Since the release of their 2005 debut album, With Love and Squalor, indie rock artists We Are Scientists has lost a drummer, gained two potential bandmembers and toured extensively in the United States and Europe. The band released its second album, Brain Thrust Mastery, in May, and is touring through Washington, Oregon and California for part one of its aptly named American U.S. America Tour.

Lead singer and guitarist Keith Murray answered questions about the upcoming Seattle show, plans for after the tour and being influenced by the toucan.

Julian Martin: Have you ever played a show before with Cut Off Your Hands and The Morning Benders?

Keith Murray: While we’ve never played with Cut Off Your Hands, we first played with The Morning Benders two shows ago. We will be total pros with The Morning Benders by the time we get to Seattle.

JM: While it has been only a few months since the release of your latest album, is there any idea of what is in store for the band post- Brain Thrust Mastery?

KM: We’ve got some ideas, non-musical in nature, for after the tour. We Are Scientists will eventually become masters of every possible form of media. We’ve already mastered audio, and we’re now looking more towards visual. It would be foolish of me to describe them in case they don’t pan out; I don’t want to look like an idiot.

JM: What is your favorite track on the new album?

KM: The last song on the record, “That’s What Counts,” It has a Hall and Oates sound to it.

JM: With Michael Tapper’s recent retirement from the band, has the group decided on Adam Aaronson as a permanent replacement drummer?

KM: We don’t really know yet. He had, reasonably, said that he would only stay for the November tour, as he was getting married. However, he changed his mind and decided to stay on with the band as an extramarital activity, as he was already married to We Are Scientists.

JM: That’s good to hear, and going off of that, what are the plans for keyboardist and guitarist Max Hart?

KM: We are never ever letting Max go. He is handcuffed to We Are Scientists. He can try to leave, but we’ll gel him up if that’s what it takes. Entrapment is always a good way of keeping people in your cadre.

JM: The band’s Web site has covered some random, and hilarious, topics, with pieces ranging from “alien cinema” to “conversations with a groundhog”. How do you guys decide what is going to be posted?

KM: Essentially we have a publishing philosophy that anything we find should be put online. There’s no real quality control. Nothing needs to pass muster. We view the Internet as a virtual garbage dump that needs to be filled.

JM: Where did the idea come from for naming the Web site “The Sci-Cave”?

KM: God only knows. I have no idea. As Batman’s Batcave is his base of operations, We Are Scientists has “The Sci-Cave” as our hub of ingenuity.

JM: Your Web site states that while performing across North America and Europe you ate “plenty of cake” and were “consternated” to find it missing. How much cake and what kinds?

KM: There was cake beyond measure throughout the tours. An incalculable amount was eaten; there is no way to calculate the amount of cake consumed except in metric tons. We Are Scientists will eat any type of cake given. Except for marzipan.

JM: There’s quite an extensive list of influences on your MySpace page. Which animal influences the band the most?

KM: It depends on what we’re feeling each day. Some days it’s the toucan, but I’d say today it’s more the cheetah.

JM: In a few previous interviews you’ve described your “inspirational lectures” given at universities across the United Kingdom. How did that come about, and what were the students’ reactions to the lectures?

KM: We were there supporting the Kaiser Chiefs. When you’re on tour supporting a band ... most of our tour days were wide open. Our labels wanted Q-and-A and interview sessions at the universities. Our response was “no f-ing way.” We told the labels our idea, and they said it sounded stupid. To which we said, “Yes. Book it.” The students’ reactions ran the spectrum of human emotion, from confused, to intense pleasure, to bereavement and back to intense pleasure.

We Are Scientists will be playing at Neumo’s Wednesday, July 9 at 8 p.m. with Cut Off Your Hands and The Morning Benders. Tickets are $8.