Recently I got the chance to have a little chat with Nate Reinauer, lead singer and ring leader of the super power-pop group Sweet Diss and the Comebacks, who hail from Eastern Washington.

The band has a fantastic catalog of power-pop/rock gems, but is probably most famous for its songs “Pam Pong” and “Dunder and Dwightning”, both tributes to the NBC sitcom “The Office”. Since its release, “Pam Pong” has received so much attention that it earned them a mention in Entertainment Weekly.

If you’re into rocking singalong tunes that are catchy as all hell, you need to do yourself a favor and check them out. You can visit their MySpace or you can check out a couple extra special tracks right here on their Moshable page. And now for some Q+A!

Nate, I’ve always wanted to know but been too afraid to ask…what does “Sweet Diss and the Comebacks” mean?

I have no idea. All I remember is that “and the Comebacks” came first, and I was really happy when I came up with “Sweet Diss” later. Then I was depressed when I realized “diss” should be spelled “dis”. Then I was happy again when I realized I didn’t care anymore. (Actually I just checked freedictionary.com, and it can be spelled either way! Yesssss.)

Is Sweet Diss pretty much the biggest band in Eastern Washington? Is it true that there is an East Washington/West Washington rivalry between you and MxPx?

That’s a common misconception and I’m glad you brought it up. Nirvana was actually the West Washington band we had a rivalry with. It was pretty rough. We all know what happened to Kurt. (Too soon?)

I understand there is a girl in Sweet Diss. Is this a clever marketing ploy?

We actually started out as a girl group, and band leader Lori decided to replace their old singer Tracie with me as a marketing ploy, so people could be like, “hey there’s that girl group with the dude singer”. It worked out for a while, until we realized that the buying public were a bunch of misogynistic assholes who preferred it the other way around. So we fired those other hoes and got Josh and Tyler.

There have been some delays in the release of the new Sweet Diss album. Will we have to wait 15 years? Will it be better than Chinese Democracy?

Well, it will probably be several more months until it’s totally finished. But yes, you will have to wait 15 years. We’ve decided that, like wine, music tastes much better aged. We’ll wait till our fans are in their 30s or 40s before we let them get drunk off our sick grooves.

Speaking of the new album…can you tell us anything more about it? How will it sound compared to previous Sweet Diss releases?

I was hoping you’d say “Speaking of getting drunk off of sick grooves…” but that’s a good question, too. It’ll hopefully sound like pouring 6 gallons of bubblegum slushie into the Batcopter and flying it into the Sun.

Does the new album have a title yet?

Well, at the moment it has two. We went through several ideas, everything from “Maximum Vend” to “There Is No ‘Sweet Diss and the Comebacks’ in TEAM”. But we finally decided on either “Swaying Isn’t Dancing” or “Stop, Rock, & Roll” (although we’re still unsure of the placement of the commas in that last one). We’re going to put a lot more thought into it, but in the end, it’s probably going to be something completely different that we make up in a panic at the very last second, like “Purple Cat Purrade” or something equally regrettable.

There is nothing regrettable about Purple Cat Purrade! The new record is being mixed in Nashville. Is it true that LeAnn Rimes is producing?

Close! It’s actually Wyatt Funderburk of the band Second Saturday who is mixing it. As we speak, hopefully. I have him on my twitter so I can check this.

Not too long ago, Jenna Fisher of NBC’s “The Office” added your song “Pam Pong” to her MySpace page. Did this lead to any sort of romantic involvement between you and Jenna?

It’s funny you should ask. I don’t think we had a relationship, but she did separate from her husband around the same time she put our song up. I’m not saying there’s a connection. I’m just saying.

A little birdie told me that you are working on a song of epic proportions, one that may be as long as 8 minutes or more. If this new song challenged Stairway to Heaven to a game of one-on-one basketball, who would win, and why?

It’ll actually be around 10 minutes, so your little birdie friend is a damn liar! It’s about a dream I had once and it’s hopefully going to be the longest 10 minute song ever. I can’t comment on the S.T.H. basketball competition right now though cause the song is currently in the middle of a heated water polo match against the Bee Gees.

Before we conclude this interview, would you like to give a shout-out to anyone?

You’re going down, Stairway!!