On your recent American tour, you opened a show for Bruce Hornsby. What was that like?

Downie: That was in the Ryman Auditorium [in Nashville, the home of the Grand Ole Opry]. It was pretty special. We went 1,800 miles out our way from Boston to go there, and then from there to Milwaukee. So we wanted to play there, and you can't do that in your living room. It was like a Christmas party for a radio station or something, and Bruce Hornsby was there. It was really nice. It's quite a solid foundation, that place. Really well-built, and you get great feelings. We were really looking forward to that gig, almost as much as any. The pictures in there are quite something. You know, there are all those stories about how you can duck out the back, and then there's a row of bars on Broadway, Robert's being one of them. The Opry was dry, so these guys used to nip out there between sets and quaff. Great stuff… Nashville.

In the past there've been some famously horrendous pairings of headliners and opening acts — like Jimi Hendrix opening for The Monkees, or Bruce Springsteen opening for Anne Murray early in his career. Have either of you guys had any nightmarish pairings like that?

Contreras: We opened for Days Of The New last year for three weeks, did a cross-Canada tour. All of our friends were, like, "How can you do that tour?" — all of our too-cool-for-school friends. And our management liked it because they were all sold-out dates and it was gonna be really good. Even the mental constitution to do that was really harsh. You're dealing with non-stop longhairs every night, and lowest-common-denominator hard rock fans. And you know what? It was fucking awesome. It was such a good experience. We rose to it every night and we just figured out how to do it, and we pulled it off. So it ended up being a really positive experience.

Downie: I don't think there are any nightmarish pairings. Sort of based on what José was saying as well, it's your gig, it's your stage, you've got 45 minutes: Why not have fun with that? And there's always something there. There's always something there. And invariably the gigs that are great, something has to happen. Someone told me that once. And sometimes it's a soccer ball gets kicked on stage, like at a Rod Stewart gig. And then there's a soccer ball every night, so it's this thing that has to happen. But generally, the best things are the spontaneous things, the things you didn't expect, and winning over someone, or whatever. Just entertaining the people. And it's a kick. Plus when you're in those slots opening up, you can rollerblade right up to like a minute-and-a-half before you're on stage. It's a really great feeling. It's sort of… liberating. Because there are no preconceived notions of you, and none by you of them. That's killer. That's a good place to ply your craft."

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