What inspires Old Worlds to continue creating music?
Picking the world apart, and reducing it to its most basic components — which, it turns out, are infinitely complex. We try to read a wide variety of literature: Mike is a big fan of Daniel Quinn, while Aaron and Adam often cite the Bible as a primary influence. I wouldn’t say our music is at all political, but the topics we tackle revolve around how we can make the world better, mostly through interpersonal relationships.

Your last release, Such a Willful Creature, was a great success, what’s next?
Weekend tours, to raise regional awareness of our releases. Getting t-shirts made. We’ve just begun talking about the time frame of recording our first LP.

Post Rock generates creative (and often lengthy) band and track names, how does Old Worlds come up with these?
Our song titles are typically thoughts that have occurred to us. A good example is “Snark is Getting Us Nowhere”, from Such a Willful Creature… This is a belief of mine, having interacted with many people who feel that sarcasm and aggression is a good way to deal with things they don’t understand. This seems to be a kind of cultural epidemic, in a postmodern, post-ironic society with a very short attention span.

How does Old Worlds decide which tracks will be on a release? testing them at gigs, or a different method?
If we’re not really bored after playing it a million times, then it stays.

What have you been listening to recently that you would recommend to your fan base?
I have to give props to some amazing Columbus bands that are bringing much-needed attention to our arts scene: Six Gallery (on Superball Music), Flotation Walls, The Receiver, and Brainbow. Other stuff: The Forms, Maps & Atlases, And So I Watch You From Afar, Shipping News, and Rockets Red Glare.

The obligatory political question: Can politics (whichever side of the road) solve global social problems? Discuss
Not really. I believe that global social problems are staggeringly complex, the result of a near-infinite number of poor decisions by flawed people. Personal responsibility is where it starts. Get your house in order, own up to your thoughts and your actions. We create the world around us, simple as that.

The obligatory digital media question: We all know that digital downloads (legal or not) are changing the music business, would you say this is a challenge or an opportunity, and why?
I really have no idea. We’re trying out new business models, like everyone else. We’re all trying to sell something. Some people seem to love buying our CDs, so I don’t think that’s gonna go away real soon. Other people have a very green mentality, which I think is great — they don’t want to clutter the world with packaging. I’m thrilled that they can download our music for next to nothing, or nothing, if they choose. I’m just really thankful we live in a world with so much freedom and so many options. I hope that continues.