What musicians would you say have had an influence on you?
Les Baxter, Martin Denny, Juan Garcia Esquivel, Combustible Edison, and Frank Zappa (plus countless jazz players).

How did you get involved in this whole "tiki-lounge" thing? It seems like it's kind of an insular little musical subculture.
Being bored with punk, ska, and all other contemporary rock mutations, I happened upon Combustible Edison's I Swinger album and the song "Twiggy Twiggy" by Pizzicato 5. This opened up the whole world of "lounge/exotica" music. Later on, after forming the group, we booked a show in California at an event called "Tiki Oasis." The befores durings, and afters of that experience have opened us up to the "tiki/exotica" subculture.

How do you go about writing songs? Is it a collaborative effort, or do only a few people really drive it along? I would imagine a band as big as yours could make songwriting in a traditional sense kind of difficult.
Usually songs are written by one person in the band, presented at rehearsal, and tweaked a bit here and there by the different members. Brooks, Doyle, and Cummings are the chief composers, but everyone adds their own two cents to each song, so it really winds up being a collaborative effort.

Lagoon! really has kind of a cinematic feel to it, like it's the soundtrack to a bizarre surf movie; was that intentional? Can you talk about that? Is there any kind of a storyline? "Copper Locked Nymph" and "A Most Excellent Flying Death," for example, sound like themes from a James Bond flick, while the stuff beforehand seems to build to that point.
Although I haven't read Sig Bird's book about Houston [Sig Byrd's Houston] -- somewhere deep within the text there is reference to the word "Lagoon" being used in Houston in the '50s. Evidently its then-slang meaning was "cool." As we were going for an exotica focus on the record, we thought that that would be a perfect title for the record, as it works on more than one level. No story line, just music we dig. It came out well, though. I'm extremely proud of that release.

I noticed that there aren't really any traditional "vocals" or lyrics on the album; was that something you did intentionally, as well? I know at least a few of your older songs have lyrics -- why did you skip 'em this time around?
Yes, that was intentional. Lyrics tend to confine the listener, in my opinion. In other words, when you listen to a song with lyrics, you are forced to contemplate those specific words each time you hear the song. If the lyrics are poor and one-dimensional, it really ruins the song. On the other hand, instrumental music allows infinite avenues of interpretation. Each time you listen to the song, it can mean something entirely different to the listener. We're not forced to think of a particular concept.

Aren't you a little worried, though, that some folks might not be able to "focus," so to speak, on just the music? It's hard to play instrumental stuff -- especially more laid-back, mellow music, like what you guys do -- without it being tagged as "elevator music," after all. Have you gotten any of that kind of response?
So far no one has had the balls to say that to our face. I could see how the uninformed listener could come to that conclusion, though. Especially here in Texas.

What're your plans after this new album? Is Clouseaux destined to keep on indefinitely?
It's all kind of up in the air. It just depends on the gods; the muses. Of course, I hope we continue. Clouseaux is too valuable to succumb to atrophy. I must push on... We are planning on doing a Christmas record-- hopefully to release by Nov. 2005. We also may do an interpretation record (covers).

Awesome. Are we talking covers of already tiki-flavored music, or totally random stuff?
We would probably do some Mancini, Esquivel, maybe some standards. Whatever.