In one short year of existence, The Lava Witch have emerged as quite an unusual and memorable band. Aggressive and weird and off-kilter, musically they draw on everyone from Q And Not U to Captain Beefheart. Lyrically, they cover important topics like 'œa claymation of an owl giving birth'? and 'œKanye West'?. And they are much too good for Mississauga; we should support them and get them the hell out of there. Demian Carynnyk did his part by e-mailing the band some questions, and then compiling all the best answers.

WHO ARE YOU? WHY ARE YOU HERE?

ANDRE: We are The Lava Witch and we are here to make love to your ears.
JOSH: We are The Lava Witch and we're here to spread death and destruction to all who oppose us.
CHRIS: We play songs and like to have fun. With us, it's like everyday is wacky-tie Friday.

WHAT DOES EACH MEMBER CONTRIBUTE TO THE BAND?

A: Nate is an incredible drummer that can make up rhythms and such that I would never even fathom. Josh has so much energy and gets us all pumped when we play, and his awesome screaming and yelping are the only vocals I can see suiting our band. Chris is super-creative and can make up bass lines that just drive a song into light speed. Myself, I just try to make guitar riffs that would shatter a prepubescent elf's skull into a thousand butterflies.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU PLUG IN AND START PLAYING?

J: Lightning bolts shoot out of our eyes and we speak in elvish tongues.
N: As soon as we start playing I explode and need to have every limb of my body going everywhere. I want people to feel like we're blowing them away or that they need to move and dance and add to the energy.
A: When we plug in and start playing, we dance around a lot at first and then the dancing becomes some crazy shaking and then the shaking turns into a musical seizure that we cannot stop. This seizure is somewhat contagious and we notice the audience having them as well sometimes.

ARE YOU AT ALL ABLE TO CATEGORIZE YOUR MUSIC?

J: We're medieval tech metal.
N: A new genre is being born at this second; it will be called "fish fly crack smokin' hair net". I listen to a range of music from Latin to tech metal. Josh listens to a lot of hardcore. Chris listens to a lot of weird music that I can't even describe or know what it's called, and Andre listens to a lot of weird new folk.

MISSISSAUGA SEEMS LIKE A SHINY, NEW, CLEAN, SPRAWLED-OUT WONDERLAND. HOW DOES THIS HEAVEN ON EARTH INSPIRE YOU? IS IT "A PLASTIC CITY IN A WOODEN LEG"?

J: Mississauga is a retiree's paradise, run by a senile old battle-axe.
A: Mississauga is definitely a plastic city in a wooden leg; it's so phony and plastic and suburban and polluted and the environment is totally dying from it. It really sucks.

WHO'S THE ANTLERED GUY IN YOUR BAND LOGO? IS HE A WITCH? IS HE SOMEONE'S DAD?

N: I wish it was my dad. I think that would be hilarious.
J: I have no idea. I originally thought it was the Idomo man.
A: That is a secret that can never be revealed. He may be a witch, he may be a father, he may be a father that is a witch. Chris, our bassist, does all of our graphic design stuff. Check his stuff out at www.franktowndesign.com.

YOUR IMAGERY AND MUSIC SEEM TO CONNECT WELL WITH WHAT'S HAPPENING ACROSS THE CONTINENT, AND IN REALLY HIP PLACES LIKE BROOKLYN. ARE YOU AMBITIOUS ABOUT TAKING ON OTHER SCENES?

C: Right now the idea of going anywhere out of Mississauga is pretty darned unreasonable. Nate's car can barely drive with the air conditioning on, and mine is out of commission forever. BUT! I think it would be pretty darn awesome to hang out in Brooklyn with Japanther, or explore the very diverse Providence, Rhode Island, with Lightning Bolt, Athletic Automaton, Honeyhander'¦. As long as you're going somewhere, there's always the opportunity to turn a trip into a great adventure.