barp

Hope I'm not asking too many questions here, but I have another...

Let me preface it by saying My Umbrella in Minneapolis recently was an AWESOME surprise. Any chance that other Tripping Daisy songs might surface on the setlist in the future? Most things from Jesus Hits feels like they'd translate well--Geeareohdoubleyou in particular sticks out to me, almost feels like a Spree song already.

Was there a concerted effort on Yes It's True to mix it in, for lack of a better term, a more "mainstream" manner? When I listen closely I can still tell that all the instruments are in there and still seem to be arranged in a kind of typical Polyphonic Spree way, but they definitely seem to be mixed a little farther back into a more textural role than being out in front like on previous albums, with drums and lead vocals more center stage this time around, which some people might find more accessible.

Either way I think it's a cool and interesting tack on things, but definitely not what I was expecting in that respect.

Hey Tim, so I have a logistical question about how the band learns songs and performs. I know you've said before that a pre-req for being in the Spree is that you have to be able to improvise, which makes sense since you don't want to be scoring out parts for so many instruments. I'm curious, though, as to how much is planned out. Do you just hand out chord charts to people and tell them to do their thing? Do you ever have particular melodies that you want certain sections to play that you write out or sing to them or whatever? And also, do you do things in stages, like bring the song to the rhythm section first and then add all the horns and strings and whatnot, or does everyone just dive in at once? Kind of a lengthy question, I know, but as a musician, I've always wondered how you organize something like that giving people room to have creative leeway without it becoming chaotic.