Discussing literature isn't something bands are known for doing in their down time -- and that's fine with Fanfarlo. "There's not a lot of beer-can smashing with us," says Simon Balthazar, 27, lead singer and main songwriter for the London chamber-poppers. "Our favorite activity is to read a novel and talk about it. We're intellectuals.

Thao Nguyen has a strange feeling about loitering in airports. "I love it!" exclaims the sweet-voiced singer-guitarist. "You can even ask the dudes" -- bassist-keyboardist Adam Thompson, 25, and drummer Willis Thompson, 26 (no relation).

When British rock trio Band of Skulls learned their song "Friends" would be featured in New Moon, the sequel to Twilight, they were shocked. Not because the movie's music supervisors liked it, but rather that they'd heard it at all. "We didn't know we'd sent it out," says singer-guitarist Russell Marsden, with a laugh.

Never get high on your own supply. Last July, haze-rock conjurer Kurt Vile learned that lesson the hard way. "I was fired for having a beer on the job," says the 29-year-old former forklift operator at the Philadelphia Brewing Co. "Well, that's not the only reason, but my boss was a hard-ass. It turned out for the best, though.

Despite releasing their first single, "Too Young to Love," just a year ago, British noise-pop duo the Big Pink already boast a career's worth of triumphs: winning NME's Philip Hall Radar Award for emerging talent, touring with TV on the Radio, and, best of all -- per multi-instrumentalist Milo Cordell -- sharing quality time naked, bound, and abused.

Joel Stoker, cheeky frontman for the Rifles, doesn't mind if Britpop fans are confused by his band's new album. "It's okay if people buy it accidentally," muses the singer about The Great Escape, which bears the same title as his countrymen Blur's landmark 1995 effort. "In fact, that's a good strategy: to call your album after another massive album.