Now You Know: Paper Forest

“I’m kinda a quiet guy, but it was really coming out of me the other night,” says Paper Forest bassist Trevor Mast (Joy) about a recent show at Tin Can Ale House. The evening saw a bare-chested Mast in a leather vest thrashing his bass behind his head and narrowly avoiding an ass-kicking. “Trevor tried to lick this kid’s mohawk, and his friend got really upset,” explains singer-guitarist Sean Burdeaux. “This punk kid comes up, juts out his chin, and tells Trevor he’s gonna kick his ass. Trevor kept demanding a hug, and you know what? He eventually got it. They even took a picture together giving a thumbs-up in front of the bar.”

Existing in various incarnations since 2005, Coronado’s indie-rap-math-electro-pop-R&B group Paper Forest is exploring a new sound and songwriting process with the addition of Danica Molenaar (Dusty Highway Band) on keys and backing vocals. Friends with Mast and Burdeaux since high school, Molenaar recently joined the group after a freestyle hip-hop jam at Burdeaux’s house involving an abundance of alcoholic energy drinks. “We just let the Joose flow,” says Molenaar. “Auto-Tune, vocorder, and Joose are the bread and butter of Paper Forest. But beyond that, we are planning a summer West Coast tour with D/Wolves and Primitive Noyes.”

“In the music world, Auto-Tune is the worst, most addictive drug ever,” says Burdeaux. “It makes everything sound good, but if you use it too much, no one wants to listen to your music because it’s really annoying. But all that Auto-Tune shit is just for fun. We are working in a new direction. It’s still melodic and songwriterly but more fun, upbeat, technically proficient, and instrumental.”

Drummer Glenn Romett (Primitive Noyes) is also a new addition to the group. “My original goal was to get Sean to join my band,” says Romett. “But somehow I ended up in his. He had all of these great songs already. I want to make these songs the best they can be. I really believe in these guys.”

“I taught Glen our new math breakdown right before the show in a text,” says Burdeaux. “It was sections of three and five and seven. And Glen was, like, ‘Whoa! You just texted that to me!’ ”

“It’s gonna sound like we plugged an algebra book into an amplifier,” Burdeaux says regarding the new direction of the band. “Math-rock is such an awesome genre, so fun.”

Newcomer Molenaar, however, has a different vision of the future.

“We’re the next Lady Gaga.”

• Paper Forest: March 30 at Tin Can Ale House with Neat Beats and Skeletal System
• Sounds like: Modest Mouse, Kickball, Battles

Got a wicked pissah new band? Let us know by sending your MySpace thing to barnaby_monk@sdreader.com. We’ll check you/them out for our next installment of “Now You Know.”