graces (to those naysayers who have asked: "why three guitars, you guys?" answer: you can never have enough guitars, if not only to mask the screeches of one broken-stringed and dying electric). to add insult to injury, not only was a good majority of our chicago family and friend-base there, but i hear tell of a pitchfork writer and a smattering of other press.

but that is neither here nor there, and adds nothing to the dog story, other than to get the point across that we'd already been cursed by chicago, and were feeling none too good the next morning. a few of us had spent the night at my aunt and uncle's house. they had shown us nothing but hospitality, inviting us to crash on every couch they owned, and pillage their kitchen in the morning while they were at work. their only request: "please crate the dog before you leave." well and good. we spent the morning recovering, and some of us stepped outside for morning constitutionals. now, the front door must be left open (a crack... just a crack) when one goes outside, because it locks automatically upon closing. the dog is tiny. one of those really expensive purebreds.

five minutes before we have to leave, we go to crate kiko (that name will forever be grafted in my long and short term memories, and whatever memory lies inbetween), and, of course, kiko is nowhere to be found. an hour later, we left the empty, dogless house with a heartfelt note of apology (no work or cell phone numbers had been given in case of emergency) and dejected spirits. may went so far as to question the entirety of her character and lifestyle. just one last kick in the balls, courtesy of chicago, you know?

an hour later, on the road (in a silent van), i give a call to the house to see if anybody's back. my aunt picks up, and in the background i hear my little cousin... and a dog. a tiny, yapping dog. i calmly asked where they found it, at which point my aunt explained that in the late morning, while we were all upstairs (out of earshot), she had walked in from work unannounced, and taken kiko for an hour-long walk. no heads-up, no nothing.

i dunno if that story is interesting enough to be put in any sort of interview (it certainly doesn't match jesse's dramatic flair), but by god if i needed to get it off my chest.

TUS Tom: Sam, i wanted to ask you about your banjo style. Who influenced you to play like that? Why banjo instead of guitar? To my ears, there's a new-ish style of banjo playing that seems to use the banjo more for the unique sound it creates - but is less based in the "traditional" ways of playing it.

LL Sam: banjo style, hahahaha. i have no formal training on the banjo, and limited informal training. i got it as a present from my girlfriend's parents, who'd had it laying around since the '70's. side-note: i didn't bother changing the strings (which, to my knowledge, had never been changed) until about two months ago.

as for inspirations, i defer quite shamelessly to sufjan stevens- the first time i heard seven swans, i was blown away. the range of sounds and the depth of emotion he could pull from it was astounding. before then, i'd been sitting in the steve martin camp- i think it was steve martin, at least, who said that no matter what you played on the banjo, it always came out sounding happy. sufjan stevens proved him wrong pretty decisively, i think. really plaintive, heartwrenching stuff.

because i haven't really bothered to learn how to play (hence the "interesting" finger picking style, refusal to learn more than a few chords), i can't really mimic that kind of depth. but sometimes i think i get close enough.

why not the guitar? i'm lazy. tried to pick up the guitar years and years ago, dismissed it almost immediately as too physically demanding. banjo's got a nice, low action and really only four strings to worry about. that's my kind of instrument!

tom: list all the instruments that you play. are there any you can't play? there must be one. what's your favorite, and why?

jesse: no matter where in the(se) united states we go, there is always somebody (or multiple somebodies) at each show who knows, and what's more, considers themselves good friends with, you (knowing your affable nature, i don't doubt they are, for that matter). HOW DO YOU DO THIS. is it a super power? a genetic mutation? a gypsy blessing? your powers for networking and friend-making is unrivalled.

TUS Tom: Perhaps we could breed Kiko and Senor QuadroPedro...it would be the roaming-est and highest stress-causing animal known. Mans Best Friend, indeed.

Instruments I've played live/on record:

Pedal Steel, Guitar, Banjo, Lap Steel, Piano, Bass, Glockenspiel.

