What started off as ivy league educated Eric Zeiler’s solo project quickly evolved into a five-piece co-ed electro-pop outfit and one of New York City’s must see bands otherwise known as Xylos. Now the band is a full family of fun made up of Eric Zeiler (of course), singer Monika Heidemann, keyboardist Nikki Lancy, bassist Matt Aronoff and drummer Chris Berry. The different talents and stories that each member of the group brings to the table is apparent in their music, which is wonderfully eclectic. I had the opportunity to see them earlier this summer at DC9 at Monument’s one-year anniversary party where they played with Guards. Since then they’ve supported Trentemøller on a national tour and are now gearing up for All Things Gold 005 at U St. Music Hall. But before Thursday comes around the corner, I chatted with Eric and Chris a little bit on what they’ve been up to and #deepthoughts kind of questions like what does it mean to have ‘moves like Jagger?’ Full interview after the jump.

STREAM: Xylos – “Not Enough (Infernal Devices Remix)”

Fancy Nancy: What is the collaboration/songwriting process like for yall? How has it changed from when Xylos was your (Eric’s) solo project to now?

Eric: The songwriting process has changed dramatically from the beginning of Xylos to the present.  At the beginning, I would basically put together nearly complete demos for the songs before showing them to the rest of the band.  Monika and Nikki would get involved at that stage and we’d refine the songs together to the point that everyone was happy.  Over time, it very naturally morphed into a true collaboration.  Starting with the songs that ended up on our debut record “Xylos,” all the members of the band were involved.  Some songs (for example, Darling Dearest) started out as instrumentals and then Monika would come up with lyrics and melodies, turning it into a complete song.  And then on a song like X-Ray, all three of us contributed sections, lyrics, and worked together to create a cohesive song out of it.  It’s a constantly evolving process, and at the moment we’re working on a bunch of new songs that will probably end up on our next record.  Matt and Chris (bass player and drummer) are now involved more than ever with the songwriting and arranging, and we’re spending a lot of time in the rehearsal space tweaking the new songs, something that’s relatively novel for us (we used to write exclusively in the studio).  We’ve been trying to bounce back and forth between the studio and the rehearsal space, to get the best of both settings into the songs.

FN: What made you realize that you needed to transition the band from a party of one to a party of five? Besides tours being more fun.

Eric: Very true, touring would be totally depressing being all alone.  I’d have to invent an imaginary friend to talk to me while driving.

But really, the process of creating music is far more fulfilling when it’s a collaboration between people.  There are five people in this band, all with good ideas and good taste, and the songs end up better when everyone contributes.

Not to mention it’s more fun to be playing with live people playing live instruments.  The other option (all Ableton and backing tracks) would be really boring.

FN: So the last time I saw you it was at DC9 in June. What’s been the happenings with the band in the meantime?

Chris: That was so much fun, wasn’t it?!  Since then it’s been a lot of touring.  We did a Northeast tour with our friends Tan Vampires and Home Video, followed by some shows in the Midwest on our own.  We also did some shows with Jessica 6 in the Northeast and played with the Gift, Art vs. Science, and Peter, Bjorn & John in New York.  When we weren’t touring we were home in Brooklyn writing and recording new music, in preparation for making our next record in 2012.

FN: About the tour yall just finished with Trentemøller - was it difficult being a support band on a national tour?

Chris: Trentemøller was one of the nicest bands we’ve ever had the pleasure of touring with.  Everyone on their crew was amazing to us and that made the whole experience great.  There were definitely some tough drives and being on a super tight budget meant we were crashing with friends as much as possible or cramming 5 to a room in a cheap hotel.  Not exactly rock star status.  But then we’d roll into a town like San Francisco and get to play at The Fillmore where Miles Davis and Jerry Garcia did 40 years ago, so that made up for it.

FN: While on the road, what were some song favorites to play in the band van?

Eric: You may not believe it, but we did the whole fall Trentemoller tour without the ability to play an iPod or CDs in the van.  That means we spent 9000 miles listening to the radio.  We learned on this trip that there are four kinds of radio once you get out of New York City: Christian rock, Country, Top 40, and Classic rock.

We avoided Christian and Country almost entirely (except when the Christian songs snuck up on us… you never really know until the singing starts).  Top 40 gave us 4 songs to hear in the month on the road… Adele’s “Someone Like You”, that Maroon 5 “Move Like Jagger” song, the Rihanna/Calvin Harris jam, and Foster the People “Pumped Up Kicks.”  Literally, it was a loop of these four songs.  Classic rock radio isn’t much better.  Why can’t they play a variety of Pink Floyd songs?  Why just “Comfortably Numb?”  And we heard “Only of a Lonely Heart” maybe 10 times.  Would’ve loved a little “Close to the Edge” or “Long Distance Runaround.”

FN: Are yall excited to be playing in DC again? Are we totally going to hit up Ben’s Chili Bowl afterwards?

Eric: We better.  I’m a vegetarian, but I love their veggie chili cheese fries.