by LORRAINE CARPENTER

“I think we’re all in agreement that our band name sucks,” says Ryan Allen, singer and guitarist for Thunderbirds Are Now! Chosen on a whim, during the drive to their first gig, the band’s moniker is like a regrettable tattoo, but one you can live with—more “Mom” than, say, “Austin 3:16.” But there are some links to be made between these Detroit boys—Allen, keyboardist Scott Allen, bassist Howard Chang and drummer Mike Durgan—and their sci-fi marionette namesakes: the kids love ’em, despite their unsettling, unnatural movements, and they’re on a rescue mission, but the band’s aim is to save girls and boys from the pap that passes for edgy indie rock and “dance-punk.”

Since 2003, over five discs (EPs: Another One Hypnotized By and Necks, LPs: Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief, Justamustache and Make History), Thunderbirds Are Now! have progressed from synth-rock spazzes to new-wave songsmiths, with melodic keys, wiry guitars, big rhythm and renegade vocals leading the way.

As the band drove through the Florida swamps, the Mirror asked Ryan Allen, a freelance writer who once worked for a weekly, about being on the other end of the interview, letting the pop out and the danger of growing beards.

Mirror: As someone who’s done my job, this must be strange for you.

Ryan Allen: Yeah, but it’s awesome. I’m not a weirdo fanboy, but I love music and I love talking about music, so [that job] was a totally ideal situation for me. Now that the roles are reversed, keeping conversations about music alive is still something I’m totally into, whether it’s about my band or any band.

M: So what would you ask yourself?

RA: “Do you hate your parents for making you a short person?” “Do you have difficulty buying pants?” And the answer would be yes.

M: I wouldn’t have known to ask that.

RA: That’s why I asked myself.

M: How tall are you?

RA: Maybe 5-foot-6. I look through these magazines and these dudes are so tall and skinny. Damn, I’m never gonna make it in the music biz.

M: Marc Bolan and Prince were/are 5-foot-3. But they wore platforms. I guess that wouldn’t really work for you.

RA: No, unless they have platform Vans.

Songs over style

M: I haven’t heard your first album, which is out of print, but I gather that there has been a significant evolution with each release.

RA: When we started the band, we had no goals. We didn’t care how we sounded, it was more, “Whatever, let’s have some songs and go play shows,” but a sense of purpose set in over the years. And being a journalism major, it’s hard for me to ignore press. Once you get pegged, once you start feeling that people have figured you out, it’s uncomfortable, so when it was said that we were supposedly a les Savy Fav rip-off band or whatever the fuck people were saying, you start noticing these things and you try something else. It’s not like, “Oh, this person said this about us, so we have to change our sound,” but people were comparing us to bands that I either hated or never heard of. I’m also a really, really big pop-music fan, I love the Beatles, the Zombies, Elvis Costello and the Smiths, so we said, “Fuck the sound, let’s just write songs.” We literally just cranked ’em out. We were like, “This sounds good, let’s keep going.” It wasn’t like, “Is this Thunderbirds Are Now-esque?” or “Shouldn’t we put a dance-punk beat in here?” or “Shouldn’t I be yelping more than singing?” and it was just like, “No, fuck it, why? Let’s just do what we want and have fun.” It wasn’t about being all serious. We didn’t grow beards.

M: Do you see that in your future?

RA: Beards?

M: Yeah.

RA: It’s always a possibility, my friend.

M: But then you’d have to take the appropriate “mature” musical turn.

RA: Well, you know, the Beatles are my favourite band, so record number four is gonna be psychedelic as fuck, dude.

M: But then once you grow beards, your days are numbered.

RA: Yeah, then I get shot.

With the Plastic Constellations and Rescue at Main Hall on Sunday, Nov. 5, 8:30 p.m., $12

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