Passion Pit WHEN: 8 p.m. Aug. 7 WHERE: Triple Rock Social Club, 629 Cedar Ave., Minneapolis TICKETS: $15 In a not-so-distant time, in the land before blogs, there once existed a primordial horrorscape. Underground bands ran wild and ragged, forced to tour nonstop, releasing streams of unrecognized EPs/LPs/splits in hopes of maybe, just maybe, getting a hint of exposure. That, of course, was pre-internet. Formed in late 2007, MassachusettsâÄô electro five-piece Passion Pit have already found themselves in âÄúband of the momentâÄù mode, garnering loads of radio play. With just one EP (2008âÄôs âÄúChunk of Change) and one LP (last MayâÄôs âÄúMannersâÄù), Passion Pit is a band very much in its infancy. TheyâÄôve done all the right things thus far, but is their model sustainable? Too soon to tell. One thing is certain: The group can craft some seriously catchy pop music. Last yearâÄôs single âÄúSleepyhead,âÄù which is still getting a lot of reps on The Current , is a wash of samples, loops, handclaps, superb vocal work and some of the meatiest, chunkiest synth lines in recent memory. A&E caught up with keyboardist Ian Hultquist as the band barreled across the United States en route to Minneapolis on a tour that has the boys gigging well into November. Now that âÄúMannersâÄù has been out for a while, whatâÄôs one thing you guys are proud of and one thing youâÄôd want to try differently on future recordings? The fact that we kinda took ourselves out of the pigeonhole of being labeled electro-pop was a big thing for us. âÄúMannersâÄù kinda changed it where itâÄôs still pop music, but itâÄôs really to the core of pop music instead of just keys, synthesizers and what not. That, and I feel our live show has kinda taken on a life of its own, which is something we always dreamed of. We feel that itâÄôs coming together a lot better now than it ever has before. You guys got really popular really fast. Do you have any concerns that there might be a glass ceiling or that things might go away as quickly as they came? Yeah, you hear a lot of stories about the industry and how fast things can go, so you always kinda prepare yourself. But itâÄôs really just taking it one day at a time. It could happen, I guess. But weâÄôre just trying to enjoy as much as we can, while we can and hope that it continues. You seemed poised for crossover success in the mold of MGMT , where people who donâÄôt buy âÄúindieâÄù music are buying yours. Are you aiming for that? Would you rather be indie lifers? What sort of goals does the band have? I know that we are really trying to pitch ourselves to a general audience, but we still try to kinda retain the âÄúindie band cred.âÄù I feel like some of the ways weâÄôre doing that is basically how weâÄôve been touring so far, is basically D.I.Y. still, for a lot of it. I mean, we have booking agents and tour managers, but literally right now weâÄôre piled into the van with eight of us and weâÄôre driving back to Boston. We still have a lot of growing up to do. If you had my job, what would you classify your bandâÄôs genre as? Um, pop? But I feel like no one can just say that one word today, it has to have like 16 other extensions with it. You can call it âÄúindie dance pop,âÄù how about that? Why should people come see you guys at the Triple Rock? One thing is, weâÄôve never been there. So hopefully people will just go because theyâÄôve never seen us. IâÄôve never seen Minneapolis. IâÄôve always wanted to go there. But I think that if anyone comes to our show, theyâÄôll probably, hopefully, have a really good time. Hopefully theyâÄôll be dancing and moving around a lot instead of just standing there staring at their shoes or something. Finally, does Passion Pit have a favorite beer? [To rest of band] Hey, does Passion Pit have a favorite beer? [Discussion] How about SamâÄôs Summer Ale ?