Thirty years ago, it wasn't uncommon for a band to release two, sometimes three, albums a year: The Rolling Stones and the Beatles released four full-length albums between them in 1964, as well as several singles and EPs. Today, bands get around to making an album once every couple of years and sometimes don't even tour behind it. Goldfinger is an exception to the rule. After the release of their eponymous debut in 1996, the ska quartet played an exhausting 380 shows during the next year -- including several opening dates for the reunited Sex Pistols.

\\After only a six month layoff, Goldfinger are already back on the road supporting their sophomore effort, "Hang-Ups" -- a happier alternative to the often venomous "Goldfinger." "The first record was written [during] a break-up and it carries through lyrically like that," frontman John Feldmann explains. No kidding. Consider the mood swing from the first album's "You think you have a real good fucking answer/ A fucking answer I'll give you" (from "Answers") or "I know I fucked up and I wish I was dead" (from "Mind's Eye") to the new record's "Let's talk about everything/ I wanna share my life with you" (from "I Need to Know").

\\Goldfinger's anger may have subsided, but there's continued indifference among the band's members. Spending an inordinate amount of time on the road took its toll on the fledgling group, which will continue to tour in support of "Hang-Ups." Luckily, the band's heavy workload has given Feldmann and bassist Simon Williams more than their share of interesting stories about nearly killingConan O'Brien, opening for the uppity Sex Pistols and what it's like to never sleep and like it that way.

\\You averaged more than one show a day on the last tour. Was it nice to get off the road?

\\Williams: I don't think you really notice it until you get home. I got home and realized I was filled with alcohol blood. And after eating junk food, I just went to the gym. It's hard to sleep at home after sleeping on the road. You definitely burn out, but you just keep going. You don't notice it until the end. You've got nothing to compare it to after a while.

\\Feldmann: It's a great life, but obviously there's something about being in a stable place. I loved recording the [album] and being able to come home and know what restaurants to eat at and the best places to go hang out and that stuff.

\\What was the most memorable part of the tour?

\\Williams: The part I enjoyed most was touring overseas. It's just been, 'My band will be successful if we get to go to Europe. That's the be all, end all of being in a band.' Then there were things like the Conan O'Brien [show], which was amazing. Although we almost killed him.

\\What happened?

\\Williams: Our drummer [Darrin Pfeiffer] came out dressed in drag and when Conan came up to shake our hands, [Darrin] decided to lift him over his head. And our drummer's like 6-foot-3, and Conan fell straight down and landed on the monitors -- almost broke his back. I thought that was the end of the band right there. I didn't want to be known as the band that killed Conan O'Brien. It seemed like great footage for our home video though.

\\Did he threaten to sue?

\\Williams: No. He was the coolest guy ever. He was like, 'I come from a big Irish family, I used to get the crap beat out of me all the time by my brothers. I'm used to it.'

\\Why did you decide to take so little time off between the last tour and the record?

\\Feldmann: I don't know. I think, basically, as a band, we have a pretty good work ethic. I didn't wanna just drop out and just go away and just be the band that all of a sudden comes back with this new record a year later, ya know what I mean? It's not like I have to run 20 miles a day. It's playing music, it's not like fuckin'...whatever. A sacrifice it's not.

\\Williams: I think it had something to do with the record label and the management wanting to make more money.

\\What was it like touring with the Sex Pistols?

\\Feldmann: It wasn't the best tour we had.

\\Williams: The worst tour we ever did.

\\Feldmann: I think the attitude from their camp was like, 'Well, we started this whole thing and no one else knows anything except us.'

\\Williams: Steve Jones was cool. The other three were losers, pretty much. They would show up two minutes before they played and leave two minutes afterward. I don't like that Johnny Lydon guy too much.

\\Were you a Sex Pistols fan growing up?

\\Feldmann: Yeah, absolutely.

\\Williams: Yeah, I was too, so it sucks to me. I loved that album ["Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols"]. It sucks 'cause I just went and traded it in. I'm like, 'I don't even want to listen to this again, it'll just bring back really bad memories.'

\\Ya know, Elvis Costello is God, and I don't want to meet him anymore, 'cause what if I met him and he was a dick, ya know? I've got 40 Elvis Costello CDs. What the hell am I gonna do?

\\Did the Sex Pistols dates and the rest of the tour put a strain on the band?

\\Williams: It's fine now, but there are times when you tour a little too much. Normally it's fine. We're not best friends. We never have been. But we've never hated each other.

\\Feldmann: One of the hardest things with our band is that no one ever agrees on anything. The only thing we all agree on is that we all like the Clash and the Police.

\\Williams: In our spare time we don't really see each other at all. It's like, if I bump in to Darrin at the movies, I'll go see another movie.

\\Feldmann: With rehearsing and making the record, we're with each o