Reese Roper (left) with his namesake band.

When Five Iron Frenzy decided to call it quits at the end of 2003, that wasn't the last we'd see of lead singer and sometimes goofball Reese Roper. In 2004 he returned with a new band, dubbed Roper, which released its debut album, Brace Yourself for the Mediocre, in the fall. Joined by lead guitarist Jonathan Byrnside, bassist Johnathan Till, rhythm guitarist Stephen Till, and drummer Nick White, Roper has been crisscrossing the country spreading the word about his new band's pop-punk melodies—and with a nod to the late, great Five Iron with a cover of "Handbook for the Sellout" on the set list. We joined Reese Roper backstage at Club Three Degrees in Minneapolis for a recent conversation.

How is Roper different from Five Iron Frenzy?

Reese Roper: With Five Iron, there were eight people putting their ideas into a pot, and sometimes if someone had a great idea, it would get muted by everyone else's input. It was hard to have one direction with Five Iron. It was hard to have a direction with anything, with the way we did tours, or what we did on stage, or where we would go musically, or what we were doing ministry-wise. So I think, with this band I'm trying to not make the same mistakes we made in Five Iron.

Five Iron was presented with a number of opportunities to make it in the general market and blew it. I don't want to make those mistakes. I want this band to be able to succeed in the general market. I want to do that just because I feel . . . Well, I just think there's a lot of Christian bands that can only play for other Christians, that don't have the chops to make it in the general market-or what they're saying isn't relevant to the rest of the world, it's only relevant to this Christian subculture. I would like to be relevant to the world and have a relevant ministry to the general market.

You started writing and recording for Roper less than six months after Five Iron called it quits, and you didn't even form the band's current lineup until after recording. Why did you launch into Roper so quickly?

Roper: That was mostly Frank's advice [Frank Tate, 5 Minute Walk records]. I wanted to take a couple years off, but he wanted to strike while the iron was hot, while there was still buzz out from Five Iron. He wanted to be able to build off of that. I don't think our goal is ever just to take over where Five Iron left off. I loved being in Five Iron and I loved all the things that we had, so I want to try and keep as many of those fans as possible, so hopefully we'll build off that.

What's it been like being back on the road?

Roper: I keep getting this feeling like I'm experiencing this very, very strange sense of déjà vu. We started out in the same tour bus that we were in for all the last tour with Five Iron because Frank owns it. Then he rented it out half way through the tour so we went back to a 15-person van, which we did for five years in Five Iron. It's weird being back in a 15-person van and remembering all these things I didn't want to remember. Like how to sleep in between seats, or finding the best place to sit to not feel the bumpiness, or how to back up with a two-ton trailer behind you. That kind of thing is kind of goofy.

But it's cool, [because] there was a feeling for me on the last [Five Iron] tour that I might not see a lot of people ever again, friends that we made. I'm getting to see them again and that's encouraging.

How do you like being the leader of this new band?

Roper: I sometimes feel like I'm this mean tyrannical dictator in this band because sometimes I'll have to get on someone's case because they're not sound-checking right. And the only reason I know how to sound-check the most efficiently is because I had nine years of practice, and this is how it's done: You go around in a circle and you take turns. I'll be like, "Hey, you're out of turn!" Some of the guys, especially one of our guitar players, are pretty green at this, so it's pretty rough for us.

Do you feel like the dad of the band?

Roper: Sometimes, yeah.

What have you been reading lately?

Roper: I'm not doing very good on the reading. I'm about halfway through The Sacred Romance by John Eldredge, and I'm reading a book called Winter in the Blood by James Welch.

What's your favorite book?

Roper: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. All of Hemingway's books follow this horrific tragedy pattern, but I think that one is such a great metaphor for life. This old man, Santiago, is bested by all the other fisherman in his village. So one day he catches this marlin that pulls his raft for thousands of miles. It takes all he has left to bring back this marlin. He fights off sharks to get back, but he dies bringing this fish into the village. Still, everyone can see how big it was, even though it's just bones left, and they realize what a great man he was. I think real life is more like that than any other book I've read.

You've often alluded to literature in your songs. Are you a big literature buff?

Roper: Both my parents thought it was good for me to read classics growing up, and my mom was an English teacher. When other kids were reading Go Dog Go I had to read A Tale of Two Cities. I read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. I'd try to read classics that were more exciting for young people, like Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver's Travels. I'm glad for it now.

What's the future for Roper?

Roper: I want it to go pretty much from where Five Iron left off and go far in the general market, but I wouldn't want to do that if it wasn't what God wanted, so I want to let him steer.

You can learn more about the band at Roper's official site, and wax nostalgic over Five Iron Frenzy at our artist page for the ska-rock band. Click here to read our review of Roper's debut album. Visit Christianbook.com to listen to sound clips and buy the CD.

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