MUEN: Hi, Congratulations on your recent CD release "I Am The Messer;" I know you are a true DIY band but did you have any help with producing the album and where was it recorded?

To us, being independent means getting everything done within our own network. Working on everything with our friends, and doing it within our means, rather than having a label (or someone else) pay for the work in hopes of making more money off us. So we produced the record with our friend Luke Tierney, at his studio (Laurel Ceezy Studio) in LA. Another friend, Rick Parker, mixed it, and we had two songs mixed in Florida by our buddy Mike Major.

MUEN: What exactly are these USB bracelets I keep hearing everyone talking about?

We call it the Digital Arms Race... its a bracelet with a USB adaptor. When you plug it into your computer, you get transported into a digitally interactive experience: lots of videos, our new record, photo galleries, printable t-shirts, hidden songs, even some Hi-Definition videos. When you don't have the speed-limitations of net-bandwidth, huge HD videos are a pleasant experience. Also, we left 20MBs free, so people can store some porn.

MUEN: Last year you toured the UK- actually that's how I heard about you, someone I know saw you at one of your shows there. 10 shows in 10 days! How did you set it up, decide on locations etc?

Johnny (our bass player) booked the entire UK tour himself, working with venues and promoters via MySpace. Every good club and every good promoter has a page, and you bypass the whole "press pack" and "send me a CD" steps... its like 'check out our music, check out our fans, here's the dates when we'll be in your area... do you want us to play there?".... and it all came together online. We only contacted the clubs that our fans recommended, and some venues we had heard about from other bands. We have a totally supremely rad booking agent now... but a band needs to set up at least ONE tour themselves before enlisting an agent, otherwise you have no idea of the shit they go through getting shows booked.

MUEN: It must have been pretty crazy, but did you get a chance to enjoy yourselves too? Would you go back?

Oh hell yes, it was insanely fun. I think we all got sick, and lost about 10 pounds each because of the food situation there. But it was a blast, and we are planning to do it again soon. 2009, perhaps. We spent our last tour day in a recording studio in Suffolk, England, and we recorded a 2-hour live session to tape. Since our photographer friend Thad had video of the entire tour... he edited together a tour video SET to the music we recorded on the last studio day... it was perfect. Watch it here: www. killola. com/tourvideo

MUEN: Obviously MySpace is very important to you as a way to reach out to your fans and network. Do you think that websites like MySpace and Facebook have made it possible for bands to be successful without the help of record labels?

These sites have given a voice to everybody, in some respect. So the music industry is super noisy right now. Imagine a living room with 200 aspiring artists, and everybody is blasting their demo tape on 10... and everyone is asking everyone else to 'download their free song'... now multiply that by 100 million and throw in sparkle-tag comments. It now takes a heavy load of creative work to stand out and be heard. A good booking agent is what you need these days, not a label. Make your own records, promote them yourself, and go play out! If your music is good, you'll sell CDs at shows, and you can keep all the money.

MUEN: Like many other fans across the US I am very excited that you are going to be going on a full tour this side of the pond! When does the tour start? Are you booking this one yourselves through MySpace also?

The tour starts on September 5th, and we are co-headlining with The Action Design. People can check our website for cities/tour-details. Our booking is now handled by Joy Collingbourne at the M.O.B. Agency. M.O.B. is whip ass company, and they have an incredible roster (Gwen Stefani, Fountains of Wayne, Girl In A Coma, No Doubt, Joan Jett).

MUEN: Where is your favorite place to play live and also who would you say your favorite band/bands are to play with? Um. LA is fun, because thats our yard. We'll have a better answer for you after this tour. As for other bands, we liked playing with The Virgins. They were rad. Girl In A Coma is one of our favorites too, as well as The Dollyrots.

MUEN: A while ago you said that anyone who had a Killola tattoo could get into a show free for life. How many tattoos do you think you have out there now and will you always honor this?

Haha, the tattoos have become pretty popular. I think we counted 30 tattoos that we know about. Luckily, they are spread out all over the world. There's about a dozen or so in LA... and we'll always honor it when we can!

MUEN: What other releases do you have and are they still available?

"Louder, Louder!" is still available (CD Baby and iTunes)... and so is our 'Live in Hollywood' DVD/CD; we shot that at Safari Sam's. There's also a bunch of rare Killola songs floating around the internet. People on our mailing list get those rare songs sent to them from time to time, as a perk of being in the club.

MUEN: I would love to hear how you guys all met and how Killola formed. Also what's the story behind the name?

Killola is a mystery word, and we don't know what it means. We used to live with this weird Craigslist-roommate guy, and one day we came home, and he was gone, all his stuff was gone too. No note, nothing... just "Killola" written on his bathroom mirror. The band was forming at that time, and so it was fully our first idea for the band name. Oh yeah, and we all met on Live Links. It was pretty freaky.

MUEN: Lisa and Johnny: You have a show on Dave Navarro's Spread Radio Live. How did you start doing that, and what is your show about mostly?

Its started when we won Dave's indie band search. We met him a couple times after that, and he told us we had "great faces for radio". It was really nice of him. The show isn't really about much of anything, just whatever happens to be on our minds that night... Pop culture, reality TV shows, bands, stories, dreams, cartoons, prank calls, interviews, friends, guest hosts, super good music.... and there's a chat room happening the whole time. Monday nights at 8pm PST, www. SpreadRadioLive. com ..... Be there!

MUEN: Alternative Press names you as one of the three best Independent bands last year! What do you have to say about that?

I say we're gunnin' for that #1 spot....

MUEN: What would you say are your greatest achievements so far as a band and why do you think you are so successful where other DIY bands aren't?

Establishing our fanbase is by far our greatest achievement so far. We've seen SO many of our fans become great friends, travel thousands of miles to meet each other, and sometimes bury each other in leaves overnight when they pass out drunk in the yard. The music has brought a lot of people together.

MUEN: I know your fans are extremely important to you - you have a great connection with them! Is there anything you'd like to say to them right now?

FEFU, ya twats.

MUEN: Thanks so much for doing this interview! My pleasure!!

VISIT: www.myspace.com/killola