The Bicycles have been playing their unique Super Pop around Toronto for five years. To celebrate, they've decided to record an album. Ryan McLaren emailed some questions to Drew Smith and Matt Beckett, who passed them on to Andrew Scott. I bet he has to unload all the gear too.

WHAT ARE THE NAMES OF EVERYONE IN THE BAND AND WHAT DO THEY ALL DO? Matt Beckett: Hands on hips and roll the eyes... Now your doing the Beckett just like Matt! He just discovered reggae music and can play the solo to "Smoke on the Water" (though it may take him a few tries)... at least he told me he could. Drew Smith: I know Drew Eats and Sleeps... he befriends homeless people... umm... he takes any chance he can to take potshots at me (probably because I do the same to him). He can dance better than any of us other Bikes. Dana Snell: Brings her Mom to shows, keeps us focused. She's more man than the rest of the band put together AND she has a good reason for singing like a girl (whereas the rest of us don't). Randy Lee: Tries really, really hard not to completely perv-out around someone until he really gets to know them (but doesn't always succeed). He drives. Or at least lends us his car for late night Drive-Thru. Andrew Scott: That's me. I play trumpet. That is all.

THE BICYCLES' SOUND IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM ANYTHING ELSE BEING MADE IN TORONTO. WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR INFLUENCES? I KNOW DREW'S A BIG FAN OF THE ARCHIES. After I'd been in the Bikes for a week or so (I met them the same day I played my first show with them!), Matt and Drew accompanied myself and FuzzyLogic [Recordings'] Maria Bui (our new boss!) on a magical New Year's Eve get-to-know-each-other trek to Barrie (don't ask), and I was blown away that Matt and Drew picked Marcos Valle, Margo Guyrian and Quasi out of my trip CDs to sing along to (and we did!), so those are always in my mind as influences. There are too many others really... and we don't ALL agree on that sort of stuff ALL the time. We've covered The Kinks, Harry Nillsson, The Velvet Underground... do those count?

SO... ALBUM? Well, we're done tracking and it's en route to mixing, which hopefully won't be too painful. Actually it feels weird to be able to say that it WILL actually be soon. I think we actually thought we'd be done a lot sooner but we just kept writing more songs and learning how to record more effectively with each new one and subsequently having to go back and fix all of the mistakes we made on the previous ones. NEVER TRY TO RECORD DRUMS LAST. We knew this already, but did that stop us?

ANDREW IS NOTOROUS (SIC) FOR PLAYING WITH A NUMBER OF BANDS, AND DANA ALSO PLAYED WITH THE S.S. CARDIACS. DO ANY OF THE REST OF THE BICYCLES HAVE SIDE PROJECTS? Wow, I'm notorous?? Check it out dudes, I'M NOTOROUS! Take that!!! Dana's not playing for the Cardiacs anymore but I know she joes around with some of Toronto's rock notables, Cloak and Dagger styles I hear. Drew, Maria and Meligrove Jay [Nunes] have a song coming out shortly on a kids compilation under the moniker "The Poos" or maybe "The Poohs". I think Randy has formed a band with his new, slimmer, network-ready Playstation 2 of late, and Matt stopped playing in The Weekend to concentrate on The Bicycles. Now The Weekend have a tour bus. We still just have Randy's car.

CAN YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT ALL THIS SLUSH? They have straws at 7-11 that are a bit bigger than regular for that sort of thing...and at the bottom they're flattened out into a sort of spoon-like contraption for getting the very last bits. Look out for the brain freeze though. And don't go for the jumbo size ones. No one ever finishes those ones without ending up sick or diabetic.

BY RYAN MCLAREN