Koren Zailckas: Hey Jon! Is now still an okay time for a chat chat?

Jon Burr: Good evening. Yes. Yes, it is.

KZ: Oh good... I didn't want to tear you away from any post-Xmas merry making. Incidentally, where are you right now? Home for the holidays?

JB: I am in Hiawassee, Georgia, visiting relatives... I'm afraid I've forgotten what this interview is for. A zine of sorts?

KZ: Merry Swankster. A most-lovely music blog.

JB: Aha. I'm unfamiliar with the blogosphere or what have you. I fear blogs.

KZ: What do they call that? Blogophobic? Alrighty, blogaphobe, it's time for the serious questions.

JB: Shoot.

KZ: Beginning with location. HIBTB is from Murfreesboro, Tennessee? Site of the Battle of Stones River! Needless to say, I'm sure this is a huuge influence on your music. What’s the music scene like in 'Boro?

JB: Labrynthine. Members from various bands overlap. Many bands stand in alliance. Some bands are friendly to each other, some aren't. I think some hate each other secretly. But, as far as these things go, it's the coolest scene of which I've taken part. The kids are into it.

KZ: So how was HIBTB conceived? In effect, "how did you become the bomb?"

JB: Well, in 2005, I brought my friend Adam over to my house and we ended up playing music with my roommates. We made some horrible sounds and some good sounds and we ended up adding a bass player and playing a show in June of that year. As for our moniker, we had a friend hop on stage and name us at our first show, which happened to be at an illegal strip club. We didn't even possess the know-how to get a show.

KZ: Okay... please expound on "illegal strip club." This is the first I've ever heard the term. And it sounds like a group of gals pole dancing in somebody's basement.

JB: Well, we're right on the buckle of the bible belt, so, if you're gonna have strippers, it had better be a secret. And this place is a secret. It's right on the outskirts of town and, if the bar has a theme, it's NASCAR, disco, and naked men and women... It's a bar. A very small, very poorly lit bar. Red lights akimbo.

KZ: So the girls were naked... But, from what I hear, HIBTB dresses up for some (or maybe all?) of your gigs? Your first gig included?

JB: The dressing up is seasonal, sort of. Maybe it's hormonal or has to do with intake of alcohol. But, yes, we were extremely nervous and extremely costumed. Mine consisted of a powdered wig, arm-length gloves, a cape, and other such nonsense. I think Denis, our guitarist, wore daisy dukes and had a stuffed owl mounted on his guitar.

KZ: Okay... Let's talk Let's Go! It came out, when? Last spring? And I've only just discovered it. That said, it was a major discovery. Like discovering fire. Or the third law of thermodynamics.

JB: We sold our first copies on April 1st, of course, but I think the official release was on Tax Day or something, which I guess is fitting.

KZ: It's the official soundtrack of the IRS.

JB: I have an uneasy relationship with the IRS. It's one of the few subjects that I simply will not discuss.

KZ: Yeah, I have an “uneasy” relationship with the IRS too. Let’s say only complimentary things about them. So they don’t come for us tonight while we sleep... Anyway, I could describe the way HIBTB sounds for the good folks at MS. But you'd probably do a much more meticulous job. So what, pray tell, inspired your seven-track EP?

JB: The EP is simply, we hope, what we sound like live. We cut it all in three or four days and mixed it the same day we mastered it, basically. It was recorded mostly live, except vocals of course. I'd love to elaborate on some concept or master plan, but it's really just seven of our first songs. The last song, "Kneel Before Zod," was the first song we wrote together. Our next record, which we start in January, will feature more songs and require more manpower. We're going to work on that one for as long as it takes.

KZ: That sounds like a New Year’s resolution... You said KBZ was the first song you wrote together. Do you write them all in collaboration? If a HIBTB song is a baby, who births it?

JB: We write together, usually beginning with a riff or melody. Sometimes, someone will come in with a fairly-structured song, but we'll eat it and regurgitate it and it will be entirely different than the food that was eaten. I am disgusting. Anywho, yes. We collaborate. That's what makes it fun and, I think, why it is unique, because we don't really share tastes and are all quite insane.

KZ: Speaking of insanity, I think "Fat Girls Talkin' 'Bout Cardio" might be the funniest song on Let's Go! With lyrics like “She’s got a lot of insulation / ‘bout the size of a third-world nation,” do you fear repercussions from feminists? Or fat women? Or maybe, fat feminists?

JB: Oh, my. Yes. Our drummer's mother lives in outrage because of that song. I may regret those lyrics forever. I am always afraid of those larger than.

KZ: Whenever I play it, my roommate asks me why it doesn't offend me. I think it's because I too would rather talk about cardio than do it. I can empathize.

JB: Cardio is for peasants.

KZ: Okay Jon, you’ve got a catchy little tune called “Secret Identity.” What’s your secret identity? It’s time to fess up.

JB: My word. I'm just a guy who likes the finer things in life. Things like outer space and professional wrestling and steam engines and espionage and girls and music.

KZ: That's the Clark Kent... Who's the superhero?

JB: Well, my favorite was always Green Lantern, although I wouldn't do spandex. I guess I'll be an old, obscure superhero. The Phantom Stranger. He had great clothes.

KZ: What were his special powers?

JB: I hardly remember. I think they were fairly limitless. All I remember is that he had a fantastic three-piece suit with a cane and fedora.

KZ: He incapacitated villains with his fine fashion sense... And “Killing Machine?” This is a song with some militant imagery. Is it your anti-war tune? Your "Imagine?"

JB: I don't think we have any anti-anything songs in us. So, no. I'm more of a Paul guy anyways, which may get me in trouble with credible music fans.

KZ: I gotcha. So, on the whole, you're more "for" things than against them... So like, in 2007, you'll be "pro-" what?

JB: Pro-Bob Moog, pro-strings, pro-new sounds, pro-girls, pro-knights errant... Stuff like that.

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