by LORRAINE CARPENTER

With their sophomore album Kick Up the Fire and Let the Flames Break Loose, the Cooper Temple Clause have followed Radiohead's lead in trumping "samey" pop and formulaic rock, drawing from a vast palette of influences to paint their majestic soundscapes and subtle sonic self-portraits. From Reading, an average English town that happens to host one of the world's best pop-music festivals, the quintet and producer Dan Austin spin a seductive web of anthemic Britrock and grainy electronica with strains of metal, industrial, jazz and folk. Leading up to the band's Montreal gig, the Mirror questioned keyboardist Keiran Mayhem about some of the strange goings-on at the band's studio, Bleak House.

Mirror: Tell me your studio's not haunted.

Keiran Mayhem: Well, it's probably one of the worst places I know to be stuck at late at night or by yourself. It's literally in the middle of nowhere, so it's pitch black and the toilet block is outside, around the corner, so your nerves are playing tricks on you anyway, but our engineer was staying there one night and he thought he heard this voice calling, "Tally, tally," and he's quite tall so he figured a ghost must have been addressing him. Also, we had this African sculpture on the shelf and behind it was sort of a painted shadow that gradually increased month by month, and we were convinced that it was painting a shadow of itself, which is pretty freaky. But we don't want to move it in case we unlock the demons behind it. It doesn't worry me too much, really, but never underestimate the supernatural.

M: Indeed. So I gather you lightened the mood by wearing costumes?

KM: Yeah, every Thursday was fancy dress day. There were categories, like surfer dudes, '80s rock stars was good, Biblical characters was very strong and drag was a bit controversial. We were next to a lot of metal workers and car mechanics and one day we all came dressed as women and I'm not sure they liked it. But they flirted with us a bit, which was strange.

With Calla at Cabaret on Thursday, March 11, 9pm, $14

>> Music Listings