Many bands would be content between releases to just party and kick around a few ideas for the next record until it eventually comes to pass, even though it might be in their best interest to pick up the pace a bit. You’d think that a band with as laidback a sound as indie/stoner/psychedelic love demigods Dead Meadow would be even more inclined to let it all be and take their sweet time, but since the release of 2008’s Old Growth they have managed to buckle down and bang out a (mostly) live album Three Kings which also features five crucial new brilliant cuts of heavy love AND a visual feast of a feature film of the same name. Three Kings is an epic, delightfully thought-provoking swirl of sight and sound that will tickle your mystical fancies and make you want to really enjoy some billowing green cloudy fun if you are a person like me. Here’s the lowdown from singer/guitarist/tone wizard Jason Simon.

MORGAN Y. EVANS: Let's talk about your relationship with Artificial Army, who have done videos for Coheed and The Mars Volta. Your new album and film were born from L.A. art warehouse music parties, but how did Steven Kille and Simon Chan (from A.Army) get on the same page for the film's style? Did you want to make something trippier than The Holy Mountain or just better than the Ice Cube/Clooney movie?

JASON SIMON: The film's style is a combo of Dead Meadow ideas and Artificial Army ideas. Three Kings is a name and idea we thought would truly capture the beauty and the glory of a good Dead Meadow show, know what I mean? Three wise men from the east bringin' the wisdom of old to the modern day. We all love The Holy Mountain, of course and we really wanted to make a concert film that if the viewer wished and was so inclined he/she could really get inside of...check out the multiple levels, etc.

MYE: What was your headspace for the new songs? "That Old Temple" almost reminds me of "Good Times Bad Times". The playing on "Darlin'" feels unselfconscious. I wondered if the live stuff had been planned to go with the film ahead of time but I guess you recorded the live songs first, right?

JS: "That Old Temple" is straight up "Good Times, Good Times!" Ain't no bad there...as I say in the song, "The Twin Pillars of her thighs holds high the halls of paradise". It's all good there. “Darlin'" we really wanted to keep natural and loose and I'm real glad you heard a similar thing going on. Live songs were first.

MYE: It seems like your band or Pelican or Clutch would have a hard time picking what live songs would make records because each performance has something special. "At Her Open Door" from Feathers is very cool on the new CD, a bit faster.

JS: It seems that the live songs we play usually vary from night to night and tour to tour. These are the songs we were rocking at the time.

MYE: Your band is psychedelic without the bloat that sunk some classic bands! How did your sound develop? I grew up in Woodstock, New York and my punk bands would play every weekend with Three & Shabutie/Coheed from ‘94 onward. Cambria is actually my sister's name. (Hi, sis!) We had our own scene and less rules, so the bands developed unique sounds. You have ‘60s and ‘70s elements and an indie influence. People need that freedom. Jane's Addiction or you creating a moody vibe can open minds as much as a punk band yelling that "Bush lied about a lot of shit!" or something.

JS: We def like to think about and imagine what could be rather than dwelling on what is and how much it sucks. Our sound developed naturally with us striving for the feeling that we received from listening to all the great bands we love and grew up with. We really try to reach for something bigger and deeper than the day to day and I think the beauty and truth of anything lies in that reaching and striving. We try to get lost in what we do onstage and in a sense get beyond the conscious self, and we hope the listener can come along too.

MYE: The film deals with a loose "moral tale" of three characters tempted by the dark side and the Three Kings, cloaked, mystical spirit characters, are guiding forces. I have been accepting that we are all flawed lately and have been inspired by Jarboe's Mahakali album and the writing of Shambhavi L. Chopra. Whether you believe literally in mysticism or Kali or even Christ's basic principles of love or think, for instance, the Dead Sea Scrolls are just collected "pagan" oral tradition, there is merit in using certain principles as a focus/meditational device for accepting the good and bad of life as part of the whole. You don't have to like pain or think, "Ok, I'll just rob and hurt people", but even your band name makes me think that there is death in life/life in death. There is energy in moments of change. Thoughts?

JS: It is always hard to discuss things that are inherently beyond words and language. All things of this world are flawed and therein lies they're beauty. They come and they go. There is no point or use in trying to cling to the ephemeral as if it was eternal. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy...but let it go. A way to reach the eternal is through parables, art, nature, and symbols, so we use what we must to try and capture those ideas, concepts, and truths.

MYE: The Bedouins' holy wandering mystic concept colored this film, right? Do you think music can make you open to receive or give "mystic" insight/energy? Sunn O))) have often talked about the listener as also a part of the music, which I really relate to. Heck, look at The Doors back in the day, where it was like a shamanic ritual! The space between audience and band or the inner and outer world is the frontier, I think.

JS: Of course music transmits mystic energy! In some ways and to us it is the most direct link to that energy. The listener is always integral. How much he or she gets from the music is equivalent to how much he or she gives and how much they're willing to open up and receive, know what I mean?

MYE: Parts of the The Three Kings film was shot where George Lucas set Tatooine in California. Were you tempted to look for Obi Wan's house or Tusken raiders?

JS: We mostly hung out with Hammerhead. He's a good time.