That thundering echo you hear from the blue dot in the very red state? That’s Austin metal faves the Sword, in action after eight years of a mix of sporadic activity, hiatus, dissolution, reunion, and more. We’re glad to have them back on the road and patiently await future news, but until then we’d like to have a bit more detail as to what the boys have been up to for the past few years. Except for lead guitarist Kyle Shutt, who apparently has been going straight to jail and not collecting $200. Let us explain.

How did you start collecting Monopoly, of all things?

I sort of fell ass-backwards into collecting Monopoly sets. The first one I had was my family’s Monopoly set when I was a kid. I just always loved the game. And in middle school/ junior high, when you have sleepovers with three or four of the guys, it was the game that we would stay up until like six in the morning playing. So it was kind of my early introduction to all-night partying.

Wow, remind me not to go to your parties.