The Pedal Steel is my favorite - by leaps and bounds. It lets you weave in and out of the music - and subtly color things in different and unexpected ways. So much more than a "country" instrument. And the feeling you get when you get both hands, both knees, and both feet moving at the same time is really amazing...a state of zen. I also love how difficult it is to play - its something i'll still be struggling with 30 years from now. An added bonus is watching people try to identify what it is - guesses range from a lap steel (close) to a "really weird keyboard".

I can't play drums to save my life...as my housemates and bandmates can vigorously attest to. It baffles me completely. Ironic, because I always wanted to be a drummer - my dad is a saxophone player and when his band rehearsed I'd sit by the drummer and hit things. However, my mom forced me to take classical piano lessons for 9 years, though. So, um...thanks mom.

TUS Jesse: yeah, Tom sucks at drums. everyone hates how good he is at everything else. but he sucks at drums. let's never forget that.

LL Dan: Jesse and Tom: where'd you guys grow up? When did you the two of you start playing together? What's the story?

TUS Tom: I grew up in rural eastern PA, about 25 minutes from Allentown.

I'll let Jesse tell the story of how we met - i'm sure his version will be much more interesting.

TUS Jesse: I grew up all around the Upper Midwest -- Illinois Michigan Indiana mostly. but family settled outside Chicago in this cool lil old abandoned-ish (at the time) river town called Elgin. they used to make clocks, were world-famous for em, in fact. had the best Observatory in the world, to look at the Stars and mark down human measurements off em. wow. who thought of that? (that is NOT a rhetorical question; I am asking each and every one of you, professionally, journalistically: WHO THOUGHT OF THE OBSERVATORY?!?!?!?!?!?!). I grew up equal parts Woods and City - it was magical. streets and creeks, same damn thing, different century.

Tom and I met at IOTA. he'd seen me and the aforementioned Vandaveer and Robby Catholic, bangin out the early-times TheseUS back-porch swamp-trio together. he pounced, attacked like a rabid dog. fanged. insisted we all play together. we call him Senor QuadroPedro to this day.

TUS Tom: What about you guys? Where from, how met?

Also - what is everyone currently listening to? doesn't have to be just released. I've been on a huge Daniel Lanois kick recently...Willie Nelson's Teatro and Lanois' Belladonna. Also - the new Kevin Drew/Broken Social Scene record is pretty excellent.

(on the flipside...are there any artists you can't stand?? I realize that this might be a dangerous question to ask for print...)

LL Dan: I was born in New Zealand and moved to DC when I was 5ish - went to high school in Bethesda, then went on to college in Jersey. Met Sam through our mutual friend Craig ('s list).

Listening to RIGHT NOW: St. Vincent.

Latest listening kick: Elbow.

Artists I can't stand? Lemme think about a safe answer here...

LL Sam: originally hail from portland, OR. moved to ohio for college, and then stumbled eastward into the DC area after that. there was no particular reason for moving here. seemed kind of arbitrary at the time, but now if feels more like fortune.

right now i'm particularly taken by:
TV on the radio
radiohead (later stuff)
wilco ("YHF" and "a ghost is born" vintage)
animal collective, if it wasn't already painfully obvious
destroyer
of montreal
david bowie

this'll sound disingenuous, but i haven't really heard anybody i can't stand in a long while. playing music gives you a different outlook on the guys you used to hate, i think. there was a time i couldn't stand bright eyes. too pretentious, right? now i can't get enough of him, though.

TUS Jesse: yikes. I'm behind. and I'm drinking. Bob Dylan destroys me. music takes apart your life, takes apart time as you knew it, rearranges it all like a MisterPotato(e)Head. it's wonderful. I love people, Sam. I don't think they love me, but I think they love that I love them. does that make sense? people fascinate me to no end. it's why I was meant to do journalism. just couldn't stomach the bureaucracy of that world. or maybe it was the insider politics. I don't remember what I couldn't stomach. but I'm definitely jealous of those who have more tolerance than I, who can put up with the Organization, who have a little patience and can wade through the Muck to get back to the People. so getting back to that: I love traveling. the most tender place in my heart is for strangers, Neko Case said. I also come from a big family. like 40 of us when we all gather. countless cousins. all ages. people show up, I have no idea how we're related. but I know we are. so we talk. I think that's how I feel about rambling through the world at large - like I can't remember the details of what exactly we All have in common, but I know that we have something in common. so we talk. we're determined to get to the bottom of it. we find connections. it's usually 3 in the morning by the time we get there, and we may even forget those connections by the time we wake up, but that process is important to keep up. storytelling. giving parts of ourselves to each other. music's about that, at it's best. abstract journalism. we're all cousins. also I am a mutated gypsy.

