With their first full-length album You Can't Spell Slaughter Without Laughter on the way, Miami, FL residents I Set My Friends on Fire are having one hell of a year. The attention received from their cover of “Crank That Soulja Boy,” has spring-boarded this band into the public eye; and with lots more in their arsenal than a few funny covers, they’ve been well received. HEAVE recently got a chance to chat with the duo’s instrumental mastermind Nalib Moo.

HEAVE: I was amazed when I first heard "Crank That Cavalry Boy," I though you guys were like a parody band or something. After listening to some of your other songs though, I realized you were a legit hard working band, with an excellent sense of humor- How did you come up with the idea?

Nabil Moo: We started ISMFOF because our old band broke up since most of the other members were going off to college, so Matt and I decided to keep working on music by ourselves. Also, my brother, who is our manager, had given me a lot of software to make beats and that helped since we weren't a full band. As far as style goes, we have lots of different musical influences and we try to incorporate as many styles as possible. When it comes to “Crank That,” that was actually Matt's idea, and we recorded it in his garage using my Macbook at 2 AM - who knew it would turn out like this?

HEAVE: Did the success of "Crank That" come as a surprise to you guys?

Nabil Moo: Yes, we pretty much did it as a joke and didn't expect it to blow up the way it did. And, of course we're very happy about that because it's taken us far.

HEAVE: It also came as a shock that the band had only two members; do you ever wish you had more members?

Nabil Moo: In a way yes, because it is daunting for me to have to come up with parts for every single instrument. But, in another way it's good to only have two members because it's easier to get things done and not have to deal with many different opinions on an issue. So, there are pros and cons.

HEAVE: I've read about your DIY attitude of the band. With the two of you being as young as you are, what sorts of obstacles did you run into?

Nabil Moo: Well, our manager is an entertainment lawyer and has a background in the music business, so he was able to help take care of a lot of the business aspects of the band. Basically, we're kind of like a tripod: I do the production and music, Matt does the vocals and lyrics, and our manager Kamal handles the business and legal stuff.

HEAVE: Sounds effective. You guys are signed to Epitaph now, which is awesome by the way - how did all that come about?

Nabil Moo: Basically Kamal got an email from Epitaph saying that Brett Gurewitz, the head of Epitaph, wanted to talk to him. And then, Brett said on the phone that he wanted to offer us a deal. When Kamal called us and told us that, we were totally excited and immensely surprised that such a well-known label wanted to work with us. It was like something straight out of the movies. And, from there, it took a few months of negotiations, but we got the deal closed and started recording around April.

HEAVE: I understand you performed at Bamboozle 2008, what was that like?

Nabil Moo: It was really exciting and freezing! The Bamboozle was actually only our second show ever as ISMFOF. Matt and I have played several shows before with our old band, so we weren't really that scared of actually performing, but we were a little nervous about whether or not we could pull off a two-person performance on stage. In the end, it went beyond our expectations. The crowd was really into it, and a lot more people showed up to see us than we expected - probably a couple thousand or so.

HEAVE: You guys have created a very interesting, and undoubtedly unique style of music. It's really a blending of several musical styles you wouldn't think to put together, but for you it has worked out beautifully. How would you describe your own music?

Nabil Moo: It's very eclectic and kind of out there, but we try to make it accessible to as many people as possible. But at the same time we want to put out material that we can be proud of.

HEAVE: October 7th, sounds like I have a new date to keep track of- what can we expect from You Can't Spell Slaughter Without Laughter?

Nabil Moo: You can expect lots of energy and a huge range of emotions. The album will have the tracks that most of our fans have already heard, but there are a bunch of new songs that will hopefully show people that we're serious about taking our music to the next level. We're hoping that people will hear the evolution in our sound and of course we hope they'll like it.

HEAVE: Any chance you'll be on the road soon? If so, anyone you'd be interested in touring with?

Nabil Moo: We're hoping to hit the road later this year or early '09. Since our producer Travis Richter is in From First To Last, we think it would be pretty cool if we could tour with them. But, there are a lot of great bands out there that we think we'd fit well with, so we're keeping an open mind when it comes to touring.

HEAVE: You guys obviously enjoy communicating with the fans, which is apparent through the at least daily Myspace bulletins and video blogs. You also seem to have a very diverse fan base. What do you think about all your fans; is it important to keep in contact with everyone?

Nabil Moo: Of course! If it weren't for them, we'd still be in Matt's garage and probably just making music on the side. So, we definitely make an effort to respond to everyone's emails that we get on Myspace because without them, who knows where we'd be right now.

HEAVE: Time for a few quickies! What's the best movie you've seen lately?

Nabil Moo: The Dark Knight! It was crazy good!

HEAVE: Reading anything good?

Nabil Moo: Honestly, not really - but, we watch a lot of politics on MSNBC. Did we mention that we love The Contessa Brewer? Because we do!

HEAVE: What's the best album so far in 2008, and are there any albums you're looking forward to?

Nabil Moo: For the most part, we listen to stuff from a few years ago, like The Great Redneck Hope, The Acacia Strain, Boys Night Out and stuff like that. But this year, we're looking forward to the new Sound of Animals Fighting album. Oh, and we're also looking forward to Ryan Leslie's album that's coming out in September - he's a hip hop/R&B producer who makes videos on Youtube, and he's totally talented.

HEAVE: Describe your perfect pizza.

Nabil Moo: Pepperoni and mushrooms and delicious sauce. We got pizza like that in New Jersey.