Although the new disc features vocals by Christopher Anton, the group is headed out for a handful of live shows with its original lineup of Paul Robb, James Cassidy and Kurt Harland.

The first chance to catch the trio is January 5 at the Trocadero Theater in Philadelphia. Other shows on the schedule so far include January 6 at El Corazon in Seattle, January 13 at DNA Lounge in San Francisco and January 18 at Elysium in Austin.

Tickets for the Philly show are available at Ticketmaster.com and tickets for the other shows available at venue box offices. Complete info is available at Dancing-Ferret.com/isjangig.

Pollstar got a chance to speak with Robb recently about Synthesizer, touring and the how music has changed since the ’80s.

In the first half of our two-part interview, the musician talks about the album and why InSoc decided to come back.

How did you go about making an album that sounds fairly contemporary, yet still sounds like the Information Society we all remember?

“That’s always the dilemma, especially for a band like us. We’ve been through all of the weird permutations and lived through a number of eras. On the one hand I didn’t want to make it strictly sound like a retro record. But on the other hand I didn’t want to make that other mistake of trying to be too current when you’re really actually not that current. You kind of come off like you’re pretending to be something that you really are not.”

There seems to be some confusion among fans as to why Chris Anton did vocals for the new album but Kurt will handle vocals on tour. What’s the reason for that?

“Kurt was on the album as well. It’s just that at the time we were making the record, he had just had a new baby and he just wasn’t all that available. He gave us his blessing and said, ‘Go ahead. I like Chris. I like his voice.’ So that’s what we did. Kurt did vocals on a couple of songs and he did backgrounds on a couple of others. So it was all in the family.”

Hasn’t Information Society always been kind of a musical collective anyway?

“Exactly. One of the things that we kind of didn’t like about our Top 40 era, if you will, is that just because of the nature of the beast and the needs of the marketing department of the record company, we were kind of forced into this ‘Who’s in the band and who isn’t? What’s their story? What’s the biography? Who’s the singer and who’s the guitar player and the bass player?’ We’ve never comfortably fit into that kind of situation.

“None of us play any particular instrument, because we’re not a rock combo. It’s not like ‘Okay, lead guitar, bass guitar and drums.’ Jim Cassidy has sung lead vocal on several songs. And Murat Konar did the lead vocals on ‘Running’ and so on and so forth.

“In one sense, we’re sort of happy to be back in the land of not so much commercial pressure, because we can go back to being what we always were, which is as you say, more of a collective.

“Another thing about the passage of time that’s benefited us is that people are much more comfortable with sounds coming out of a computer because of the DJ revolution and laptop bands and everything like that. It used to be if people heard drum sounds, they’d be like ‘Well where’s the drummer?’ And if they didn’t see a drummer, then you must be some sort of track show and you’re lip-synching.

“Now people are a lot more hip to sounds coming out of computer or a sequencer and it doesn’t mean that the band is just a bunch of tambourine mannequins up there faking it all.”

Why did you bring the band back together now? Was it just time or has the electro resurgence, with artists out there like Goldfrapp and Calvin Harris, inspired you to return?

“For years and years, I would listen to pop music and club music and just say kind of ‘Meh.’ I mean techno as a genre, I never really liked. Because we’ve always been a pop band. Information Society has always been about songs. So ten minute instrumental jams was just not really our thing.

“I have to say in the last few years, I’ve been hearing a lot of really good electronic pop music – both in terms of the dance floor, where vocals are making a comeback and song structure is making a comeback, and in terms of actual pop pop. You have groups like The Faint and Goldfrapp – I could name ten others if I had time.”

Kylie Minogue is also a good example. It’s dance music, but it has traditional song structure and it’s about a good pop song also.

“Exactly. And in the clubs these days, if you listen to groups like Justice and Simian Mobile Disco, they’re cool. So to make a long story short, I actually like what I’m hearing in the world of electronic music now, and it made me excited to add our voice to the sound of the crowd as it were.”

In part two of Pollstar‘s interview, which is coming up Monday, Robb talks about touring, changes in technology and getting older in the music business.