Jon DeRosa, as he lives and breathes Since the Dead Leaves Rising album isn't out yet, perhaps you'd like to read Splendid's review of Flare's Celebrate the Misery. We thought we had an Aarktica review, but damned if we can find it. While we look, you can visit The Dead Leaves Rising's bio page at Plow City Records or try to buy the album at Insound.

What is your least favorite article of clothing, and why?

Jon DeRosa: I like as little clothes as possible at any given time. Comfort is important. As far as clothes on others...I dislike overtly slutty apparel on women. I think it’s hideous and tacky. I don't need to see breasts around every corner I turn. Conservative and shyly seductive is far more sexy to me.

What three essential accessories would be in your dream tour van/vehicle?

Jon DeRosa: Recently while I was traveling the midwest, I found a truck stop that had this little grilled cheese sandwich maker that plugged into your cigarette lighter. I'd have to say that's something that would be necessary to have. So I guess that would necessitate having a cigarette lighter in the van...That's two. And...hmm...can't think of anything else.

Which is more frightening: a venue full of people who don't like your music, or a room full of two-year-olds? Why?

Jon DeRosa: I've played to both actually, and I don't think either are really frightening. When I played to the two and three year olds at my little sister's nursery school, we wrote songs about dinosaurs and the Easter Bunny, and that was fun as hell. I got them all riled up with tambourines and clavis, they were dancing around like little savages. Then the teacher made me play one of my songs and it made a kid cry. In conclusion, though, I must say that sometimes it's more frightening to play to a room of people who like my music. They get teary and clingy and say things like "I really identify with what you're saying." That's frightening as hell.

Name three activities that would be more interesting/entertaining/enjoyable with the addition of monkeys.

Jon DeRosa: Pretty much anything would I think. But top three... Bumper cars, hula dancing and circumcision.

What was the last thing you watched on television? How did you like it?

Jon DeRosa: The Simpsons is the only thing I watch on television. I don't have a TV so I watch it in my roommate's room. Simpsons at 11:30 every weekday is one of the main reasons I don't end it all.

Does everyone need to own a computer? Why or why not?

Jon DeRosa: Of course not. I think you make a choice as to whether or not you want to be part of a technological society, and those who don't can be just as well off, if not better. Eventually, it's going to result in a grand scale return to primitivism probably, which I have no problem with whatsoever. It's the inevitable backlash of a society basing its livelihood on machines, growing too fast to really keep up with its own expansion. Kind of like NYU.

What activities (or whatever) are currently illegal, but in your opinion shouldn't be? What activities *are* legal, but should be outlawed?

Jon DeRosa: I think sodomy, cunnilingus and fellatio should be legal in the states where they're not. How can you outlaw something that just feels so right? Marijuana should be legal as well. (see above reason). People dancing badly in clubs should be a crime punishable by law. Drunk assholes who hit on everyone in sight in bars should also be locked up, at least 'til they're sober. Also, boyfriends who make their girlfriends cry by being sarcastic, snide and mean should be caned.

You have an eight-hour trip to your next gig. You're not driving, and you're not sleepy. You have the option of reading a book, listening to an album, watching a movie or playing a video game. Which do you choose? And what is the book/album/movie/game in question?

Jon DeRosa: I was recently on a 22-hour bus ride (each way), so I know the feeling. I read Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen, and Lustmord (a collection of letters and poems by serial killers). Listened to Arab Strap and Angels of Light. I wouldn't play video games cause I would get too into it and start yelling at the game, probably. And I don't know how I feel about watching a movie in a moving vehicle. It would probably be weird. How would they fit a movie screen in a car?

What was the best live rock show you ever saw?

Jon DeRosa: Faith No More was a very memorable performance, way back when Angel Dust was released. I don't know if it was the best, but it's one that stuck with me. Danzig during their tour for Danzig IV was pretty decent too. It was like right when the original lineup broke up and no one in the band was really talking to each other. I went to the show with my friend Steve Zing who used to play drums in Samhain. It got all tense when we were hanging out in the trailer afterwards. But I didn't care. I was like 15 or 16 and hanging out with my idols.

Scientists have suggested that trainspotting (the hobby of obsessively traveling rail lines, watching trains, cataloguing engine numbers, etc.) is a form of autism. What other so-called "hobbies" might actually be deep-seated psychological disorders?

Jon DeRosa: Guys who have to like punch each other on the shoulder as a greeting. Tarot card readers. People that play role playing games.

You're in an elevator with Mariah Carey, Marilyn Manson and George W Bush. The elevator becomes trapped between floors. What happens next?

Jon DeRosa: I take a book out of my backpack and read quietly until help arrives.

What food item do you always eat, even though you shouldn't? And why shouldn't you be eating it?

Jon DeRosa: Jalepeno peppers and beer. I shouldn't be eating either because they're really bad for ulcered stomachs. Usually I eat them separately, but when I was recently in Austin I had a beer that was flavored with jalepenos and god what a bad idea that was.

Why are frogs amusing?

Jon DeRosa: Cause I hear their legs are tasty and they don't even know it.

Is the Internet destroying the English language?

Jon DeRosa: What R U talkin about? What RU ^ 2 NE way????

Several US states have adopted "three strikes and you're out" laws, which basically mean that after you're found guilty of three felonies, you're imprisoned for life. How do you feel about that? Is it effective lawmaking, or needlessly harsh?

Jon DeRosa: I think if you can't follow the laws set by a country, then you should move to a new country. I'm not like a sadist, I don't like to see people punished, but it's like... Jesus, if you don't like the laws set forth by the society in which you live, there are plenty other places to live.

You may know Jon as the frontman of dronemeisters Aarktica, or from his guitar and banjo work with The Magnetic Fields' LD Beghtol's main gig, Flare. His other other project, The Dead Leaves Rising, will release its sophomore album, Waking Up on the Wrong Side of No One, any day now.