The Long, Painful Genesis of Bring Back the Guns' First Album

Still, Houston being so far off the national indie-rock radar does have certain benefits. "I think there's probably a lot of inspiration from not being watched all the time," says drummer Thomas Clemmons, another Groceries holdover. When Clemmons, Bogle and Brownlie started that group — once part of a close-knit scene that included the Westbury Squares, Japanic, Lucky Motors and Matty & Mossy — in spring 1998, they vowed to stick with it for ten years and see where they wound up. "Hear that, Houston?" jokes Brownlie. "You've got six more months. Spend it wisely."

"All the bands here just do exactly what comes to mind," says Bogle. "We're not thinking like, 'Where does this fit into the bigger picture?' I think that's why our record is so hard to define." By his reckoning, Dry Futures is a hybrid of the Pixies, Les Savy Fav, Pavement, Drive Like Jehu and Fugazi: "Think of how those bands might collide."

"Our [Groceries] recordings are significantly more pop than we've been the past few years," Brownlie says. "But I think we're slowly starting to get poppier again."

Though they haven't even thought about when they might head back into the studio, BBTG figures they have between 75 and 90 percent of their next record written right now. After what happened with Dry Futures, though, they're allowing themselves a very generous timetable. And who can blame them?

"If we start recording next April or May," Brownlie figures, "it should be out in October 2012."