I interviewed Brian Roseworcel, the drummer with bloody hands, and Joe Pisapia, the mysterious new guy who has been playing with them at shows.

Of course, the first question I asked was about Pisapia. I had started seeing him onstage last year at a show in Binghamton, right before Keep it Together came out, and he’s been tagging along ever since. He plays all kinds of instruments. Roseworcel explained that Pisapia joined the band in the studio when they recorded that album. At that point, they weren’t concerned with playing the new songs live, and they hadn’t thought about what they’d do on tour. After the album came out, Pisapia stuck around. While both Roseworcel and Pisapia evaded the question of adding a fourth band member, they did point out that their upcoming DVD does have all four guys on the cover.

After watching Rosworcel go crazy on drums during the “Airport Song,” at previous shows, I finally got a close up of his hands. Roseworcel’s fingers were purple and it looked like it hurt. He keeps them wrapped up during shows.

As for traditions during songs, they don’t mind when people throw ping-pong balls on stage during “Airport Song,” although I didn’t see any thrown at the show on Thursday night. They do think it’s lame when people cross their fingers to the lyrics of “Demons,” and they agree that boys should not blow bubbles.

Guster’s lyrics aren’t very political, but I did want to know their stance on politics. Both Roseworcel and Pisapia agreed that it was hard to get four people to agree on an issue, but they did say that they want President Bush out of the White House.

Roseworcel believes that Keep It Together is more mature than their previous albums. The album uses extra instruments and the band “embraced production.” As for the fans, Roseworcel said that some of them like it and others do not.