Twenty Questions

The Beach Boys: "In My Room (German Version)" (1964) from Surfer Girl/Shut Down Volume 2 (Capitol)

Auer: [hums along] Are they actually singing in German, "Mike Love is the world's biggest asshole?"

Bootsy Holler

The Posies, from left: Darius Minwalla, Jon Auer, Matt Harris, and Ken Stringfellow.

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More About

• Ken Stringfellow
• Jon Auer
• The Posies (Musical Group)
• R.E.M.
• Phil Spector

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SW: Ken, your solo record from last year, Soft Commands, has a Brian Wilson feel.

Stringfellow: It started out as a Phil Spector thing, which is where Brian Wilson was headed—hiring the same musicians and using the same studio as Spector, and adding these insane vocal effects. That was what made the Beach Boys sound early on. I started out making a Phil Spector piece of music and added some Beach Boys vocals, and then there was no Spector left.

SW: Jon, what can you tell us about your new solo record, The Year of Our Demise?

Auer: It's something I worked on a long time, and made all by my lonesome—locked myself in a room, built the microphones, and did everything from the ground up. Funny, I've been working on it so long, people in the Posies camps and on fan lists started to dub it an "urban myth," like it doesn't really exist, but I can assure you it does and it's coming out in March.

SW: Are you still writing material together?

Stringfellow: We've been trying to master our catalog and make these live shows a bit more diverse.

Auer: Some of us thought maybe on the road, when we have the chance, we'd write some new material.

SW: Have you been playing with the current lineup for a while?

Auer: It's become that way. We've played a couple one-offs and a small tour together. Since 2001 it's been the occasional show, but now it's a full-time job—or full-time joy.

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The Posies play Neumo's with Oranger and the Village Green at 8 p.m. Thurs., Oct. 20, $8 adv./$10; and Wild Buffalo (208 W. Holly, Bellingham, 360-752-0848, with Wingman at 9 p.m. Fri., Oct. 21. $10 adv./$12.