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It’s always great when an unfortunate mistake turns out to be the perfect segue into an otherwise unlikely opportunity. The first time we posted news about Uninhabitable Mansions on Inyourspeakers, we completely screwed up and posted a picture of the wrong freakin’ band. After UM’s guitarist, Chris Diken, shot over an email informing us of the mistake, we gave his band’s new record, Nature is a Taker, a good second (and third, and fourth) listen.

This band, comprised of members from other heavy-hitting indie bands such as Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Radical Dads and Au Revoir Simone, put together a hell of a debut. Nature is a Taker’s special brand of indie rock is only matched by the (hilarious) individuality expressed in the following interview with Chris Diken. Read on for the good stuff.

Inyourspeakers: Nearly everyone in Uninhabitable Mansions hails from a different band, so how did UM come to be?

Because of a confidentiality agreement, I’m not allowed to get into specifics, but I can tell you that the formation of UM involved countless rounds of auditions, an igloo, plentiful sunshine, and one very motivated criminal mastermind, although not in that order. It should also be noted that we were all friends beforehand, and that friends tend to hang out a lot. At some point, someone suggested hanging out while holding instruments. But I’ve already said too much.

IYS: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Radical Dads, and Au Revoir Simone are all very unique, distinct sounds. How would you describe the collaboration between Robbie, Tyler, Doug, Annie and yourself?

I would actually hesitate to use the word “collaboration,” because it’s more of a rotating dictatorship. Each person takes charge for a week at a time, and during that period the leader wears a special hat to remind the others of his or her superiority. At the end of each week, a band coup ensues and power is wrestled away by a (temporarily) more charismatic leader who makes (temporarily) more enticing promises about the future of the band.

IYS: Was it difficult to formulate UM’s sound, or did the pieces just fall into place for you guys?

It was actually quite easy to formulate UM’s sound. First we used algebra — factorials and permutations and suchforth — to determine the total number of possible sounds. Then we discounted the sounds we found unpleasant, which conveniently left us with one possible sound. We immediately copyrighted it. Typically we write songs in the following fashion: one person will bring in a whole song or a discrete part, and then the rest of the band will devise sounds to fit in and around the foundational song or part. Then we’ll play everything together and hope it doesn’t sound horrible. If it sounds horrible, we have to change it. We made a pact that we would not have any horrible songs, not even one. Once everything sounds good — or simply not horrible — we exchange knowing glances and go out for pizza.

IYS: Brooklyn seems to be one of the hubs for many up-and-coming indie artists. In your own opinion, what makes Uninhabitable Mansions’ sound or overall style stand out from other acts in the area?

Instead of an UM vs. them mentality, we prefer to think of it as a series of individual head-to-head match-ups. For instance, if you pitted UM against a local act such as Led Zeppelin, I think we would come out on top because our sound is “heavier” and our themes are “deeper.” I would like to see a Brooklyn Indie Battle Royal where it is decided once and for all which band is the best, but a lot of people in the music industry are afraid this kind of ruthless objectivity.

IYS: Many have said that the sound of Uninhabitable Mansions is a far cry from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and rather, it is pop with a special twist. Would you agree with this genre description or do you consider the group’s style differently?

I would agree that we make pop music with a special twist. If pop music is your standard glazed donut, we are without a doubt the more ornate French cruller.

IYS: You describe yourself as an “art collective.” How would you describe this idea/concept to someone unfamiliar with the work of Uninhabitable Mansions?

Being an art collective means there are no rules. We can eat ice cream for breakfast and sell yardsticks as art objects. We can also sell ice sticks as breakfast objects, although that doesn’t mean anyone will be interested in that kind of nonsense. Basically, we started an art collective so that we could pursue all the various things that interest us. We like making music, but we also like making other things.

IYS: How do you and Robbie split your guitarist duties in Uninhabitable Mansions?

Robbie plays the black guitar, and I play the yellow one. I use twice as many distortion pedals.

IYS: How is your contribution to UM different, stylistically, from your contribution to Radical Dads?

Radical Dads, being an homage to a particular style of fatherhood, requires an entirely different mindset. I am forced to use more amps and more effects pedals and play faster and louder so as to distract the audience from the fact that there are only three people on stage, as opposed to the five in UM. It is very physically, emotionally, and sonically demanding.

IYS: Would you say Uninhabitable Mansions is simply a side project for everyone involved, or do you (as well as everyone else in the group) see it becoming a full-fledged effort in the future?

I can’t speak for everyone else in the group, but to me UM has always felt like a mistress who keeps begging you to leave your wife and move to Tahiti. You have a really wonderful and exciting time with this mistress, plus the sex is pretty stellar, and so you continually promise her that you will get a divorce, but in the end you eventually wuss out and stay with your wife. Then years later, during marriage counseling, you break down and admit the whole affair, and by some strange twist of fate your marriage counselor turns out to be your ex-mistress, only now she’s the one unhappily married, to Grizzly Bear of all people. Now that’s payback.

IYS: Can we expect to hear anything new from UM in the next few months?

Yes. At our shows you can expect certain one-of-a-kind squalls of feedback that are impossible to recreate, even under scientific conditions. We are also working on some new songs that will hopefully be semi-professionally recorded at some point.

IYS: Last but certainly not least, where does the name “Uninhabitable Mansions” come from? Does it have some other meaning, or do you guys just use the moniker to represent your sound?

Several years ago, I was reading a tract written by a French architect. She was discoursing on the subject of the unihabitable maison, or a house built for just one person. I misread the term, but when I transposed this typo of the mind into English. It stuck.

Photography by Derek Duoba