"Bi-Polarity without any meds" is one of the phrases that Foreign Islands use to describe their band. It’s a decision that’s both interesting and admirable. Admirable because it’s a refreshing departure from stock, "I don’t know- we don’t sound like anybody" approaches to band-characterization, and interesting because it’s so accurate and completely wrong at the same time. There is plenty of mania on their just released "Restart Now!" EP, but there aren’t many hints of the sluggish melancholy typically associated with depression. The heart of Foreign Islands likes to beat fast and hard, and the resulting pulse is intense and insistent, rarely letting up except for the occasional breakdown or quick intro. It’s catchy but physical; it would soundtrack really well to "Gone in 60 Seconds 5" or whatever hyper edited, edgy but cute movie Guy Ritchie cooks up next.

The raucous five piece has been slowly building a buzz over the last two years with their post-punk tinged, dance-friendly sound first gaining traction in the UK by virtue of a series of 7 inches released by the British label Nude Records. Perhaps that’s why the band is commonly referenced alongside UK rave-rock flag bearers, The Klaxons, despite the fact that they don’t share any substantial aesthetic values. Sure, the drums sound sort of electro and hit the stereo with that crisp, propulsive "thwump", but Foreign Islands is mostly a rock band innocently exploring the steady energy and reliable propulsions yielded by electronic production techniques. Front man Mark Ryan sneers into the mic with an attitude that is sassy and confident, kind of like the young, funky Anthony Keidis or one of the young, rowdy Beastie Boys. Behind him, dueling guitars slash across the stereo field like highly caffeinated, Les-Savy-Fav-loving Samurais, while fat basslines deliver the bulk of the songs’ melodic calories. Overall, it’s a speeding vehicle with the bass humming like a motor in the center while the guitars are windshield wipers blistering up front at the highest click, punctuating the snare in percussive syncopation. This sonic recipe might not shock the ears, but the meticulously arranged, thoughtfully produced tracks should satisfy those who value craftsmanship over ambling experimentation. Songs like "Ghost Story" may share a strong resemblance to a certain French Kiss band’s "We’ll Make a Lover of You" and work with proven angular grooves, but other tunes like the excellent "Fine Dining with the Future" pump along to amped up Reggaeton beats and call & response vocals to give post-punk an end-of-the-decade update. Foreign Islands come with well rehearsed, well written songs, and that’s hard to accomplish no matter how long a band has been together or how many fringe acts can be recited as influences. Either way, audiences are loving Foreign Islands’s thrilling shows and it looks like the recorded goods will be embraced with equal enthusiasm. I got a chance to catch up with Mark on the phone after a wild tour highlighted by some high profile SXSW shows.

How was South by Southwest and the rest of the tour?

South by Southwest was great. We had a couple of really great shows like the one with The Presets and Matt and Kim. Another one with The Black Lips – a Fader show that was really good. Yea, then we had some problems. Our van died about three hours outside of Austin on our way to Las Vegas, and we got stuck in a small town for a couple days. We were able to find something to finish the California dates, but then we wound up having to come home a week early. It was a little – whatever- lot of mental work, us calling a billion places looking for vans. We exhausted every possibility. Aside from all that it was really cool, we had some really cool shows, met some really cool people.

I know you DJ, at least on Thursdays at the Beauty Bar for Singles Going Steady. Does the DJ’s perspective influence the way Foreign Islands works?

For me it does. You know when you DJ you sense when you’re losing energy, when there needs to be some sort of shift in the way things are going. It helps you put songs together in a certain way. You notice, "Oh that’s kind of boring" a little more. When you DJ you can just tell, you can see when they get bored sometimes. I think that kind of influences what we think of when we’re in the songwriting process - keeping things excited. I’m kind of a fake DJ. I’m not like Boys Noize or something. I’ve been doing parties for years and people have been having fun. Some people really know how to mix and match beats, but I don’t know how to do all that stuff, and you don’t want to pretend. I don’t know what really qualifies what it means to be a DJ. I’ve seen people that are really good DJ’s, but you go to the party and no one is having fun. They’re more interested in showing off, kind of like a guitar player that wants to put a guitar solo.

People are seeing Foreign Islands and placing it in various dance categories: New-Rave, disco-punk, and so on. Does that seem natural or appropriate to you?

Um, yea, I don’t know. I’m not really crazy about any labels, you know, especially a lot of labels that I really don’t get what they mean – it’s kind of weird. Most of us in the band did grow up with punk and stuff, and I’ve always liked dance music. I really cringe thinking of us as a disco punk band. I think it helps people to hear "oh this band is also like…" Whatever, I’m not going to be all whatever about it. I don’t ever know what to call us. The word punk, I mean, who knows what that means anymore?

Your songs have a lot of energy and intensity. Is there a yet to be published side of Foreign Islands that is slower or more meditative? The other side of bi-polarity without Meds?

We’re definitely going to try and work on slower stuff. We just want to make sure. We’ve written a couple of songs that we’ve thrown out, which have been pretty good. We’ve just got to make sure it all flows together. Make sure we don’t have a song that sounds like Interpol come in out of nowhere. We’d definitely like to have one or two slow jams. We just still haven’t written the right one yet.

How did you start working with Nude Records in the UK?

The A&R guy got in touch with us, I guess he heard of us through someone. They just kind of expressed interest. We really like that label; we were really excited. When we started, we weren’t sure what label we’d be a good fit on. Originally, the first label we thought we’d want to be on was French Kiss, but they weren’t really into it. I like that aspect that it came out in the UK first, just from that music geek perspective. We also really wanted to put out 7 inches, and that’s not always a possibility with every label anymore – a lot of labels would be like, "we can’t afford to do that."

Is the ultimate test for a Foreign Islands song to see if it engages people in a live setting or if it translates into a memorable recording? Are you focused on one more than the other?

We’re trying to see if we can do both pretty equally. The guitar player, he’s like a producer; he did the first two Hold Steady records. He really works a lot on these songs. The recorded stuff is really important…they’re both really important. We try and kill it live. It’s two different things, but we try to figure out what can translate live. We try and strike that balance. It kind of sucks when you do something that’s impossible to recreate live. I think were into both processes and both things.

You’ve been putting out 7 inches and now this EP. When can we expect a full length?

We’re starting to write a full length. I don’t know what the date is going to be, but we’re trying to put it out ASAP. That was like our first batch of songs that we wrote, but now that we’ve been playing together for a year and a half or a little more, we have a little bit more of an idea of what we want to do. Our new songs our coming out really cool; it’s really fun writing right now. We’re going to concentrate writing an album that has a flow beginning to end instead of a bunch of songs that are kind of just thrown together.