Pianist/singer Chris Vondracek, who leads the band with his brother Leo, was kind enough to answer a few questions and rhapsodize about the best clothes to wear onstage, his rural upbringing, and Hannah Montana.

How did you get involved with the Minneseries?

Neil Zumwalde, of ZibraZibra, is working with us on our upcoming album and played with us in a few shows; he got us the gig.

A couple of local acts like you—Seymore Saves the World and Coach Said Not To—seem to be reviving piano-driven power-pop with a vengeance. Or did it ever go away?

Of course we’re bringing piano-driven power-pop back with a vengeance! It goes away like every six months, just long enough for us to forget that piano is a really cool instrument, so when someone is piano-driven it once again seems like a novelty—never mind that Chubby Checker practically invented rock on piano. That said, thank you for mentioning us in the same question as Seymore Saves The World and Coach Said Not To; they’re Saturn and Jupiter to our Pluto.

How does a pop band with relentlessly upbeat songs carve out a niche in the hipster-dominated indie scene?

That’s a toughy. But here’s a zinger in return: How do hipster indie bands make it in a music world dominated by the Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana? Actually, that’s a sad defense, never mind. In seriousness, we did the whole darker, “thoughtful” music with our old band, Brickhouse Boys (kings of the competitive southeastern South Dakota scene!), but with the Bubz we feel like we’re doing something more original and, hopefully, intriguing.

You look quite dapper in your band photos. Do you wear the “white jeans, ties, shoes, and vests, coupled with canary yellow pearl-button shirts and socks” every time you play live? Do audiences react differently to a well-dressed band?

Nirvana was awesome. But when they killed disgusting 80s hair metal, they were like an over-active fertilizer and killed a lot of good things, too—including the “showy” side of a band’s stage performance. When we take the stage in our homemade duds, we feel like we put on a whole ‘nother persona—it’s our best Ziggy Stardust—and audiences react positively. Some are disappointed when they see us setting up without the uniforms on and we have to reassure them, “Yes, yes, we’re wearing the uniforms tonight.”

Your bio suggests that aesthetics beyond music play an important role, referring to '50s kitsch and small-town life. Do you make a concerted effort to incorporate these ideas into your songs and shows?

Our MySpace bio probably takes the aesthetic mapping too far: I can say with a fair amount of certainty that our sound doesn’t revive Eisenhower political dreams. But, oftentimes a sound or melody can become lifted when contextualized with visuals or some other representation. But then, sometimes it can get squashed, too. Did you see "Across the Universe"? How disappointing. I guess all I can say is that most likely the verbose prose on our MySpace was determined by an overcharged imagination.

The band formed in a relatively rural area. How do those origins inform the music? Or do they?

Rural revolution baby! No. There were two or three radio stations where we grew up: country, classic rock/oldies, and Christian. Sometimes the first and the last would get intermixed. So, a large chunk of our musical influences are from over 20 years ago. Plus, we just played a parade in our hometown where we played under a giant American flag. All we really are intimately familiar with is small town life; our sounds and lyrics reflect that upbringing.

That being said, we’re not yet pulling a Montgomery Gentry and banging our chest about living in a small town. We’re not going to pretend that because we walked beans we’re somehow better human beings—there’s this perverse pride out there you gotta watch out for. On the other hand, kids in a shed will dance more than kids at the Turf Club.

You’re playing a few more regional dates in August and September and are hoping to release an EP this winter. What else is on the horizon for Golden Bubbles?

My brother Leo is studying in Japan for a few months this fall and winter, so when he gets back in February we’ll release our LP, tentatively titled A Good Time Was Had By All. After I finish school in May, we plan on taking the world by storm or playing long enough to hear our music played on LOVE105. I mean, they’re broadcasting from the freakin’ top of the IDS Tower—how badass is that?

COMING UP: Golden Bubbles is performing in the Nomad World Pub’s Minneseries on Thursday, August 21 (w/****) and Thursday, August 28 (w/the Wrights).