British trio Shopping have a moniker that might seem ordinary, but they’re anything but. After their debut album Consumer Complaints was reissued in the US earlier this year the group’s stellar, buzzworthy sophomore effort Why Choose came out earlier this month. Think of some ridiculously tight, danceable combination of Elastica, The Slits and Gang Of Four and you’ll have an idea of what drummer/singer Andrew Milk, singer/bassist Billy Easter and guitarist/singer Rachel Aggs are capable of. The trio graciously took a few minutes for MySpace to discuss the new album, a no-nonsense writing approach and the name.

Hometown: East London, England

Homebase: East London, England

Did you guys have a vision for the album before going into making it?

Easter: We were happy with the first album we did and we wanted to carry on in the same way, just write really danceable songs. We were kind of open to developing our song structure a bit more though, whether slightly longer songs or having a little bit of a different format and branching out a bit. But other than that we didn't have any strict plan for it.

What might have been the toughest aspect about creating this record?

Milk: We're kind of used to making things on the fly and being very productive in a short amount of time. But with this record we had a finite number of days in a studio in Glasgow. We're not the best at time management at the best of times.

How do you think this record compares to your debut Consumer Complaints?

Easter: I think it sounds a bit darker.

Were there moments where you felt you were on the right track?

Milk: I think we had a couple of moments like that when we were writing. I remember there were a couple of times on songs where we were like 'Yeah!' and it happened a few times when we were jamming stuff out. We really liked the stuff we were coming up with. I think we had a lot of energy when we were writing the music because we really liked the stuff that we were coming up with.

You worked with Jamie Grier who produced the record. What was that like?

Easter: We just really liked how he produced our last album and he's really kind of an easy guy to work with. He's a lot laid-back and that's quite important. We find that quite important when we're in the studio and you don't have to play a song a million times. He just has a really calm way of recording and he knows what we're about and how we want to sound really well. We really didn't have to explain ourselves much.

How did the song “Straight Lines” come about?

Milk: We were writing actually quite fast and this one we were jamming it out and I was taking more of a vocal lead in the song. The stuff I was coming out with was reminiscent of another song that I did lead on for the first record called “For Your Money.” The things I was thinking about were similar to what I was singing in that older song. It was like an answer back song to that first album track.

Does the band have a hard time letting go of a song and not tweaking it?

Easter: We're pretty quick, the best songs that we've written we kind of written in an afternoon and are happy with it right away. If we need to work on it it's usually a bad sign.

What was the inspiration behind “Say It Once”?

Aggs: It's sort of like a power struggle I suppose and me and Andrew both sing about it.

Milk: I think I'm saying it in a more heavy-handed way. The way to make change is through interacting. It cannot become accepted. You can’t isolate yourself from the system that you were brought up in. In order to make change you have to become partly involved in what's going on.

Are there any plans for videos behind the songs?

Easter: The videos are coming out soon, we're making a video for “Straight Lines.” When we're touring the U.S. in October and November we've got a couple of directors over there to make another couple of videos.

Have you received any advice on how to handle life on the road for the upcoming North America tour?

Milk: Our friend Stephie (Crist) from Hysterics let us in on the best truck stop in America so we're going to definitely check that out: Willie Nelson's green truck stop!

Finally, were there any other band names in the running besides Shopping?

Easter: I don't think there was actually. We just came in one day and we said we want to call it Shopping.