The newest Mogwai album, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, is so dynamic and energetic that it’s hard to believe that the band has been around since the mid 90s. Yes, they are a band with an elder statesman status in the world of post-rock, but it’s not a band that rests on its laurels or has run out of ideas. If anything, this is a band whose work seems to get more scrabbly, mischievous, and playful with each successive album. Or, to put it simply, the band kicks-ass! So, given my admiration of the band, you can imagine my excitement over the lads from Glasgow dropping into Houston for a show at Warehouse Live this upcoming Tuesday and so I contacted Barry Burns to give him a simple Rock 101 Q&A and he was kind enough to reply.

FPH – The new album sounds phenomenal. Can you tell us a bit about the record, the writing of it, and the recording sessions?

Burns - We wrote it in the usual way by sending each other little bits of songs although this time I (Barry) was in Berlin where I live and John was in NYC so we didn’t get together straight away. It actually helped by allowing us some space to sit with the songs and work on them.

FPH – You guys have been at this for a hell of a long time and yet this new album sounds as fresh as the first time I heard you guys. I remember an interview with Randy Newman on the BBC and he was basically saying that as he grew older he was “gifted” songs less and less with age. I’m just curious if you guys have run into the same thing, where it becomes harder to keep fresh and write new material with age.

Burns - Well, for this record we had a hell of a lot of songs that were (in our opinion) good songs but they just didn’t sound like they were breaking any new ground for us so we ditched them and decided to go for all the songs that put us out of our comfort zone. I think this is how we’ll work in future too. Randy Newman’s songs are pretty much all the same. Don’t they all have the word “friend” in them?

FPH – The title of the new record, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will cracks me up. You guys have always tossed out some pretty great titles (“You’re Lionel Richie”, “I Love You, I’m Going to Blow Up Your School”, “Mogwai Fear Satan”, etc.). First off where did the new album title come from, and where do you get these goofy (and I mean that in the best way possible) titles?

Burns - It comes from a phrase that someone shouted at a defiant shopkeeper in Glasgow. It was actually given to us by our stand-in drummer James Hamilton (from our support band Errors). Our drummer Martin is taking time off with his new baby. But yeah, we have ridiculous song titles, they just keep us amused in an otherwise sober affair.

FPH – You guys are primarily instrumental but, on occasion, you guys do drop some vocals. I’m just curious what makes you guys decide, yeah, this song needs a human voice?

Burns - If it sounds unfinished we will often try to put something vocal on there but to be honest it is a last resort.

FPH – As a follow up to that question, given the absence of a human voice in most of your tracks, what do you gain by that absence?

Burns - I don’t know really…..other than non-english speaking mogwai fans won’t mind that there are no lyrics to understand.

FPH – If music is communicative in nature, what do you feel is the essence of what you are trying to communicate to listeners and to each other when you perform live?

Burns - We like that people tell us wildly different things about what our music communicates to them. We have no messages nor do we wish that people feel specific emotions when we play, it’s up to them what they take from it. Freedom to extract what you want must be quite a nice thing.

FPH – Lastly, on a scale of 1 – 10, how sick are you of hearing any questions about the movie Gremlins?

Burns - Maybe only a 4. There are far more annoying questions.

Mogwai perform with Errors Tuesday May 17 @ Warehouse Live.  All ages, $20-$22 Doors 8pm