TUS Tom: It took me a LONG time to get into animal collective - i felt like i should love them, but around the time of "feels" i finally started to "get it" - i like the new record, though. They do interesting things with sound, for certain. (or course - i HATED country music for the longest time...i'm a slow learner)

I don't think being in a band has changed my perspective of artists i dislike - as jesse will tell you, i tend to be the critical one of the bunch. Jesse loves everyone, though, so it evens out.

What was the name of your high school band(s?)

I know Jesse's was Dr. Niceguy

My first band ever was called Sonus. I created a logo and painted it on my Series 10 Strat knockoff guitar. We broke up 2 weeks later. So i was stuck with a guitar with our former logo on it. Taking it off screwed up the finish - so there was a big grey stain in the corner. I can still draw the logo, though.

I was also in a band called "The Jesters of the Court". We were - and i am not making this up - a rap band. We were surprisingly popular - we played at pep rallies and the marching band played one of our songs at football games. I played guitar and did the keyboard programming. We wrote a song about the Phillies that our local cable access channel shot a video for...which, to this day, will occasionally crop up on said local channel. Fortunately for all involved, none of this has made it to youtube.

LL Sam: hahaha... everything about "the jesters of the court" tickles me.

me and my two best friends in high school got together to play music starting around freshman or sophomore year. when it came time to name the band, my dad suggested "mr. pupa," "necrotic bowel" and "christian and the jews" (guitarist's name was christian, rest of us were jewish... get it? get it???). we used "christian and the jews" once at a show, and it stuck, no matter how many times we tried to change the name. everybody kept mistaking us for a christian rock band.

TUS Jesse: there's only one question I have for everyone: what do you make of this World? it's horrible, right? or is it brilliant? I can never decide. everything looks like an exploding star from far away in space.

LL Sam: can't it be both, jesse? it strikes me that context is everything, and "horrible" would have no meaning without "brilliant," and vice-versa. if the world were only one, than there'd be no way to classify it as "horrible," because we wouldn't have ever known anything else. no point of comparison, you see? the lows make the highs higher, and the highs make the lows... you get the point. it all makes everything much more beautiful, though.

TUS Jesse: ah, yes. you are wise, young rocker. the force is strong within and upon you.

prepositionally speaking,
yours

TUS Tom: Its horrible. But clearly, somewhere in our little beating hearts we all clearly believe in some form of beauty. Otherwise we wouldn't believe that what we're all doing - creating sound waves in predictable patterns - was worth anything. And it is - it has to be.

In "The Myth of Sisyphus", Camus sets out three things necessary for the full acceptance of the absurd - and I think those apply directly to this lifestyle - revolt, freedom, and passion.

And i think that for every dog we save - and for every sunrise seen through the windshield of a van and for every new friend we meet on the road and for everyone's persons's life we somehow affect in a small dingy club in some corner of the country - or the world - we edge one iota away from "horrible" and closer to "brilliant".

LL Sam: full circle! i love it!

LL Dan: Beautiful. Simply beautiful

TUS Jesse: well, I guess we better bring it to a Close with that one, huh?
there's a big burning star shining bright outside right now, and I gotta go bask in my tiny little piece of it. pleasure as always, friends...

LL Sam: until tomorrow, guys.

See the rhetoric unfold live tomorrow night at the Black Cat. $10, mainstage, 9 p.m. Photo of Jesse & Tom from TUS' MySpace page. Photos from Le Loup's most recent tour from the band. Sam Simkoff picture from Unbuckled by Kyle Gustafson.