You just can't deny good live rock n' roll. Branch out, play all the crazy shit you want, but once you've gotten a taste of that shimmering guitar in your hands and the electricity on stage you'll eventually come back. Unable to resist the salty sweat of rock trickling down his forehead, Ex-Tigre Benvie/Thrush Hermit/Dears Rob Benvie is set to plug in, turn up and lay it on us. Mike Perreault sent questions out into the e-cosmos and received answers from the main Presse-man himself.

COULD YOU WRITE A BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF YOUR FELLOW BANDMATES'”WHO THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY PLAY?

Presse is myself (Rob Benvie; vox, guitar, keys), Wayne MacPherson (vox, guitar, keys), Sofia Silva (vox, bass), and Matias Silva (drums, cello). Sofia and Matias are either married or siblings, they won't tell the truth; Wayne and I, while rumoured to be cousins, are in fact lifelong sworn nemeses.

HOW DOES PRESSE DIFFER FROM ANY OF YOUR OTHER BANDS?

Presse is perhaps more morose. Wayne tends to be more of a rock purist and I tend to be more artsy fartsy. The roots of Presse grew out of the frustration I experienced in trying to translate the fun of writing and recording by myself into live shows - I missed the camaraderie and fulfillment of collaboration that worked so well in the other band[s]. One Christmas in Halifax, Wayne and I, both bored in the Pro Tools universe, got drunk and vowed to crank it up again. Presse is first and foremost a 'œband'? band, not just a songwriting vehicle for myself and Wayne. Currently, I also have a band with my friend Ian McGettigan called Camouflage Nights to which folks should definitely be alerted. Our LP is forthcoming - this is a more eclectic, studio-y thing but hopefully equally, if not more, destructive than Presse.

IN ADDITION TO MANY MUSICAL PROJECTS, YOU ARE ALSO A PUBLISHED AUTHOR.

I do not deny it.

DO YOU TAKE THE SAME APPROACH TO SONGWRITING WITH LITERATURE? OR DO YOU APPROACH EACH PROJECT IN A DIFFERENT WAY?

Most of the time playing music is fun and provides instant gratification, while - as anyone who does it knows - writing is tough and painful and most of the time feels completely pointless. But the moments of revelation, when they actually arrive, are more profound when doing something like writing a novel (my book, Safety of War, is out now through Coach House Books) than when writing pop songs. I could try to frame it within some sort of flaky framework of a 'creative realm' or a 'well of inspiration' or something like that, but I think if you really scrutinize most artists' motivations they're usually much more banal than that. I think one is first driven to create art, and the format one finds, i.e. writing, music, knitting or whatever, is usually what's most convenient at the time.

YOU MENTIONED ON YOUR WEBSITE THAT YOU WERE STRONGLY CONSIDERING CHANGING THE BAND'S NAME. ANY NEW IDEAS? CAN I NAME THE BAND? I NOMINATE THE NAMES 'œDRAGONFUCKER'? AND 'œBOGROCKET'? FOR PRESSE APPROVAL.

Neither of your suggestions comes close to the band my girlfriend, Stevie, and I are starting: Trybal Katwok. Time will tell whether we in Presse will stick with our current moniker.

SUMMER'S ALMOST HERE AND THAT MEANS IT'S TIME FOR SOME KICK-ASS ROCK AND ROLL SHOWS. WHAT DO YOU PLAN ON DOING THIS SUMMER, AND DOES IT INVOLVE WEARING SHORTS?

Unless you are a professional athlete or under the age of twelve, I personally believe it undignified to wear short pants in public, particularly in an urban setting. But, of course, the SOS rule remains in place: No Shorts On Stage. Not ever. For anyone. If I ever paid to see a band play and the singer wore shorts, I'd ask for my money back, even if it was fucking NWA. Man, that would be weird to see NWA in, like, Gap khaki shorts. Okay, maybe I'd let Eazy get away with it.

TELL US A BIT ABOUT THE UPCOMING PRESSE ALBUM.

Be forewarned: 'twill be heavy, and strange, and powerful, and odd.