Guster hits the local scene tomorrow night for a show at the Auditorium.

Drummer and youngest member Brian Rosenworcel recently conversed with The State News about an upcoming Guster studio album, MySpace.com and Ping-Pong balls.

State News: What's the band's pre-show ritual?

Brian Rosenworcel: Generally, everyone takes a dump in the dressing room during the half-hour changeover between the opener and our set.

But it's not like an official ritual; it's just a strange convergence of bowel patterns based on the fact that we live on a bus together with a no-pooping rule.

SN: Beatles or Elvis? And why?

BR: Umm, Beatles. For like a million reasons. I always thought it was Beatles or Stones? How'd Elvis work his way into that question?

SN: Why do you believe your music resonates so well with a college audience?

BR: I would say because we look like college kids up there, but now that we're all in our 30s, that's not really the case. But we literally grew out of a dorm room jam situation that people in college can connect with, so somehow that resonates.

There's not much rock star posturing in our band. We wear the same T-shirts on stage that we slept in the night before.

SN: Why do most bands on MySpace.com set the age for more than 100 years old?

BR: Good question. What's MySpace?

SN: Why do fans throw Ping-Pong balls on stage with "Me Gusta Guster" written on them during "Airport Song?"

BR: Part of me thinks they throw Ping-Pong balls at us because we recorded a Ping-Pong match in stereo, over the outro of the song in the studio. But most of me thinks they throw Ping-Pong balls at us just to see if they can hit us.

As far as "Me Gusta Guster" — I've never read that on a Ping-Pong ball. Song requests, phone numbers and inspired Sharpie art, yes. "Me Gusta Guster," never.

SN: How did college life shape your music?

BR: The music we were writing when we were actually at Tufts (college) is really different than the music we're writing now, but we've always listened to pop bands as long as we've been music fans and we've always written pop music when we go into the studio. I was a DJ at the Tufts radio station and delved into indie rock back then.

We still like to listen to new bands as much as we like to listen to '60s pop, etc. I don't think this answers your question at all.

SN: How do fans in the Midwest react differently to your concerts than your fans on the East Coast?

BR: To be honest, the Midwest has become our adopted home. It used to be that the East Coast was always really energetic, and we still felt like we were developing elsewhere. For some reason the Midwest is now the part of the country that embraces us the most. Maybe it's just a bunch of kids from Long Island that went to college in Michigan or Ohio, but whatever the reason, we're not complaining. We have plenty of Midwest stops on our forthcoming summer tour.

SN: Are there any plans for a new Guster studio album?

BR: We spent like all of 2005 recording it. It's called "Ganging Up on the Sun" and it comes out June 20th. It's our best record yet.