It was really hard to find a picture of these guys. This one is cropped from the cover of Here We Go with The Coke Dares.

Jason Groth: Wanna start this thing?

Nick D. Meiers: Sure. Please state your full name for the record and what instrument you usually play live on stage with The Coke Dares.

JG: My name is Jason Lee Groth. I play guitar and sing with The Coke Dares

NDM: Seen any good movies lately?

JG: It's funny that you ask if I've seen any good movies lately, because I've been telling people for months that I haven't seen any movies at all for, well, months. The last movie I remember watching intently, that was good, was Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. The last scene is amazing (well, the whole movie is, I think).

NDM: Either the third time is a charm, or I'm going for the bad hat trick. So what's your take on this whole not being able to smoke in Bloomington bars thing?

JG: The smoking ban in Bloomington isn't so bad, and this is coming from someone who thinks smoking and bars should never be separate. It feels a lot more hostile in places like New York, where it's always a pain in the ass to get back in the club and, on top of it, drinks are five times more expensive. What I like about the smoking ban is it actually gets you drunker, I think -- you have to keep moving (to go outside, sneak into the bathroom stall), which keeps your blood flowing, which distributes the alcohol quicker, which gives you more for your money. Let's be honest -- I love being in bars where I can smoke. And I will, if I feel the need, light up on stage and call it "performance art." But really it just makes the places a little easier to breathe in, and it's not that hard to go outside. It creates a whole new kind of community at the same time. I have non-smoking friends that love it, so I'm happy I get to see them out more now.

NDM: That's an angle I haven't heard yet. Have you really lit up on stage in NY or San Fran?

JG: I actually asked the stage manager at the Knitting Factory in NYC if I could use the whole "performance art" bit and get away with it. His answer was so convincing that I couldn't do it -- he said, "(sigh), yeah, you could get away with it, but it would be a terrible mess for me when everyone else in the audience follows along". Instead, I just smoked in the backstage bathroom right before the stage. I have lit up on stage in Bloomington since the ban, and in Boston once, but both times were because I forgot that the ban even existed. I'm holding on to that trump card, though. Performance art will do me right one of these days!

NDM: Last time I was at the Knitting Factory in NY I put a cigarette in my mouth and started lighting it while talking to the bartender. You should have seen the look on her face. You back up Jason for Magnolia Electric Co. Who else? Bloomington seems to have a lot of busy hands?

JG: Did she make you put it out, or was it just the look on her face prompted it? I would have just kept smoking. No, I probably wouldn't have. Anyway...

Yeah, I'm a part of Magnolia Electric Co., I'm a part of the Impossible Shapes, and I also play in a band called Whippoorwill, which sort of rose from the ashes of an old Bloomington band called the Decanters. It's fronted by Nicole Evans, a great singer songwriter in Bloomington, and she's backed by me, two Secretly Canadian employees, and another member of Magnolia Electric Co. I used to be in a band called John Wilkes Booze, too, along with the rest of the Impossible Shapes. People try to explain why so many folks in Bloomington double or triple-up, and I think it's because it's such a small, isolated community, with great music resources like Secretly Canadian. Everyone knows everyone else, and you just end up making drunken plans with people that turn into real bands. There is no shortage of practice space here, either, so we're doing what we can to make the best of it. I like being in a living situation where I can play a ton of different styles of music and still maintain solid relationships with each band. If I lived in Chicago, or NYC, or LA, I don't think it would be as possible to do it.

NDM: No I think I ran away from the bar in embarrassment. Oh, and I thought you guys (Impossible Shapes) were really good at Schuba's (in Chicago) the other night. I didn't know if that was you (who I'm e-mailing with) or not, and I didn't know you were playing in Whippoorwill. What records are you geeking out on as of late?

JG: Thanks for the compliments. I was also playing bass with Jens Lekman that night. It's been a busy few years.

Records that are geeking me out -- I have always been a big Kinks fan, and I really like the super huge The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society reissue that just came out -- that and Muswell Hillbillies, even though that hasn't been given the huge reissue treatment yet. The new Wire live album/DVD, Wire on the Box 1979, is awesome. Absolutely Free by the Mothers of Invention. From the Lion's Mouth by Nedelle. Thriller (Seriously. My parents never let me have it and Mark, the drummer in The Coke Dares, bought it at a thrift store in Cleveland on the last Impossible Shapes tour. It's pretty great).

NDM: Is Zespy (owner of Essay Records) making you guys rich yet?

JG: Zespy is making us rich with laughter. And I think he intends to make us rich, so that's about halfway there. He does fill our wallets with love, which, though intangible, buys smiles all around. So, yeah, he's making us rich.

NDM: Do you have a jobby-job when you're not touring?

JG: I do have a job when I'm not touring -- I work for the Organization of American Historians. I am the Assistant Director of Meetings. I'm basically a booking agent for historians of American history. They're extraordinarily supportive and great about me touring. I just have to bring back refrigerator magnets of different cities and states. And sometimes I'll come back from tour and someone will have found a magazine article or something with my name in it, and it will be on the office fridge and my name will be highlighted. It's like a very large, nerdy family.

NDM: Okay, I'm running out of steam and I think things can only get silly from here, so is there any question you wish I would have asked? If so, answer it. Also, if you've got any plugs about new records or anything, please add that at the end. Cheers.

JG: I wish you would have asked me if my real name was Jason Lee Groth, or if that was just a reference to David Lee Roth and the fact that he is from Bloomington, too. I would not have answered the question truthfully.

And I completely forgot about the record that I'm geeking out to above all others -- Rover by a band from Lawrence, KS called Drakkar Sauna. I think they just changed their name to Drakkansasauna, and they just sent me an unmastered copy of their new full length. They are my favorite band at the moment, but actually have been my favorite band every moment since the summer of 2003. Funny how I forgot to mention that earlier. Your questions sort of paralyzed me.

The Coke Dares' record, Here We Go With the Coke Dares, came out officially on January 18th. It's on Essay Records. It has 32 songs and it lasts for about a half hour. I'm very proud of it. Not only that, but everyone should check out Horus and Tum by The Impossible Shapes, both of which were released this year on Secretly Canadian, and Trials and Errors and the forthcoming What Comes After the Blues by Magnolia Electric Co., the former released in January and the latter to be released on April 1 by Secretly Canadian.

Thanks for the time! Keep one finger in your beer and another on your wallet forever.

-- Nick D. Meiers