TCR: The two of you met in art school, right?

BG: Yeah, we were both studying music at Wesleyan [University].

TCR: I guess the aesthetic of the band has changed pretty dramatically since you first started?

BG: We went from being students who had this band that we were doing for fun on the side to having it be the only thing we're putting our time into. So, you know, whether we consciously did it or not, it's become a serious thing that we're investing ourselves in. It would be hard to keep doing this if we didn't take it seriously.

TCR: At what point did you say, "Okay, this is my full-time job"?...

AV: Yeah, we recorded in upstate New York. We were shooting BB guns in between recording and eating a lot of pizza and chicken fingers, and it kind of just felt like fun times.

TCR: Do you feel if the label hadn't come your way, you guys would have just gone off on separate paths and the band would have ended?

AV: Oh, yeah, most definitely. That's what I had assumed was going to happen. Even six months before we signed our deal, we were in very different places, and I remember rarely even talking to Ben, because he didn't have a phone out in the woods where he was working at a construction job....