SFBG: You're not cynics.

TK: Sardonic, I think. I think it's unusual because most people are not diehard - they're more Energizer. We're firmly grounded in material events. Actually I think the material goods are nominal, which would be numinalism.

SFBG: How did Free Gold apply to the actual songwriting?

TK: You know titling and songwriting are two different worlds - they happen at different times. We spent a couple years working and took a while off from being sort of a band and being in a band state of action. Songwriting didn’t happen so much when we lived in California. But out here you're sort of at the lee of the wind of opportunity. Unruffled by the winds of chance. In our estimation this record could have been a double record. We recorded an hour and half of music.

SFBG: So it's easier to write when you're in Texas.

TK: I think it's more the idea of when you're in a place where everyone lives under a rock, things come faster. You develop finely tuned hearing. There are no distractions.... That’s what we came back here to do.

SFBG: Indian Jewelry has its share of Bay Area connections, right?

TK: Yeah, Dan from Off On Switch, that label, released a single in 2005, and Chris Rolls released a limited edition EP, and Miguel [kid606] released a record. [The Bay Area] is a nice place to visit. If the Chamber of Commerce calls me up, I can say there are kind of nice spots in city of San Francisco and Oakland. But it's fearfully expensive to live there. I'm not much of a go-getter - I'm more of a non-go-getter. We like places that are cheap and easily worn.

SFBG: Did you say "easily warm"?

TK: Worn. It's cold, too. I also had a brother that was shot there. So if the Chamber of Commerce calls me up, I'd have to say the Bay Area has a lot of great places to eat, but they go around shooting my family.

SFBG: What happened?

TK: He decided he was going to ride his bike all around the country. It was a used thriftstore bike, and he survived. He's strong and he walks and everything now. But that’s a black eye [for the Bay Area]. It was 65th and San Pablo in Oakland. It was a drive-by, close range, a shotgun. I don't think there was a purpose to it. Just a couple year's time and a lot of money and hospital debt.

SFBG: Any other thoughts on the Bay Area?

TK: Questions? Ask people why they aren’t writing in SIXES for president. He's presidential material, if you ask me. He's got stunning good looks, an easy way with people, a strong handshake, and the right kind of attitude, and he's got strong artistic credentials. I'd say put SIXES in charge. He's a pal of everybody he meets. I don’t know why he isn’t considered in running. I can't believe they're still spinning out this horse race.

SFBG: Any preferences in terms of the candidates who are on the ballot?

TK: I have to say certainly not another four years of a right-wing war candidate.

SFBG: What are the top five things you're listening to right now?

Tex: (1) Butthole Surfers - I have cassettes that still play perfectly fine. Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac (Touch and Go, 1985).

(2) Erika [Thrasher] and I have both been listening to White Williams. Smoke (Tigerbeat6, 2007).

(3) SIXES' Cursed Beast record (Troniks/Enterruption, 2006).

(4) On the home front, Future Blondes - Don Coates, one of his multiple incarnation of Pink Cloud. Rain-busting stuff. Future techno. Beautiful things like that.

(5) Ever since we’ve been back, we've been running backward and forward through our record collection. Been packing for two weeks, so Lynn Collins. Mama Feel Good (Universal UK, 2005) - that's the best one by a JBs backing band member.

(6) Leslie Keffer’s new music is beautiful. She's also making future techno - slo-techno, it's on the rise.

SFBG: How many people are in the band right now?

TK: Along the way somebody hijacked all our press materials and rewrote them into a gobbledy-gook gibberish. We're 20 to 30 people strong. On the nominal list. But we tour as a small group - gas is so expensive and the price is kambucha is so high. It's part of a sad diet - and we're sad people...

INDIAN JEWELRY
Thurs/24, 9:30 p.m., $8
Hemlock Tavern
1131 Polk, SF
(415) 923-0923