The Architects have been a bit naughty since you last heard from them.

Greed, sex and whiskey power the Kansas City-based rock foursome’s throttling new album, “Vice,” which drops May 13. Local folks can score it this week.

Frontman and Anodyne Records manager Brandon Phillips dishes on the record, South by Southwest misadventures and dabbling in “sado-sexual barbarism.” His words, not ours.

Ink: The new album is called “Vice.” What are your vices?

Brandon Phillips: I smoke copiously — two to three packs a day without shame. In fact, given my remorselessness, it could hardly be called a vice, more so a facet of my character. I have conducted exhaustive experiments in the worlds of drugs, alcohol and sado-sexual barbarism, but I always seem to lose sight of those pursuits and return home to the soft, refined comforts of cigarettes and caffeine drinks.

But seriously, what’s behind the name?

Virtue has too short a shelf life to make an interesting subject for rock ’n’ roll. When virtue has long since withered and died upon the vine, vice is only just beginning to mature in the cask. Some people prefer the grape, and some prefer its spirits. I happen to be of a generation who defines themselves by their vices and by their vices’ brand names: Newport, Remy Martin, SoCo & Lime, Jagermeister, PBR. These brands are as consequential to many of us as our blood type or political affiliation. …

It also seems to help me a lot to have a theme to write an album with, and this theme was pretty well-cemented in my head before the album was finished, much less titled.

What can people expect from this album, and how does it depart from the previous two?

This album is our effort to extend and expand on the previous two albums. We wanted very much to keep the wild, live energy of the band intact from “Revenge,” but we knew that it was important to add a little extra polish to the songwriting itself and the final mixes — more so than we had done previously with either “Keys” or “Revenge.” I have a fantasy that people will throw this album on and feel rewarded for sticking with us because of the all-around improvements we made.

You picked up a new guitarist since “Revenge.” How has this affected the band, the tour and the album?

Keenan Nichols has been an awesome guy to know both in and out of the band. But who knows — he’s only been with us a short while, and there is still plenty of time for him to take up heroin, balloon his ego like a parade float and sink the whole fucking ship with a sex-crime conviction.

For “Revenge,” the goal was to make an album that emulated your live sound. What were the goals for “Vice”?

An album is always a snapshot of the moment that the songs were committed to tape. Record the same 10 songs a week later or with one fewer rehearsal beforehand, and the results will always vary — usually drastically. What The Architects seem to want to do is compress as much of the creative process as we can into that limited time spent in the recording studio. We feel like our results are always better when we are creating arrangements and writing lyrics while the tape is rolling. It’s the way most of our favorite bands would make their records sound like magic, so it’s one of the things that we would sincerely like most to imitate about The Who, Thin Lizzy, The Jam or AC/DC.

How did South by Southwest go? Are you guys up for it next year?

South by Southwest is quickly becoming a black-market rendezvous outside Bogota, Colombia. Bands and labels will either need to take on some real insurgent mentalities or some serious backing to keep up with the Joneses in the next few years down there. I love it for its “Project Runway: Rock Edition” feel. I can sit at an outdoor table at the El Camino and make catty, Michael Kors-ian comments about the “Prada-Palestinian” look that is so in this spring or the “Futuristic, Neon-Electro-Publicist-DJ” look, whose time has passed.

You’ve been involved with Kansas City’s music scene for quite a while now. How has it changed since you started with The Gadjits? How have you and your brothers changed as musicians?

My brothers and I have gone from being little grommets (in the parlance of the old-school) to being aging-hipster dickheads! OK, so while there are some people who might believe the above to be wholly truthful and accurate, I would add that Kansas City and our being from here and our insistence on continuing to live here has been a huge factor in all of the creative output that we are so proud of. That said, I don’t worry too much about the “scene” or spend too much time observing it because it has always and will always go in cycles of good and bad, thin and fat. All the bands can do is show up with their gear and be ready to play for the people — the relative health of the people’s community notwithstanding.

Hear it first

What: CD release parties for “Vice”
When: Friday and Saturday
Where: The Record Bar, 1020 Westport Road, 816.753.5207
Cost: $10 for a ticket and a copy of the album
Special guests: Kansas City bands Dollhouse Rumor, Outlaw and Beautiful Bodies on Friday. The Life & Times, The Throttlers and The Sixteens on Saturday.
Age: 18+ Friday, 21+ Saturday
More info: Go to myspace.com/architectskcmo and anodynerecords.com.

The Architects ‘Vice’

Genre: Old-fashioned rock ’n’ roll with a shot of adrenaline
Sounds like: A present-day collective of Thin Lizzy, The Jam and AC/DC with Van Halen on vocals
Band of brothers: Siblings Brandon, Zach and Adam Phillips played together as ska-punk outfit The Gadjits for more than a decade before forming this rock quartet in 2004.
Not to miss: Too-witty-for-his-own-good Brandon Phillips’ well-crafted lyrics and clever storytelling
Snooze and lose: If you miss the double-header release parties, you can’t buy the album until its official release date of May 13.

Good article but in the "sounds like" section: did you just lift that right off their publicity one-sheet or are you simply repeating what Brandon said in the interview?

Posted 271 days ago by jacklantern

I was wondering that myself. Is this just a list of questions that was emailed to him and he responded?

Posted 271 days ago by spacecowboyian

Also, neither of the mp3 links work.

Posted 271 days ago by spacecowboyian

Great...So oyu guys come on the scene to focus on the 20 somethings in K.C. and all we get is The Pitch lite! No knock to the Architects, but most of your 20 something "target" was not even in their teens when these guys started playing music. Whether it's due to what writer is dating what band member, or what writer is buddies with what band member, we get more than enough Architects thru the Pitch!!!! Try reaching out to those young bands in K.C. that fall in your target demo, many of them already signed, including some to Major Labels...

Posted 269 days ago by Bellbiv

Yeah, there's a lot of Architects coverage but at least those guys do what they do with integrity. Could be worse, could be another major-label wanna-be Taking Back Sunday, trying desperately to pluck the heartstrings of young girls.

Posted 269 days ago by jacklantern

Bellbiv, sorry to tell you, but we're not just focusing on people in their 20s. We're doing stories on bands we think are interesting and that our readers think are interesting, and that includes people who don't fit into that 20-something bracket. You should read the full review on their CD we posted on the Press Play music blog.

Posted 260 days ago by Liz