We were born in Los Angeles in late 2002. Just before Christmas. It evolved from guitar, bass, drums and Buchla modules to guitar, bass, drums, tamborines, noisemakers, computer programs, omnichord, glockinspiel and voice. We put our best foot forward. Outside we're positive, we think we can do anything, life is our drawing board. Inside we have doubts and fears like everyone else. The album "Terrorbird" has songs about the old testament, military dolphins, vampires, werewolves and Hieronymus Bosch. The album "Heartbeeps" has songs about the beautiful and messed-up way the world seems to work. Retro is boring -- the thing about retro is that it never comes back. No one's begging for a Stray Cats reunion. No one's wondering what Bowser's doing now. The only option is to forge ahead, to try new things, to test out bad ideas, to all try to sing and work together and hope the road we're on leads somewhere. It's about the journey and the destination. This all sounds immensely airy but I believe it -- at its core the rock and role band is a surrogate family for our culturaly extended childhood. Instead of having babies we have rock bands. This is our story. It's about self-improvement and trying to live life at the top of your lungs, live life rightly, respect others, make something you're proud of, and try to sort out all the static. We do this in basements and backyards and in fancy clubs we don't even like to go to. We do this when we're at home. We do this the first thing when we wake up. We do this all the time.

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1. There are four people in the Mae Shi: Ezra Buchla, Brad Breeck, Tim Byron and Jeff Byron.
2. We are from Los Angeles, birthplace of Black Flag, the Minutemen,...