Q&A: Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus has a fistful of new songs – but the band is still making headway with 2008’s lo-fi, punk-charged album "The Airing of Grievances," re-released by XL Recordings in January. It just might be a must-have album for literary geeks obsessed with Albert Camus and Shakespeare. (We'll let you find the references.)

The real character of this New Jersey outfit is guitar/vocalist Patrick Stickles, the kind of guy who gets a kick out of "jamming econo." Currently touring with Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, we got him on the phone while he was browsing records at Vinyl Conflict in Richmond, Va.

I was just reading your blog. Looks like you guys had a good time in England – some bouncer thought you were homeless when you were sleeping outside a club.
That was pretty funny. It was sort of an inauspicious beginning. I felt pretty bad afterward, but I felt pretty bad when I couldn't get the nap that I wanted, being all jet-lagged and what not. But we were near beautiful Brighton's beach, England's equivalent of the Jersey Shore.

What else happened on the trip?
Well, the last time we went to Europe was a little depressing because the sun was never out, and we were staying in all these anonymous hotels every night ... it was a little boring. But this time our lack of money turned out to be a great blessing. We solicited people on the Internet (via the blog) to let us come over to their house, and they all ended up being really cool. We stayed with this one middle-aged woman who invited us over because she's writing a young adult novel where the main character ... we're his favorite band. I've never been in a young adult novel.

So did you try to live by that philosophy I was reading about called "jamming econo"? Did that work overseas?
Oh, yeah – the Minutemen are probably our biggest ideological influence. You just try to keep the overheads low, live simply, make due with only what you need, and avoid clash and extravagance. Part of that is born out of necessity because we don't have a ton of disposable funds. But often times that will lead you to the most unpredictable and rewarding experiences.

Read any cool books lately? I don’t think that’s a lame question because your new album has some literary influences.
Right now I'm reading the first installment of the Goosebumps series, "Welcome to Dead House," by R. L. Stine. That one is OK. I just read a book called "Herndon's Lincoln" by William Herndon. When Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer, William Herndon was his partner, and after the president's death he collected all these first-person accounts of what Lincoln was like in life. And I just read this book called "The Story of Crass." You know that punk band? I found it to be a real page turner.

Here's another literary question: If Albert Camus and Titus Andronicus, the character, started a band, what would it sound like?
Titus Andronicus was a Roman, so I imagine there was some kind of lyre or a lute involved. Albert Camus was French, so maybe there would be some mournful fiddling going on. I imagine it would be pretty severe – they were pretty severe guys. They didn't know about punk rock then, but today they would be a punk band, or maybe an extreme metal band.