Small Talk
100 Monkeys
From: Los Angeles
New Album: Liquid Zoo
In Houston: 8 p.m. Wednesday at Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel. Tickets are $15-$20; 713-225-5483 or www.warehouselive.com.

Named after a theory about monkey behavior — no, not the one that involves the complete works of Shakespeare — Los Angeles band 100 Monkeys creates a sometimes serene, sometimes turgid sort of indie rock. Some tunes such as Future Radio ride a pleasant digital groove with some funk thrown in to dirty things up, while others such as Kolpix are straight up sleazy garage soul. The five-piece group of multi-instrumentalists ended up with a built-in audience of enthusiasts since member Jackson Rathbone appears in the Twilight film series.

Pictured: five of 100 Monkeys. Ninety-five unaccounted for.

Describe your new record in fewer than 10 words
Jackson Rathbone: A collection of wild animals flowing freely in auditory display.
Uncle Larry: Awesome
Jerad Anderson: Founded from fluid festive fantastic fantasies formidably filled with fun.
Ben Johnson: Our strongest album yet, by leaps and bounds.
Ben Graupner: Mario Brothers meets The Nightmare Before Christmas, blues booze and sheer bliss.

If I wasn’t making music I’d . . .
Rathbone: ... be waiting.
Uncle Larry: I wouldn’t be alive.
Anderson: Explode. And implode.
Johnson: . . . be teaching it, I hope.
Graupner: Pretend to murder people with a machete.

Best album in the world right this minute
Rathbone: Gogol Bordello, Live from Axis Mundi
Uncle Larry: The one that hasn’t been made
Anderson: Dark Side of the Moon (Sleep to it most nights)
Johnson: Shame Shame by Dr. Dog
Graupner: The Devil and the Mockingbird or Hooks

Song you like to play when nobody’s around
Uncle Larry: My Love Has Butterfly Wings by John Klemmer
Anderson: Jingle Bells
Rathbone: Hank Williams III, Dick in Dixie
Johnson: Tourist by Spencer Bell
Graupner: Hokey Pokey

Favorite bird of prey
Rathbone: The barnyard owl Who? The barnyard owl. Who? The barnyard ...
Uncle Larry: The hawk
Anderson: Blam, the hawk
Johnson: Great Horned Owl
Graupner: Klingon (I had to look up the spelling for that.)

Cake or pie
Rathbone: Pie charts are pretty sweet ...
Uncle Larry: BOTH!
Anderson: Can I have my cake and eat the pie, too?
Johnson: Pie!
Graupner: I’ll have a drink instead.

My favorite state is . . .
Rathbone: Blissful ignorance
Uncle Larry: United State of Mind
Anderson: Liquid
Johnson: Right now, Louisiana, ’cause that’s where I am.