New evidence points to deviant squirrels being the cause of recent mayhem. The furry woodland creatures that most of us unsuspectingly admire from afar are considered by Five Iron Frenzy to be capable of the most undermining sabotage. Five Iron Frenzy suspect that squirrels are single-handedly responsible for government corruption, third-world poverty, the greenhouse effect, not to mention the absurd quantity of nuts they eat. Lead singer, Reese Roper, laments, “A lot of members of City Council in Denver had their auto wiring eaten by squirrels. That is proof right there that they are evil. They have a leader. It’s like a gang, and they might be getting the pigeons in on it, and the rats.”

Bass player Keith Hoerig’s mistrust runs deep. “Squirrels are evil. They are the world’s largest gang. Their only goal in life is to dethrone the human race and engorge themselves on human flesh.” Recently, the FIF crew attempted to make a film about these varmints called ‘Squirrels of Darkness,’ but mysteriously, their video tapes vanished. Hoerig continues, “I had a collection of newspaper clippings about stories of people who were injured because of squirrels. There was a squirrel that had crawled up into the Governor of Colorado’s car, and chewed through the brake line. See, the squirrels are trying to take us down. It’s just a matter of time.”

Naturally, there are other topics that FIFwant us to know about, besides the evils of squirrels. The band is releasing a new album on November 20th. Despite the undeniably ‘eighties’ name, Five Iron 2: Electric Boogaloo is not a break dancing album. Reese Roper, lead singer, and main lyricist explains the sound of their latest recording. “The new album is really edgy, and it’s pretty rock. Not pretty as in beautiful. As in very. Very rock. There’s kind of a gutter-punkish, Dead Kennedys kind of song, but that’s probably the most eighties’ thing we have on there.”

Edgy seems to be the descriptive word of choice for the new album. Ortega feels that it’s their best work yet. “Stylistically this sounds more congruent as an album.” Hoerig shares that opinion. “I think it is our most cohesive album from song to song. With All the Hype that Money Can Buy, there was a lot of variety from song to song, but with this record we just concentrated less on making such an eclectic album, and making the songs fit together well. It’s the most rock and roll record we’ve done. And as a whole, it’s probably the most aggressive record we’ve done.”

The ska elements have been subdued a bit, not in reaction to current trends, as much as just a natural progression for any creative band. Ortega’s thoughts on the less prominent ska influences are confidently stated. “With this album we are learning as writers and musicians to compromise more so that the song is the best quality it can be, instead of just the horns being the best quality they can be. Although, the horn parts don’t shine as much, I think they are more powerful, because they are doing more of what the music and songs are doing. ” She explains two primary reasons for the shift away from a straight ska sound. “Partially we shift because you can’t stop from shifting. I’m not listening to Operation Ivy or Skanking Pickle as much as I used to. I’m listening to Jimmy Eat World, and I’m listening to The Who a lot, and remembering what we liked about music in the first place. Secondly, I think we have changed as musicians, and when someone says ‘Play Combat Chuck’ it is hard to explain that I don’t want to, because I’m a better musician now, and it’s hard to revert. We write better stuff now, and I’m proud of myself. I’d rather play stuff that I enjoy, or that is a challenge. We’re really pulling out all the guns that we have. I hope people won’t call it selling out, because it has taken us a really long time to get where we are.”

Hoerig dispels the fear that the horn section will be removed. “People equate ska with horns. That is not it at all. There’s tons of horns all over the record. It falls somewhere between the aggressiveness of a Rocket from the Crypt record, and the melodiousness of a Chicago record. Both of those bands have great horn sections. The Rolling Stones used a lot of horns. Oingo Boingo used a lot of horns.”

Aside from the ‘death of ska,’ some other myths need to be shattered. This is not going to be their last album. All the members express wishes to continue, even though their contract with Five Minute Walk is ending. However, they are currently considering the idea of signing with a major label, if the possibility arises. Five Minute Walk would be supportive in helping them find a new home at a bigger label if they desired to take that step. Roper speaks fondly of their mentor. “One thing that is rad about Frank [Tate- president of Five Minute Walk] is that he would totally help us out.”

As usual, FIF takes on a variety of topics. Capitalism, advertising, the plight of Native Americans in the US today, and the Christian music industry are all addressed on the album. Roper expounds, “Lyrically, there’s some sad songs, and some angry songs, and some goofy songs. It runs the whole gambit of emotions.” One song deals with the common practice of ‘blue-mixing.’ “It’s totally acceptable for headlining bands to put limiters on the sound of the opening band, so that the headlining band sounds the best. I can understand that in the general market, because it’s all about making money, but the Christian market is supposed to be about saving people and encouraging people. It really bothers me how often that happens in the Christian industry. The song also goes against bands charging other bands to go on tour with them, or making other bands sell their T-shirts for more so they can justify selling their T-shirts for more. A lot of bands are going to get angry at us for writing it, but it’s honest, so I hope that more than anything that instead of making people mad that they realize that it’s not okay to do that kind of stuff.”

