Atlanta-based indie rockers Manchester Orchestra [ tickets ] made a stop at this year's South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, TX in support of the group's new record, "Mean Everything to Nothing."

LiveDaily contributor Tara Hall sat down with frontman Andy Hull and keyboardist Chris Freeman for a sometimes serious, mostly funny discussion of the band's success.

LiveDaily: I’m here with two members of Manchester Orchestra. Can you guys please introduce yourselves and tell me what you play?

Andy Hull: I am Andy Hull. I am the lead singer and I play guitar.

Chris Freeman: I'm Chris Freeman. I play keyboards and secondary drums.

You guys are here for SXSW. Have you ever been here before?

AH: Yes, three years ago we came and played here, but not since then. It's a lot different now.

It has changed a lot in the past few years.

AH: Yeah, and I just mean in the fact that no one was watching us play, and now there are some people watching us play.

That's a good thing and a big shift.

AH: I'd hope so after three years. I should be doing something else if it's not.

Not necessarily...

CF: I'm actually a carpenter right now.

AH: We run a landscaping company in North Atlanta.

CF: Des Moines, Iowa actually is where I’m based out of, but he runs the Atlanta branch.

AH: And a few of us have gotten into coal and copper because in this economy, you don't know what resources we're going to end up needing.

CF: I've been packing straws under my mattress for the past three years and I think it's going to be the new currency once everything goes down.

You guys have a new album coming out, "Mean Everything to Nothing," at the end of April. How long has that been in the works?

AH: We started writing it in August and we wrote a song a day until it was done and that was all we wrote for it.

That's pretty quick. A lot of bands take a long time.

AH: Yeah, we're just better than all those guys. No, I'm just playing. We're just not as smart, so they'd probably be like, "We should add this..."

CF: Like time signatures, chord changes...

AH: We're not the smartest guys but Mama raised us well.

CF: Mama raised up well. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.

AH: Did you just get shushed? I'd like to be shushed in my own interview one day.

That wasn't me! I didn't shush anybody. Keep talking!

AH: How about you?

No, let's not talk about me. How do you do the songwriting? Do you start it or do you do it all together as a band?

AH: I write the songs, so I'll bring them in to the band and they'll completely change and take a complete different direction. This record was a lot different because I was a lot less controlling and paranoid of the songs not being what I had set. I trusted the band immensely with ideas rather than full, complete songs and so we were able to write with my ideas rather than me trying to tell them what to play. It was pretty cool.

Is that how it was different from your previous album?

AH: Yeah, I'd say so for sure. The first record I just had pretty mapped out. It was just like "Here's what it's going to be. You need to play something that's along the lines of this." I didn't write the parts at all and the band deserves massive full credit for everything they played on the record. You talk about it, Chris. You know about it.

CF: Yeah. There were a lot more days on making this record where it was the band in the studio and he [Andy] was off writing b-sides or something like that while we were figuring out parts. He would come in and be like, "What do you think about this?" or "Sounds good."

Cool. So you weren't controlling?

AH: No, you just have to let that go. We were gone for 300 days in 2007 and when you're around your friends that long, any attitude is just pointless. It's all just a waste of time. I saw a band last night arguing about where to go eat pizza and I was like, "Guys, if you can't get past this, you're done!"

CF: In our van, it's just like, "You guys hungry?"

AH: "Where do you want to eat? I don't care. Wherever you want to eat. Let's all just stop talking."

CF: "Can I put my headphones back on now, please? I'm trying to watch 'Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist' and I'm really enjoying it."

So I'm guessing you guys have been playing the songs on the album for a little while at shows now, even though the album's not out yet?

AH: Yesterday was our third show with it, but we practiced. We were pretty impressed with our practicing because we've practiced once. We thought we were going to have a week of practice and we just knew the songs.

That's awesome.

AH: Yes and no, and let me dive further into this if you don't mind.

CF: Let me digress.

AH: I think the songs are just easy. They truly are easy.

CF: We played them so many times when we were recording the record.

AH: Oh yeah, that's right. We did the whole record live so we were doing 20 to 30 takes of each song.

That's probably why everybody knows it so well.

