How do you go about explaining this'¦ music played by grown men using the simplest of instruments; anything cheaply made and bought that will make a sound? Is it art or just cacophony? Is it the beginning of a revolution, or a sign of the coming apocalypse? Harkening back to the very cradle of civilization, where our Neolithic ancestors discovered the very ways to make music with whatever they found, Dollarama is more than just camp, it's primordial. Mike Perreault decided to let the thrift store experts elaborate: 'œDollarama was thought up by Aaron. Dollarama was put into motion by Aaron & Eric, the two core members. Dollarama is a collective. Dollarama is a lifestyle. Dollarama has featured Lee, Matthew & Sonny. Dollarama could feature you as well.'? So, we can bring a dustpan that we bought at the dollar store and jam with you guys?

Dollar store instruments? How do you keep your gear in working order, given the sketchy nature of dollar store toys?

Aaron Bronsteter: We don't. We break stuff on a regular basis, often intentionally.

Eric Warner: We carry our "gear" around in garbage bags. We're low-maintenance and as much as we should care, realize we can find new equipment with relative ease.

Do you incorporate other non-musical/toy dollar store items in your music?

A/E: Hammers, foil pans, clipboards, cheese grates, bowls, vases, whatever we can find that is capable of making noise, which can be pretty much anything. We use old tapes, which have included: Berenstein Bears, Dance Mix 95, He-Man/She-Ra, Mariah Carey and it will probably continue to grow. Young MC forever!

What's with the knock-off action figures sold at dollar stores, like "Star Force" or "Police Commando". I mean, who are they kidding, right?

A: We're not concerned about that, we're concerned with making critically-acclaimed music to get the asses into the seats and the albums off the shelves.

What's the strangest thing that's ever happened to you at a dollar store? Did it involve old people?

A: When I first came up with the concept for the band, I went into a dollar store and started banging on things and asked the storekeeper '“ an albino Russian man '“ to help me find instruments and he walked around the store with me and tried to show me what made noise.

Ever given a shot at trying a cover song with the dollar store instruments? I'd imagine "Mother" by Danzig would be fairly easy to pull off.

A: On the Danzig note, we have covered a Misfits song before, as well as Captain Beefheart, Rick Springfield, KoRn and BTK. All of whom are huge influences on our music.

E: If you give us a topic, we'll make a song out of it. Sometimes that results in us breaking into covers after being inspired by audience members. We recently crashed a Christmas show on the grounds that all our members that night were Jewish and we didn't feel there was proper representation. There was a compromise and "Driedel, Driedel, Driedel" was covered by both religions.

Would Dollarama the band ever consider a sponsorship from Dollarama the chain?

A: Definitely, but I think they'd probably give us a cease and desist order before any sort of sponsorship.

E: We're going to play a show outside a Dollarama in the near future. It has to be free-standing though.

OK, spill the beans: where are the best dollar stores in downtown Toronto? I wanna know where Dollarama gets their magic from.

A: To be honest, the only dollar stores that I've shopped at are Dollarama at the Woodbine Centre and Cloverdale Mall, The Silver Dollar at Fairview Mall and a store called Dollar Blitz, home of the albino Russian.

E: I'm not too picky, although after trying to find the best sounding instruments after a while would give you a chip of sorts, as you gain an advantage.