"I mean - I never even touch a computer usually, but my friend told me there was this guy on craigslist looking for a band. I replied and the next day I had this cd that became the soundtrack to my summer". So says Pat Spurgeon, drummer / guitarist / vocalist for Bay Area crew Rogue Wave as the Shins tear through their set inside the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, North Carolina. This is Rogue Wave's first show in NC, and by the response the sold-out crowd gave them just an hour ago - they'll be back. We love Rogue Wave, and if you don't yet - you will. Lucky for you, SubPop is set to re-release their debut Out of the Shadow on July 13th, all tweaked and remastered for your audible pleasure. Our joyous discussion this fine pre-summer evening hit on such interesting subjects as the corpse of Spock, a synth named Tonto and birds.. . .

Rogue Wave is: Zach Rogue (Guitar, Wurlitzer, Vox), Sonya Westcott (Bass, Beauty, Vox), Gram Lebron (Guitar, Synth, Vox) and Pat "Peppermint Pattie" Spurgeon (Drums, Guitar, Vox)

Zach: We have all been playing in bands since, I would say, the high school days. I have played in some pretty bad bands - I did play with this band Desoto Reds for a few years but I left to do this project.

Out of the Shadow was primarily recorded by you "pre-band" right?

Yeah, I recorded it and when I felt I was happy with it, I sort of used the result to do a kind of "band shopping". I didn't want to go out and play by myself, because I had spent all this time creating all of these layers & textures - and I was eager to be able to reproduce the sounds live. So I started sending the album out to people to see if anybody wanted to play.

So as far as the recording process, most of the instrumentation is just you - guitars, drums, keys?

I did do most of the percussion, I didn't do the drums - when you hear a full kit, that's a good friend of mine Nathan Petty. He's on like half of the songs - he's a really, really good drummer.

How long would you say you "shopped" the album to labels before SubPop called you on it?

Actually I didn't, that wasn't something I wanted to do. I didn't want to just send it to labels, I felt like when we were playing out that if it was good and there was a label we wanted to work with that it would happen. I didn't want to force it - that just didn't seem natural. It just so happened we were out playing with this band The Clientele in Seattle (Washington) and someone from the Bay Area had sent someone at SubPop a copy of the record, who in turn came to see our show. The album then got passed around their office and from there a relationship started to happen. It was a relationship I was much more happy with, rather than just sending it to a bunch of labels and not being in a position to talk about what we as a band want, and what they as a label want.

That seems to be something SubPop has gained artist-wise over the past 2 or 3 years, with bands like the Thermals who had tapes filter in to them by another band as well as the Iron & Wine "tape trading" story - all of a sudden this huge label is actually reaching out to newer artists.

Yeah, it feels good - like with new music, I like discovering it rather than have someone shove it down my throat. Like in the case of Guided By Voices, as far as I know, Thurston Moore had heard of them and he helped push them to play CMJ back in the 90's. Kind of this accidental surprise - alot of times I'm sure that's how most people find music they like, rather than reading about it on the cover of this huge magazine. It's like when a friend says "hey, have you heard this?" - a little more organic. When SubPop contacted us, it was amazing - we didn't expect that. I think that is one reason they have been so successful, because they choose bands & music they actually like and excites them.

What is the release date for the SubPop remaster of Out of the Shadow, and is there new art or will it be the same as the current version?

It will be released on July 13th and it is totally remastered with all new artwork. If you've heard the (original) album a bunch, the remaster sounds overall louder - like a bigger album. As for the first layout, me and my friend Toby (Gunderson) just laid out some stuff - I wanted a dark burgundy theme. It was a total hack-job. But SubPop has an amazing art department.

Something I had noticed with the album's "sound" is the sonic nuances on it - like on 'Be Kind + Remind' - the birds. Were most of those sounds tracked in after the album had been completed?

Well, in terms of sequencing, I wanted the record to have continuity between songs. As a whole, it was recorded kind of unconventionally - we did the drums last. That bird sound was actually tracked with Malcom Cecil, this guy who has produced with Stevie Wonder. He has this synthesizer in his house, it's basically the world's largest synthesizer. (laughter from the rest of the band). It's called T.O.N.T.O. - and it takes up the whole room, with stuff written in hand. So we went in and he had this labcoat on, with crazy hair - it was so strange - and he was like "Tonto is awake". It was crazy. We probably have over 20 minutes of those birds. I really wanted him to play upright bass on that song 'Falcon Settles Me'.

How about bands from the Bay Area / Oakland area - any we should know of here on the east?

Oh so many - this guy Kelly Stoltz is amazing, Rum Diary, Our Lady the Highway, Audio Out Send... .

Would you say that this tour (supporting the Shins and the Glands) is the biggest tour you've done? Is it overwhelming?

Totally - it's so surprising. We have played some big shows like The Fillmore in San Francisco, but we're not used to this night after night playing to alot of people. And us being the opening act, most of these people don't know our songs - but hopefully when the album comes out people will be into it. And the best part of this tour is that we get to see the Shins play every night - what can be better than that? I don't think James Mercer can write a bad song.

The Shins are a great live band, and the covers they choose are so fitting - like the 'We Will Become Silhouettes' cover on the Postal Service EP..

Gram: Oh - Right now their encore is a House of Love cover ['Destroy The Heart'], and every night it's amazing.

Your set tonight threw me off a bit - was alot of the set new / unreleased stuff?

Gram: Yeah, cause right now most people don't know our songs anyway - but when the record is out, we will likely do more from the album.

Zach: It's fun for us right now, because we have alot of new stuff we want to play too.

Is some of it from the EP that has been talked about - wasn't there one to have been released before the full-length?

Yeah. As far as the EP, there simply wasn't enough time to get it all together before this tour. Hopefully after the album is released, we will still get to do it. Then another, and another.. .

Rogue Wave - what does the name mean to you?

It's just a metaphor - it's what art is to me. Like something you can't pinpoint, seemingly out of nowhere. The concept that something cannot be explained - that's the goal.