You'll never get Tim Kinsella. Truly one of the most creative, confusing, and misunderstood artists in the indie music scene, Kinsella has fronted dozens of bands, including Cap'n Jazz, Joan of Arc, and currently, Make Believe. Often unfairly filed away on the sinking ship that is emo, Kinsella's music is far from the typical heart-on-the-sleeve woes, instead his output is remarkably varied, running the gamut from open-ended and experimental, to intimate and alarmingly personal. With the insistence that we print his answers verbatim, Kinsella takes the time to honestly talk about his fan base, his ex-member legacy, and the recent legal troubles of drummer/cousin (Nate Kinsella), who was arrested after a show in Oklahoma for allegedly disrobing on stage during their set.

Make Believe perform on Tues Oct 11 at the Hawthorne Theatre

In the Make Believe press release you state, "I wish I could have started this project 10 years ago, it would have saved me a lot of trouble." Do you have regrets over your past projects, or just that this is the band you wished you started with?

All I meant by that was that the mutual enthusiasm in this band is greatly appreciated. I've spent too long trying to simultaneously coordinate things and function as a cheerleader, arguing to my conspirators the benefits of working on the music as opposed to doing drugs or fine art or satellite TV or whatever. There is no way in the world I would have the energy left in this lifetime to have to do that again. In this band I'm the lazy guy and they all have to psyche me up to bother working on stuff and I really, really appreciate it because being in a band is like fun or whatever, but I imagine not being in a band must be really satisfying. I cannot wait until that is an option. Unfortunately, I'm hard-wired somewhere deep in my genetic encoding to keep suffering through this bullshit.

Can you explain what happened to Nate at the show in Oklahoma?

Not really. I wish I could, but that's not my choice to make. The lawyers have their minds made up. Next month after the sentencing I could.

Do you feel that over the years there are less fans of your work, but at the same time, they are better fans? As in, their loyalty to you and your music is so much greater than the casual fan whose interest might soon pass.

I feel like it would be nice to not sweat the rent every month. So I think I'd probably prefer more "fans" than better "fans." But I don't believe we have any "fans." Anyone that would appreciate what we do probably wouldn't think of themselves in terms of being a fan, which implies a passive spectator relationship to what we do, and what we do hopefully demands a rejection of that worldview. I don't think it's my right to judge the quality of anyone's appreciation of or connection to our music. What do I know about what anyone gets out of it?