But it became this mystical equation that began controlling my destiny and I realised it provided the context in which I lived. "And I discovered this equation: voltage equals resistance times current flow.
So I learned about circuit diagrams and electronic theory so I could repair it myself," explains the bearded, bespectacled studio whiz as he hyperventilates about this life-changing moment. "When we were recording The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone I'd upgraded to a 1972 Ampex MM 1200 16-track tape machine that I'd coveted for years, but it broke down a lot and it was very expensive to fix. It turns out Schneider had something of a "near-mystical" experience a few years back, involving a mathematics formula. Only in Schneider's case, his love of music, from ELO and Supertramp to the Velvet Underground and the Beach Boys - all of whose influence you can hear on New Magnetic Wonder - is superseded by a love of maths.
Robert Schneider, their singer, songwriter and producer, is probably the most breathless interviewee I've encountered since, well, Elijah Wood. The Apples are one of the mainstays of US underground pop: they founded the cult late-90s psychedelic Elephant 6 collective/label, and in the UK, they won an astonishing third place in the fans' vote to determine the line-up for the All Tomorrow's Parties Vs the Fans festival, happening in May. That album is New Magnetic Wonder by the Apples in Stereo, the band's sixth release. And now he is putting his money where his tastes are with Simian, which releases its first album this month. Wood finds a lot of music and musicians "amazing": the Zombies' late-60s baroque-pop lost classic Odessey & Oracle (although he prefers their even more obscure Begin Here: "Oh my God, the drums on that record!"), Prince up to Lovesexy ("The last document of Prince as we knew him"), the Miles Davis Bitches Brew sessions ("Totally insane"), Tom Waits ("Real Gone was as good as anything he's done") and Gang of Four ("Were Franz Ferdinand influenced by them? Unabashedly!"). I missed Field Music last night at the ICA - I love those guys, they're amazing. I love the stuff on Twisted Nerve and LA's Stones Throw - they've got an incredible underground hip-hop catalogue - and I love Honest Jon's: Damon Albarn is one of the heads and they do calypso and west African reissues. The McCartney ones are much more lush and dynamic. I love the Lennon albums, they're so open emotionally and stripped-down in terms of production. When I was 11, someone gave me a copy of Sgt Pepper's and it totally blew my mind. The Sundays were the first band that had a huge impact on me. It's essentially an updated version of early 70s Sabbath. "They're not death metal they're calling it doom rock. "The last band I saw was Witchcraft from Sweden," he says, lighting a cigarette in the bar of London's Metropolitan hotel, and beginning a stream-of-rock-consciousness monologue. It's a labour of love: within minutes of meeting him, those big green eyes are fairly bulging out of their sockets as Wood enthuses about his favourite bands and labels with all the nerdy zeal of an obscurer-than-thou NME reader. He has just founded his own label, Simian, and signed his first act, US indie pop outfit the Apples in Stereo. But Elijah Wood, who played Frodo in The Lord of the Rings, wastes little time in impressing you with his passion for rock'n'roll. For a start, he's best known as a hobbit.
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