Troubled Hubble are on tour throughout June and July. They do a great show. Tour dates here.

Splendid: I first got into Troubled Hubble, your songs, through your single "Where Raccoons Don't Live". I just loved how that song was angry, sad and funny all at the same time. That seems to be a point in your songs. Do you often aim for that?

Chris Otepka: Wow. I don't think so. Maybe it's a little bit of a self therapeutic thing that I've never come out and explained, but just something that comes out naturally. That's a good observation. I don't make any special effort to do that, but I'll accept it.

Splendid: So when it comes to songwriting, what do you aim for?

Chris Otepka: You know, I think it's whatever comes out. That's what happens, I guess. There are, you know, different, tiny, weird things throughout my day that will inspire me to specifically address them in a song, but whether or not the vibe is going to be upbeat or sad or whatever, that's something that just happens. Subject matter wise, I'll get inspired by certain things, but never going for any specific vibe. I'm just trying to keep it interesting.

Splendid: When it comes to the songs, then, and how they are completed, is that a matter of you bringing the song whole to your bandmates, or the band working it out together?

Chris Otepka: In the past, it's been basically me bringing a song, a little folk ditty, or something I've completely orchestrated on my four track, and then just bringing them the final songs. That's how it's gone in the past, bringing them a song and then turning it into a rock song. Sometimes it'll stay as is, and other times it'll evolve into some new, weird territory I've never thought of. "Where Raccoons Don't Live" was just guitar and voice on a microcassette recorder, and I played it for Nate (Lanthrum) in the car, which I'll do a lot, I've found out. I've never really realized it, but I kind of annoy them by dragging them into the car and playing them tapes. But that's what happened with "Raccoons". I just played him this tape, and I said "Hey, listen to this funny song." He thought it was great, so we worked it out in practice and they got to put their own little elements in there with cool sound effects, and then we had fun rocking out the end of it.

Splendid: Your newest, Making Beds in a Burning House, came out in May. Where does it fit in the Troubled Hubble discography?

Chris Otepka: Comprehensively, I think it's the best we've ever done. We had one consistent and good-feel recording session and songs we got to work out for two years. There was a lot of time between Penturbia and this new one where we were on the road, playing 200, 300 shows, so we got to play a lot of the new songs live before recording them. We had plenty of time to write words and so we're feeling great about the record. The songwriting is great and our best yet, but it's certainly not the best. Looking back on the record, there are a million things that we wish we had done differently or taken different stabs at. That's the good thing about being in the band -- you can save it for the next record and learn from it. But we're feeling good about it.

Splendid: This album was recorded with Dismemberment Plan's guitarist Jason Caddell. How was that experience?

Chris Otepka: He couldn't have meshed with us any better. We had a great time. Aside from being a great guy and very familiar with the studio and sounds and things like that, he was hysterical to hang out with. We didn't know what to expect. We didn't know if it was going to be an awkward vibe working with our quote unquote hero, but it was great. He's outstanding, and the studio in DC, Inner Ear, was really cool, a really cool vibe.

Splendid: You mentioned all the touring you did last year. Are guys still in school?

Chris Otepka: Two of us have graduated and two of us have quit. No, there's no school and only two of us really work. It's just this, full time.

Splendid: So where do the two of you that work, work?

Chris Otepka: Nate, the drummer, is a video connoisseur at a Blockbuster. I work for the Scott's company, hauling a lot of fertilizer and grass seed. It's basically a seasonal job that lets me come and go as I please, which couldn't work out any better for the touring situation. I can put in hours when I want to, and be away when I need to be. Andrew (Lanthrum) also works at a video store. He just started taking shifts at a store that competes with Nate's Blockbuster, which is really funny and great because they're brothers. Josh (Miller) doesn't work. We all have these really sparse and weird jobs.

Splendid: I've lived in Illinois, and I don't remember it being a musical hotspot. How is it being based out of a cornfield?

Chris Otepka: Within the last two or three years, we've just started to develop this high school into college scene, not really a scene at all, but a group of supporters for the local bands. Just through playing a bunch of fun shows out in Dekalb at Northern Illinois, and then having that be a local outlet for high school bands in the suburbs. There is this weird little community of people interested in this. They'll just mount shows at houses or VFW halls, but as far as any larger music scene, that's Chicago. And even Chicago has about 8,000 musical cliques. Very sink or swim in Chicago.

Splendid: Speaking of touring, you guys just performed at South by Southwest. I heard you guys put on a bad-ass show down there.

Chris Otepka: Thanks. Yeah, we had a great time. It was our third year doing it. We played the Lookout! Records showcase and we had great energy. Glad to be part of this new family, with the record label, certainly exciting. We played a place we had played before so we were familiar with it and comfortable and we had been on tour for a while. We have a lot of friends in the college radio community, so they always come out to support us at the SXSW shows or the CMJ shows. It's always a party, always a great time.

Splendid: You guys get compared to Modest Mouse, Built to Spill, Dismemberment Plan all the time. Who would you like to be compared to?

Chris Otepka: I don't know where those comparisons come from, or why they keep getting used. I think writers cite previous articles written about us. As for who we'd like to be compared to, those are flattering comparisons, but I don't think they encapsulate the sound. People don't expect how much fun we can have. Not to say those bands are in any way pretentious, but it's kinda misleading to compare us. Dismemberment Plan is a good one. Modest Mouse and Built to Spill -- great bands, and we love 'em, but sometimes it seems like people are scared to compare us to lame bands. We listen to a lot of music; we listen to everything across the board. I don't know who to say, exactly. I guess if I were to respond to that question, I would say don't be scared to not compare us to Built to Spill and Modest Mouse and any indie band that shares our energy.

Splendid: You mentioned that you listen to music across the board. Who've you been listening to recently?

Chris Otepka: Oh I'm so obsessed with the Long Winters. I've been listening to their record When I Pretend to Fall for the past year and a half straight. It's just, I think, personally, it's the best record ever written. John Roberts does such a great job. I really respect him and his songwriting. The way he says he does it is very familiar to me -- where he has a lot of random, strewn ideas that connect to each other, sometimes in vicarious ways. He just belts it out and it feels great to hear. The other guys really like the Eels. We just toured this last week; I'm trying to think what rotated through our CD player. We really like a band we just toured with called Hockey Night. We're good friends with them and they just got a Lookout! deal. Josh listens to a lot of weird, trippy, dancy stuff. I couldn't even tell you what it is. Otis Redding was on. There's a lot of crazy stuff.

Splendid: What's next for the men of Troubled Hubble?

Chris Otepka: The new record came out May 17th, and we're going to be on the road with it through June and July. We have half of August off, and then we're going to be on the road with it from September until Christmas. Then, probably next winter, do the new record, and, yeah, there's stuff ready to go, but a lot more writing to be done. We're going to push as hard as we can to get the new record in the kids' heads and hands, and next winter follow up on a hopefully successful Making Beds in a Burning House.

Splendid: Is there anything that you think Splendid's readers should know about that I haven't asked?

Chris Otepka: Maybe it's because we're from Chicago and we've experienced, not so much the underground scene, but the non-commercial music scene, and to have that kind of separation in the music industry that's trying to survive, especially with the big giant mainstream takeovers, and the pirating of music, that we always like to stress the idea, without sounding like a bunch of dorks, of togetherness. We're all in this together. Support your local music scene. Support your bands that are on the road. We do our best to show our support for our peer bands and help them out however we can. We want to get people to do that too.

-- Tyson Lynn