CF: Well excuse me. I didn't know this was a circle of judgment. I thought it was a circle of friends.

AH: I thought we were friends here and you obviously have shown us we aren't and I think it's time for us to get out of here.

CF: You just took a crap on my head.

AH: You just took a dump in his heart. How's that feel?

CF: That's what women do. They poop on your heart.

Does this mean I get a song written about me now?

CF: A really, really mean one.

AH: A mean one.

I'll take a mean one. That's cool.

AH: No, I've never written songs about girls. I've never written about that kind of thing, other than my wife and those are all generally more positive.

That's good. So will you guys be hitting the road again after SXSW and after the album comes out?

AH: Yes, April 21. The day the record comes out we're going to go out.

How extensive is it?

AH: Six or seven weeks. A full US tour again.

So since you spent 300 days on the road, does that get...that's a stupid question. It gets tiring...

AH: Good. You caught yourself. That was great!

CF: Most people don't do that!

I'm not a good self-editor, so I'm impressed.

AH: No, you did that incredibly well.

In touring, you have to kind of adapt to it somehow.

AH: Yeah, and it's a van tour as well, so there's not the luxury...I'll tell you what was weird. As we were getting more popular and more kids were showing up, there was just less and less privacy. I think when bands have a bus...I know when bands have a bus, because we've been on plenty of tours with our friends who've been in them, but you can hide away and not have to see anybody and to me, that sounds wonderful. In venues without any...and it's not like there won't be a dressing room. It's like the dressing room is so much worse than everywhere. I'll just sit in the van and watch "Dexter" and cry myself to sleep, you know. It's the road.

CF: Love it! Love being in a band.

So it would be not smart to ask if you write on the road...

AH: I do write a lot on the road.

You do? Wow. So you write them that quickly on the road?

AH: Yes.

That's different. And good. Different is good. That's why you have a lot of people at your shows now.

AH: Well yeah, but we pay them all. They're all on retainer.

CF: I'm in a lot of debt. I pay them in straws. Because I'm the leader of a cult.

AH: We bring them with us on tour.

So do you have another album in the future coming up that you're already thinking about?

AH: Yeah, yeah.

Are you always thinking about what's next?

AH: I can't stop. If you figure out how I can, let me know. I don’t want to do this anymore. I'm quitting acting. I'm moving in with Val Kilmer. We're gonna run for office. Did you hear Val Kilmer is running for office?

I didn't.

AH: Yeah. He's running for some form of office. Val Kilmer.

You don't have faith in him, huh?

AH: Have you read that Chuck Klosterman book where he interviews Val Kilmer?

No.

AH: Well you should read it because you'd be a lot more scared right now with the information I just told you. Val Kilmer is crazy. We haven't picked any fights with bands yet in this interview, so I'd like to say...Animal Collective--horrible. Uhhh....

CF: Rolling Stones - worst band ever.

AH: Hate 'em. Beatles - hate 'em. We picked a fight with The Decemberists earlier and the guitar player was sitting right in front of us. The interviewer was like, "The Decemberists would like your side project," and I was like, "Yeah, but that band sucks" and I was joking.

You don't do that very often, do you?

AH: What?

Joke.

(Silence.)

CF: You know that sound when a microphone hits the stage?

AH: I want that to end the interview!

That would be awesome! Can we do that? I can run off like you hurt my feelings and I was crying.

AH: Yeah! Start crying!

I can't. Sorry you guys. I'll let you guys go. I know you're having fun, but...Thanks for stopping by.

AH: Any more questions?

No. Do you have any?

AH: Yeah...

That you're going to answer yourself?

AH: No!

CF: What was the best movie of 1997?

AH: "Titanic" -- no.

CF: That boob was not even worth it. That's the only reason why I saw "Titanic."

AH: That's all Freeman thinks when he hears "Titanic." He thinks Kate Winslet's topless immediately. I thought James Cameron and the production....no I didn't.

CF: I was in the fourth grade!

AH: Have you seen "The Original Kings of Comedy," where he's like, "band's playing while the ship's going down." Well, this is Manchester Orchestra, signing off.

Cool. Thank you!

AH: Good luck and good night.

Fabulous! Thank you guys.

AH: Absolutely!