We’re in the heart of finals season, and local band JigGsaw are hard at work - but not in the library. The group just opened for The Tossers at Cowboy Monkey last Friday, and they will open for The Matches and This Is Me Smiling Friday May 11 at the Independent Media Center. JigGsaw will release their new self-titled EP June 5 through iTunes and Yahoo! Music. Lead singer and guitarist Mark JigGsaw talked with On The Town about the new EP, local shows and jelly/mustard bands.

OTT: How was the vibe opening for The Tossers?

MJ: Playing with the Tossers was very cool.  It was great seeing how their fans reacted to us because we’re a lot different than the Traditional Irish punk bands.  But we got a lot of compliments from people who haven’t heard us before and there were a lot of people that came to see us too.

OTT: “Zero Generation” has been out for more than  a year now. Do you get many singers in the crowd?

MJ: Yeah, that’s the best thing about playing in Champaign and Chicago, people really know the songs.  The first time people sang along was really bizarre for me because up until that point I had always just wrote these little songs and sung the thoughts that were in my head.  But now I’ve kind of got this “bigger picture” with writing songs other people can relate to.  Sometimes I’ll call my friends and ask them what I should write a song about.  And it’s really cool to listen to other people’s views and put my own twist on them.  Hayden’s been helping me a lot with lyric inspiration lately too.

OTT: Is the sound of your new self-titled EP much different than that of your debut?

MJ: Yeah, it’s completely different.  Everyone is saying it’s more technical but I think we’ve all just become better song writers since “Zero Generation.”  When we started all I knew how to play were power chords.  And we fell victim to the “verse-chorus-verse” formula at first.  But we’ve definitely grown into a new sound since we’ve been touring and writing so much.

OTT: Did you make any changes in the writing and recording process for the new EP?

MJ: No, all the songs still start with me sitting in my bedroom with an acoustic guitar.  The only difference is I don’t finish anything without the input of the rest of the band.  I usually have the essence of the song in my head, but the arrangement and the structure of the song isn’t set in stone until I run everything past Hayden and Mikey.  I think it’s given more life to the songs since it’s basically three or four people working together instead of one.

OTT: Have you tested any of the new songs out in the live setting?

MJ: Yeah, we’ve got five new songs that we’ve started playing live.  And Hayden and I have about three other ones that our new drummer Craig still hasn’t heard.  So those won’t be finished until Craig writes drum parts for them.  But we are planning on doing a new full-length next year and we like to tour and play the songs live as much as possible before we put them on tape.  We’ll always be a live band and we want to make sure the songs come through well in our live show before we go into the studio.  It seems like some bands write a record in the studio and have a hard time matching the sound live.  I don’t think we’ll ever approach making music that way.  I think it’s much better to gage a crowd’s reaction to songs before we put out a record.

OTT: Next Friday you’ll be opening for The Matches and This Is Me Smiling. What do you anticipate for that show?

MJ: That should be a great show.  I saw The Matches play at CMJ in New York and they were really great live.  We’re all fans of that band.  And we’re all really excited to play with This Is Me Smiling as well.  Plus, it’s an all ages show and we love playing in front of the all ages crowd.

OTT: If there were a local band sandwich, what ingredient would JigGsaw be?

MJ: Well, I think we’d be the bread.  Some of us don’t eat meat and I see us as more of an essential part of the sandwich than just jelly or mustard.  There are plenty of jelly or mustard bands out there, don’t you think?

Check out JigGsaw with The Matches, This Is Me Smiling and Frank Must Go this Friday at the Independent Media Center, 202 S. Broadway Ave. in Urbana. Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 on the day of the show.  All ages, no alcohol, the show starts at 6 p.m.