Lately, it seems like everyone's talking about The_Network -- and the New Hampshire-born band's sophomore full-length, 'Bishop Kent Manning,' which drops on Sept. 15. If the band has managed to fly under your radar since 2002, you're not alone. In fact, their debut album, 2007's 'This Is Your Pig's Portrait' was barely publicized, and The_Network, by their own admission, didn't do much to push it.

But after one listen to the punishing, potent-yet-provocative 'Bishop Kent Manning,' a Kurt Ballou-helmed concept record built around the story of a televangelist who renounces his beliefs from his death bed, you're going to want to hear 'Pig's Portrait.' But guitarist Pete Marr asks that you "please don't." But why Pete?

"The first one, production-wise ... I don't know. Where we were, we were just way scattered all over the place," he tells Noisecreep. "The drums sound like absolute s---, especially the snare. We would go into the studio, and we didn't know who the f--- was going to put it out, or anything. We just went in there and we had four years worth of material, so what do you do when you have four years worth of songs? You constantly f--- with them at practice, and by the time you're done with the songs, it's like, 'That's not even what it was supposed to sound like. It's just like all over the place.' So, I mean, now, it was more of a focused effort. We wanted to kill it, but we wanted to get an idea and stick to the idea, and make good songs around that idea."

Marr says The_Network is a different band today than it was when it's first album hit stores, too. They've toured basically nonstop since the record's release, and they're not about to let that momentum slide. After the new album drops, The_Network will get back out there with a band from Australia called Robotosaurus. That trek kicks off in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 2 and runs through Oct. 18 in Dover, N.H.

"They brought us over to Australia a few months ago," Marr says. "You know, we get MySpace messages from different bands, and you don't know if they're serious or not, and they hit us up this one morning and they're like, 'Wanna tour Australia?' And we wrote back immediately that we wanted to do it. We didn't know if it was a joke or just some dude fielding responses. He wrote us back and gave us the lowdown, and now, we're taking them out in the States. That band, they rage harder than any other band we've ever toured with, and we're known for getting wild ... these guys are going for it, hard."

The_Network is lining up more tours in Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia, thanks to a little connection they made in Australia. Marr says he doesn't know why bands always grumble about international touring, either.

"It's strange how willing people can be to get you in their country and sort of take care of things," he says. "It's a lot easier than people make it out to be. You talk to other bands and they're like, 'Dude, how the f--- did you guys do that? Tour Australia? You make any money?' And it's like, 'No one's f---ing making money.' Just f---ing go out there and spend anything you've saved up and make it happen. Take the risk because it usually works out."

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