The French Kicks, performing at Play:STL festival Saturday in the Loop, have been churning out their blend of garage and modern rock for about a decade now. Their fourth CD, Swimming, came out this summer and is their mellowest so far. On Tuesday the Kicks will release an EP of cover songs (Covers, naturally) including Neil Young’s “Walk On.” The band “figured out how to play (the songs) on the spot just before we recorded them,” according to their MySpace. Also, they did a DayTrotter session a few months back which can be heard here.

I spoke with vocalist Nick Stumpf as he and the band drove to Montreal to kick of their current mini-tour.

RC: Have you played St. Louis?

NS: We played there one time – I remember because it was one of the only times someone showed us her breasts! It happened outside the show.

RC: You recently played under the Brooklyn Bridge, correct?

NS: Yes, it was a cool event in DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) in an old tobacco factory. There are tons of outdoor spaces to play in New York. The McCarren Pool series is over now though, they’re turning it back into a pool.

RC: Did you always know you wanted to pursue music after college?

NS: I pretty much knew I wanted to do it – I just didn’t know how. It’s been moving very slowly and steadily in the right direction. Of course the main hope is that we get better at doing music, and I think we have been. We’ve had an interesting evolution musically. We started out a little louder, but we’ve always loved experimenting with sound. Our drummer (Aaron Thurston) can make miraculous amounts of sounds. He has pads with samples and invented a shaker he plays with his foot. We can reproduce most of the new record live. In fact, most of the tracks were played live with little overdubbing.

French Kicks

Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd.

11:45 p.m. Saturday, $15 for a three-day Play:STL wristband (99 bands)

www.myspace.com/frenchkicks

Video:  So Far We Are

Photo by Matthew Stinchcomb