The PepTides are back.

A local force of nature, the group is set to play a rare full-band performance at the Mercury Lounge, including songs from their soon-to-be-recorded Love Question Mark album.

The new album, a 25-track project about love, is a companion recording to the group’s last concept album about hate – For Those Who Hate Human Interaction.

On Dec 15, Ottawa fans can see Claude Marquis, DeeDee Butters and the rest of the 10-person band in all their kitschy retro-electro-queer glory, as well as get a sneak peek at some of the new songs they’ll soon unleash.

“For one, we’re going to do a song called ‘Love Live Get High.’ Sort of a disco anthem. We’re also doing another song called ‘Homme Love Whore,’” says Butters. “[Love Question Mark] looks at love as a consumer industry, as something people pine for . . . it looks at things that people don’t understand. Love from a gay perspective, from a familial perspective.”

The idea for the albums on love and hate came to Marquis a few years ago while he was recording a folk album in Vermont. He says it all began with a local food pamphlet about good places for students to eat. One of the write-ups talked about a shawarma restaurant where students could eat great food and no one would talk to them. The writer suggested it as a place “for those who hate human interaction.” Thus, the project on hate was born.

“Claude has always wondered what’s wrong with the world,” says Butters. “Not in a melodramatic way, just that human beings seem to be discombobulated. It’s a weird thing that you would go to eat and not want to interact with anyone. That triggered this outpouring of songs about what people hate about human interaction — to shave and shower for a date, memories, falling tragically, madly in love. It’s all very tongue-in-cheek. To look at the good and bad things about people in equal parts.”

Love Question Mark, slated for release in 2012, will be the band’s fifth recording. This time around, the group has asked fans to underwrite the project via a rockethub.com fundraising campaign. They hope to raise $5,000 by February 2012 and say they are already one-fifth of the way there.

“I think it’s a really neat way to exist as a project — to have your membership purchase shares in our band,” says Butters, laughing. “It’s cool that the community can contribute to the art that we’re making. We’ve been fully independent up until now. Indie to the max.”

So what’s changed this time around? Putting out another 25-track album weighs heavy on the wallet.

“The mixing and mastering costs are considerably higher than, say, an eight- or 12-track LP,” says Butters. “It sort of triples the cost. And, as a performing artist, you make the majority of your money on your shows and not necessarily on album sales. We wanted to put it out there and say, Let’s keep this project going.”

The PepTides were named one of Xtra Ottawa’s Indie Queer Heroes in 2009 and also topped the Ottawa Citizen’s Big Beat List: Top 10 Records of 2010 for For Those Who Hate Human Interaction. They were also voted Best Live Show of 2011 by Ottawa Xpress.

The Deets:

The PepTides, with opening band Django Libre
Thurs, Dec 15, 8:30pm

Live at the Mercury Lounge, 56 Byward Market Square

$10