Heroes and Villains has a new record out and they're doing the CD release party in style. Bringing pals Nick Jaina and Horse Feathers, the band will perform Turn Your Swords in its entirety at Dante's on Friday, September 22. I caught up with HandV drummer/vocalist Scott Magee for some news.

MERCURY: What's new?

MAGEE: For one the CD is finally out! It was a long and arduous journey, but all well worth it. Pampelmoose, which is run by Mr. Dave Allen of Gang of Four, is putting out our album, so we're super excited about that. HandV also has big plans on the horizon for the rest of the year. Our CD release is a big production including Horse Feathers and Nick Jaina. We are all going to join each other's bands onstage to fill out the sound and express our love for each other's music.

You guys seem to have a community of artists building up around you.

The community started with our friends that are also in bands (Junior Private Detective, Drats!!!, Point Juncture, WA, Nick Jaina/Binary Dolls, Loch Lomond, etc.) and as we have all come up a bit in our hometown the excitement and joy of doing fairly well has brought us closer together. We also have a wonderful growing relationship with many performers in town. Dancers, acro-balancers, clowns, and fire breathers have joined us onstage and I think they love it 'cause what we do with them isn't the usual sort of thing; HandV really strives to create a show that is unique and unpredictable even though we pull from many traditions that have a long history.

What can people expect from the new CD? Is it more rock or circus?

Funny enough all the circus-y stuff is only a part of what we do. The album represents the actual music we have written over the past two years. It's far more rock/pop/whatever than the vaudevillian stuff we're kind of known for. The album was made at Jackpot! and mixed by Jeff Saltzman, so it sounds great! Adam [Raitano, guitar, vocals] put together a sort of concept record like all those cool dorky '70s bands, so a listener can figure out a kind of literary puzzle if they listen a bunch of times. Also the music is pretty rockin' at times so I think people can expect some surprises and also get into it if they turn it up.

Ghost-ride the email address: adam@portlandmercury.com