Ortega is writing a song that pays tribute to her brother that passed away last fall. “It has been a very difficult song to write, because how do you get the gist of a lifetime of memories into a three minute song? We ought not to take people for granted and that we ought to cherish life. I love one of the lines in the song, which is from an e.e. cummings poem, that says ‘Someone fond of living.’ I consider myself fond of living, regardless of if I have hard times to live through, and regardless of whether or not I’m going to live every day missing someone. I’m still going to live every day and enjoy it. God has given me this wonderful blessing every new day. Even though it is a bit cryptic, I hope that the song will hold something special for a lot of people once they have listened to it a few times.”

Trombone player Dennis Culp, Hoerig and Roper also assure us that their side project, Brave Saint Saturn, will put out at least two future albums as part of a storytelling trilogy. Brave Saint Saturn has only played a handful of shows, but all members express interest in taking it up a notch if the day comes when FIFis not as busy. There are even tentative plans for an entire album of impromptu silly songs. With the constant requests for the goofier songs, Hoerig answers that it is a two-sided coin. “Ultimately people just like to have fun, and FIFis able to fill that in the Christian music world, as a fun band. But it gets frustrating when people always say ‘Play that song that you made up as you went along about pants.’ Okay, so we’ll play the song that we made up as we went along, because [they] want to hear that more than the song that we worked two months on.” Roper agrees. “I wish people would understand that we made them up as we went along, and if we practice them and actually play them they wouldn’t be as funny.”

The summer festival season brought the band extended tours in front of thousands of fans, often as the headlining band. A highlight for both Hoerig and Roper was standing on stage as their childhood icons Stryper played a reunion show at Cornerstone. “Stryper’s album meant so much to me as a new Christian. I learned so much about God just from listening to Stryper. And [seeing them on stage] was so awesome for me. The guys from Project 86 were up there, and there were a couple of times when I was just reliving these memories from my childhood, and almost started crying. I had to stop myself.” (Roper is quick to point out that he did not cry in front of Project 86.) “I got to talk to Oz Fox, and Michael Sweet, and I guess their kids are really big fans of FIF. They were just awesome guys and it was really cool to talk to them. I think they felt like I do most of the time when I’m talking to someone who is really obsessed with us. I was just like, sniveling ‘Oh man, I’ve been waiting so long for this. You guys are my favorite.’”

Ortega’s reaction to the intense festival experiences includes her times of worship. “There are times when my eyes are closed, and my hands are in the air and I’m worshiping, and I’m spinning around, and I’m not aware of what I’m doing, or of the fact that there’s a crowd. And so those small amounts of time when I’m euphorically worshiping, and then I open my eyes and I’m startled to see the crowd. When I connect with God on stage, I think that is the best testament to who God is, when [the audience] gets to see us worshiping.”

This fall the band heads out on a major tour, with a name that pays tribute to 80's pop icon Debbie Gibson. The Electric Youth tour will feature BEC artist Ace Troubleshooter, Gotee artist John Reuben, and label-mates Reliant K. This tour will also be a big step up for FIF, with a much bigger sound system, and a better light show. Hoerig promises “It is going to sound intense.” Five Minute Walk usually ties in a charitable theme to all their tours, - collecting blankets, medicine and canned food for the needy - and this tour is no exception. This time concert-goers will participate in the world’s largest sock puppet choir with homemade sock puppets that will go to shelters after the show.

Five Iron Frenzy’s rise from the underground music scene has given them album sales of 500,000, even outside of the shimmering gates and conventions of Nashville. Their popularity has depended largely on their magnetic and fun personalities, more than anything a PR agent at a large label could cook up. Their ardent fans like to have fun as much as they like to be challenged. None of the band members could have possibly predicted the success that God would grant them. Roper concludes “I think our goal when we started was to just be obedient to God. We wanted to be servants of God, by singing good songs, or loving people, or talking to them about Christ, or serving others by showing them his love. We want to live like that every day. Along the way we have had other small goals. Get a record deal. Make an album. Start a side-project. Make a movie about squirrels. That one is in my day-timer right now. The main goal we have met, but we also have to think about it all the time. I think God blesses us for it.”