Minneapolis alt-rockers Hojas Rojas released their sophomore album, Helium, just under a month ago. A gallimaufry of influence and songwriting, it’s best to know this band is influenced by the White Stripes but isn’t afraid to push push their own musical identity — as evidenced by the title track.

My favorite tracks include the diversified coloration of “The Girl Song” and the pure rocker “What I Would.” This may sound like a cop-out, but Helium is one of those albums you can put on at a party and know it will do the job. Sometimes that’s enough, isn’t it?

We had the opportunity to chat with singer/multi-instrumentalist DJ Kukielka this week. Read on…

How was SXSW last month?
SXSW was fantastic and frustrating at the same time. We were thrilled to get to do a show down there during the festival for Reveille and Eclectone. The sheer volume of things going on is really daunting and logistically it can be difficult to catch most shows because of where they are and how many people are in line and badges/wristbands etc. But there are some seriously talented artists there from everywhere. The weather was beautiful and there was a lot of neon and white belts.

Did your set have a good reception by the Austin elite?
Yeah, everyone seemed to have a good time. We were at the Molotov Lounge and the windows are open to the street so even though we played early there was a lot of foot-traffic, and we had a couple songs on the sampler which a lot of people picked up. It would be great to be able to do about three shows down there. Doing five like Cloud Cult would be great too, just a lot of running around.

Did you catch any good bands yourself?
Not nearly what I should have, but I saw The Raveonettes at the Spin party, She and Him at the Current stage, and Le Loup was pretty wild.

How is Helium different than your last album, KILLMEILOVEYOU, from summer of 2006?
It is a total cliche, but it’s stripped down. I wanted to reduce the overdubbing, the acoustic guitars, synths, and everything. There’s only really drums/bass/guitar/guitar/vocals. I wanted to write and perform songs that would have a live feel, no fooling anybody, we’re just a four-piece rock band, lets sound like one. While hopefully being smart, energetic and engaging.

Last time we talked, you were really into Jack White’s songwriting approach. Are you still listening to so much White Stripes?
Some, not nearly as much as a couple summers ago. I’ve listened a lot to the Raconteurs and the Loretta Lynn album Jack produced. We did “Portland, Oregon” at the 400 show with Amy from Big Ditch Road singing the Loretta part, which was super fun. Every couple years something new turns me on, right now “Strawberry Jam” by Animal Collective album is the most exciting thing I’ve been listening to. I’m always at least six months behind the buzz.

What’s the story behind the title track?
Chris (no longer in the band, but we’re good friends) brought a demo CD of his that was like six years old, just an instrumental home recording, and gave it to me and said to “see if you can do anything with this” or something like that, and there was a weird little instrumental called “Helium.” I took the guitar melody and some structural aspects, then sort of added my parts and lyrics. I first brought it to TJ and Tim, and TJ totally dissed it. So I re-worked it and finally when the four of us played it we were like “Fuck Yeah!” We played it ten times in a row, and it became the obvious centerpiece of that time period.

Where can people pick up the disc locally?
Right now at Cheapo and Electric Fetus. It will be available online soon. And anywhere you might find me.

You have a big tour coming up and the opportunity to reach a lot of new ears. What are the expectations?
We’re playing our first string of consecutive dates out of town, leaving next week (4/23). I don’t really know what to expect, but we’re gonna play our asses off for whoever shows up. There’s a Toronto-based music site called Two Way Monologues (dot com), and they’re promoting our Toronto show, which acted as the centerpiece. We’re just really lucky to get some good rooms on the way and Pianos in NY. After that, we’re going to record again sometime soon, there’s a lot of new material already, then do it all over again.