In anticipation of our show tomorrow at the Middle East, The Metro has a nice little article about us.

Getting people excited about a new band is easy. But maintaining that enthusiasm is another story altogether. That’s something that Joel Reader and his Boston-based power pop outfit the Fatal Flaw have in mind as they begin writing songs for the follow-up to their well received debut “We Are What We Pretend to Be.”

“I don’t want to fall into the trap where it takes years to produce a follow-up and by then nobody remembers why they were excited about the band in the first place,” Reader says. The band, whose clever, pop punk anthems earned them a nod for Best New Act at the Boston Music Awards a few months back, were happy with the recognition, but it’s not necessarily the type of thing that can make or break a career.

“I don’t know if you can count on that sort of thing to translate directly or immediately into a bigger fan base,” says Reader. “It’s all part of a gradual process, and of course it helps, but I think people still have to discover new groups at their own pace. And that’s OK. I think folks should be skeptical of every new act that crops up. I know I am! The world certainly doesn’t need any more bands, so we all have to prove our worth and justify our existence one show, one listener at a time. That’s as it should be.”

The next step in that process is working on new material, in a more collaborative process. “This next batch of songs will be interesting,” he says, “because in a way we’re only now forming the band’s true identity. I brought almost all previous material out with me from California, but this new stuff is the sound of four guys writing together in a practice space for the first time.”

It should also be interesting to see how a full year of playing as a band here after a long time in San Francisco rubs off on Reader’s approach. So far he seems pleased with the environs.

“I continue to be surprised by the sheer amount of musical ability on display in the Boston music scene,” he says. “I just think there are more bands here with talented players doing interesting things than I remember being back in California. Something in the water, I guess.

“Playing live here has a lot of similarities to back home, though. Boston and San Francisco are both major U.S. cities with long-standing independent music venues and a tradition of great music, which means audiences in both places are spoiled, and I mean that in the kindest way possible. In either city, on any given night, you can go out and see a stellar performance from either a local band or a national touring act, so that means audiences in both places aren’t easily impressed. Lots of people standing with their arms folded, watching the stage with stoic expressions.”

That sort of reception just presents another minor speed bump in the one-listener-at-a-time process.

“If you can simply keep people away from the bar and get them to nod their heads a little, you have to feel good about your performance.”