Rebel Alliance: Pinback

PINBACK GUITARIST/VOCALIST ROB CROW is kind of a nerd.

Here's some evidence: Back when the band toured in support of its sophomore record, "Blue Screen Life," Crow had the "Star Wars" Rebel Alliance insignia prominently displayed on his guitar cabinet. He also has a metal side-project named Goblin Cock, and he plays the video game "Rock Band" at the highest available skill level.

But however dorky Crow might be, Pinback's most recent record, "Autumn of the Seraphs" (Touch and Go), is undeniably cool.

With its lilting arpeggios, whispered melodies and dynamic songwriting, the album is among the year's catchiest and most consistent pop records. Those extra coiffed and fashionable bands can pose all they want, but Crow is the man with his songs on "Gossip Girl."

The guitarist spoke to Express about comic books, Pinback fellow core member and vocalist/bassist/pianist Armistead Burwell "Zach" Smith IV and how it feels to have his band's music stocked on shelves at Target.

» EXPRESS: You're on a tour bus now, as opposed to a van. Are you enjoying it?
» CROW: Usually I need to use it for bringing my family, which means that I'm running around all the time making sure everybody's all right. I don't get to enjoy the leisure of it. Depending on the bus, there's a dangerous feeling on windy roads. But we've got a great bus right now and a great bus driver. It's just a matter of necessity. This time I'm doing week on week off. I have two kids, so they're going to meet me in Brooklyn.

» EXPRESS: Is it hard to bring your family on the road?
» CROW: Is it hard? Yeah. But I gotta be a man and step up and be a father to my children. A lot of bands use tours to get away from their families and pretend they're freewheelers.

» EXPRESS: Do you still record all of the music yourselves? Do you write solo or together?
» CROW: We do it all at home in our bedrooms. A typical day is: I get over to [Armistead's] house by 10 a.m., leave around 5 or 6 p.m., then go home and work on things, add more stuff onto the ideas until I pass out. We're always working on something, maybe not the same things together. Last year I came out with three full-length records, so there's always something to work on.

» EXPRESS: Have you let anybody else into the Pinback creative process?
» CROW: No, never. We couldn't do that. We've even only covered a song once, and that was under weird circumstances.

» EXPRESS: Which song was it?
» CROW: Black Flag's "Wasted." "The O.C." was doing something where they wanted to put out an album of bands that had been on their show covering other music that had been on their show. We said, "Can we look at a list of bands and what songs they did?" Out of 300 there were only two bands we were interested in: Black Flag and Tangerine Dream.

» EXPRESS: Which Tangerine Dream song was it?
» CROW: "Love on a Real Train" — they used it in "Risky Business," but it's still a quality song. Oh, I found the record store [I was driving around looking for].

» EXPRESS: Have you burnt out on riffling through record stores yet?
» CROW: Not at all. I love record stores and I get more and more into vinyl and finding things. It just gets harder to find new things.

» EXPRESS: Do you go out on tour with a list of records to look for?
» CROW: More comic-book wise. When I go on tour I'm trying to fill gaps in my full boxes. I have a long box full of story arcs that are missing issues and I'm supposed to write down what I'm missing before I leave.

» EXPRESS: The new Pinback record is now being sold in Target. This isn't a "sell-out" question by any means, but is it weird to have your music finally be readily available in West Valley City, Utah?
» CROW: No. It shouldn't be weird. It should be the norm. Everybody should be able to get anything. It's a testament to the awesomeness of Touch and Go to be able to pull it off in a business-based society like ours. Full kudos to those guys.

» EXPRESS: Do you feel like "Autumn of the Seraphs" is going to be anybody's first Pinback record? Do you feel like new people are still finding your music?
» CROW: I really do, especially when things get used for shows or movies. Then that leads people to the whole back catalog of things to delve through.

» EXPRESS: Do you think people pay attention to the music they hear on TV shows? Do they slow the credits down and scroll through to find your name?
» CROW: They really do, but I've never seen a show that had my song in it. "Monk" had a Goblin Cock [Crow's metal side-project] song in it. With that band, maybe you get paid more if you don't put your name in the credits.

» EXPRESS: Which shows have featured your music?
» CROW: I don't really know. I know there's a few movies and shows like "The O.C." and "Gossip Girl." At first I was super discriminatory about it, but after a while — you know, we do this so people can hear it. Why do I want to make this harder for people who aren't into these things to not hear about it? It just seemed silly after a while. You want people to hear it, especially if it's something that people don't know about or aren't into.

» EXPRESS: Are you surprised at the range of people that are interested in your music now?
» CROW: I've always been surprised. I don't know what our audience would be. We're such totally different people. It's the push/pull of completely different-minded dudes trying to find something that they both like. Anybody could like it or not like it. There can't be one kind of core attitude.

» EXPRESS: In what ways do you feel like you and Armistead are different?
» CROW: In most ways. He's very introverted and I'm a wannabe extrovert. He's never read a book and he doesn't listen to any other people's music. He's in great shape and works out all the time. He has dogs. I'm opposite of all those things. So we get along great; that's what makes it interesting. He hates metal. That's an exaggeration, because he loves Rush. I love Rush theoretically, but not in practice.

He got on a Rush kick and bought every single record based on one song, but he still doesn't know which record it's on. He'll show up with a pile of those CDs saying, "This is gonna be great, it's gonna be awesome." The he puts them on and is like, "What the hell is this?" I'm not talking trash — these are good, fun stories. These are some of the things I love about him.

» EXPRESS: Do you listen to music in the bus?
» CROW: Never, never, never. He can't — he wouldn't be able to handle it. As it is right now, the front part of the bus is the fun part and the back is the quiet part. He's always in the back part playing "Warcraft" or watching football. I'm in the front listening to things, playing "Rock Band."

» EXPRESS: Is playing "Rock Band" very much like being in a rock band?
» CROW: Not really. I will say that it's awesome for getting your meter. I just started "Rock Band II," I'm Trying to do everything on expert [level] so far.

» EXPRESS: Have you listened to the new Guns N' Roses song that's one there?
» CROW: Boy, do I hate that band. No, I haven't really tried it yet.

» Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW; with sBACH, Wed., Oct. 1, 8:00 p.m., $15; 202-667-4490. (U St.-Cardozo)