Sing That Yell That Spell is three guys who, like e.e. cummings, have paid their dues gigging in all manner of outfits for the past decade. If you want to know what they might sound like, try running through a swarm of bees, tripping, falling down, getting up, and swimming in a freezing pond for a bit, then stumbling into a dense forest. But your eyes are closed because the bee stings have caused them to swell shut. And you can't feel anything but burning from the stings. And you don't know where you are going, and there is no way to tell where you should go. Except you can faintly hear an old jazz song in your head - one your granddad used to play for you when you were three, and you press onward anyway, buoyed by its rhythm. Tim, Lennie and Colin of Sing That Yell That Spell articulated further with Pras Rajagopalan via electronic correspondence.

So how was New Year's Eve?

Tim and Lennie: Drink, drank, drunk... jammed.

Colin: I was in Vancouver and went to see ex-Torontonian Jason Hammer (bass player extraordinaire) play in a blues band'¦ and then Drink, Drank, Drunk, Dance.

What are the different musical ingredients that each member adds to the improvised stew of noise that is STYTS?

Colin: Well... I think were all coming from totally different musical backgrounds, the common element being the post-punk/indie scene. But within the last decade I've become more involved in the improvised/jazz music scene so that has obviously become a big part of the music I write and perform. Essentially, once we are all in the zone, the diverse musical principles and inspiration become unified into a form that isn't derivative at all.

Describe a STYTS rehearsal.

T/L: Bitch, Bitch, Moan, Song, Bitch, Stop.

C: Haha'¦ as much as that's true I love these guys, and the music making process has been a lot of fun over the years. Generally I'll come in with some compositions and we'll arrange them together. I like to leave lots of space for improvisation but we still like to exercise rigorous precision in the compositional elements of the music. Many of times we've been asked whether the music is completely improvised or not... and I'm glad that we leave people with that sense of curiosity. Riding the edge between improvisation and composition is something I really dig about jazz because even composed parts can be subject to reharmonization and on the spot alterations.

Do you feel that your music translates better in recorded form or live? What are some of the challenges you have encountered trying to capture spontaneity and adventurousness on disc?

C: We're definitely a live band. When we've recorded we always go live off the floor in hopes of capturing the live sound that really defines our music. Not unlike jazz or music that depends on the willingness to engage the form in the moment our music is definitely a reflection of our mood or attitudes at the time'¦ so every performance is always different than the last.

Hey, there's an election coming up! Does anyone care? Should they?

T/L: EAT MY ELECTION!

C: It's hard to say how I feel about these things because I really feel like the structure that supports these political ideologies is fundamentally flawed. I think, if anything, all of this ideological division only creates conflict, and it seems like any platform is seeking some sort of resolution to the specific problems they perceive from their vantage point but because they are coming from a perspective of division there can be no resolution. It just seems like endless maintenance, which I expect as a part of being on one level, but I feel like we could be engaging ourselves and others in approaching a fundamental change in our nature instead of pretending like one party has all the answers and the other is just propagating some sort of system of control. Obviously I think there are lesser evils in the voting process but I lost my faith in democracy long ago. If anything I think if there are any ideologues out there that are seeking a model of social equality, they should look no further than the essence of improvisation in music.