Eye of the Storm

(Credit: Benjy Russell, Universal Motown)

You’ve heard Shiny Toy Guns. Trust us. In the year since the L.A. based synth-rockers released their debut record “We Are Pilots,” they’ve toured incessantly, played the Letterman show and scored a few minor radio hits. But “Le Disko,” one of the band’s signature bubblegum electro-rock anthems, has seriously owned the television airwaves for months, thanks to its prominent placement in a new RAZR phone ad. The song has also been used to shill for Honda cars.

So are STG rolling in corporate-sponsored swag? “No, no Hondas for us,” says keyboardist/co-founder Jeremy Dawson. “We were supposed to get RAZRs, but...eh, we give it all to the road crew, anyway.”

With their boy/girl vocals, heavy keyboard presence and crunchy rock guitars, Shiny Toy Guns come off as this century’s Human League—only much, much more twisted. You could say they’re the perfect soundtrack for chasing tornadoes and hunting down rednecks—at least, that’s what Dawson would like you to believe. Again, trust us and read on.

You’re touring with a pop-punk band (Yellowcard) and a mainstream rock group (Blue October). How’s it going so far?
It is a diverse show. It depends on the night—in Atlanta, it was 60 to 70 percent our crowd, but in Norfolk, it was 60 to 70 percent Blue October fans. And Yellowcard…well, the kids are liking that. Actually, the crowd is odd: it’s a lot of twentysomethings and thirtysomethings. It’s also a lot of people who seemed to have gotten married in the last three years. They went to dinner and come to the show, right at the last second.

And that’s weird for you?
Yeah. When we opened for the Bravery or the Rapture, if the doors were at seven, kids would be there by two in the afternoon, sitting on the ground and waiting to get in. I guess it’s an age thing. But we’re finding some new people getting into us. Hey, if we can’t win over fans after playing together for three years, we should just quit and go be a plumber and go to vo-tech school. [Laughs]

You recorded this album back in 2005. Aren’t you getting sick of these songs?
Well, we’re not “sick” of the old stuff [yawns], but…look, we’re half-robot, half-rock thing, so we’ve been keeping ourselves busy doing remixes, and that keeps us excited. We also have a studio in the back of the bus, and we’re dabbling with a new record. Trust me, even if we come up with a mediocre riff now, we’re so excited. It’s new!

Three guys and a girl in the band—how’s that work out on the road?
It’s an issue at times, sure. That’s reality. There’s a high sensitivity with some of us, and we take that into account. But we just brought this little puppy, a half-beagle, half-pug, on the road with us. She helps us keep peace. Of course, she just shit over everything the other day—gotta get her potty-trained…

What were your influences growing up in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma is unique. In Nebraska, there’s this whole indie movement—the Faint, Bright Eyes, all those bands. We don’t have that. We have in-bred people and the Ozarks. We get a lot of country music, though. I don’t mind it—it reminds me of home and pick-up trucks and beer.

So there’s no “scene,” I guess.
The cool thing is that you can get a house for $335, you can write and be isolated from coastal culture. There’s no scene that will make you sound a certain way, like Detroit or Chicago or the Lower East Side (in New York). Influentially, I think we take from Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd, the Charlatans, Jesus Jones, Moby. Actually, I love the Orb…I remember as a kid, hearing a really spooky Orb song and having to go turn on the closet light so I could sleep.

You live in L.A. now, right?
Yeah, though I go back and forth a lot, and spend some time in London. Actually, I like going back to Oklahoma, because I have this fascination with weather, as does Chad [Petree, guitarist/vocalist]. Instead of taking our money and buying fancy cars or whatever, we took this old van and gutted it. We then put in all these generators, satellite antennas, Doppler radars, barometers, computers, velocity gauges, et cetera. Then we’ll take it during the right season and hydroplane it down the highway chasing the finger of God.

Um…
We chase after tornadoes. Biggest rush in the world. And we tape it on HD, too—all the baseball-sized hail, lightning ripping up buildings, horses getting wrapped around fences. We usually do it in Kansas. Actually, sometimes we go there, eat bad food in diners and talk to people with four teeth. Then we film it. I don’t know. We’re a band, we chase tornadoes, we film rednecks—put Paris Hilton in and we’ve got the ultimate reality show.

Right-o. You ever rock the key-tar?
One problem with that…I’m left-handed. If they ever make a key-tar for left-handed people, let me know.