Music genre labels have a notoriously short shelf life. It seems almost as soon as they’re part of the popular lexicon, they’re co-opted by the mainstream and lose all their cachet and original meaning. Indie rock still seems to mean independent rock, for the most part, and few bands meet that ideal like Toronto’s DD/MM/YYYY. These guys hit all the markers and then some, from their eclectic mix of sounds and styles (they incorporate everything from metal to Zappa to punk and post rock) to their collective work ethic and hectic, almost non-stop touring schedule. Fast Forward catches up with them as they drive across Texas in full-on rock-star comfort and splendour. “Right now, I’m sitting shoulder to shoulder with our guitarist, Tomas [Del Baso], my leg is on our drum set and our T-shirt box could fall on my head at any time,” says keyboardist Jordan Holmes with a chuckle.

The punk-prog-post-rock five-piece is well into a gruelling three-month tour in support of their latest release, Black Square, released digitally last week and in stores March 17. This time out, they’ll be playing nearly 60 dates criss-crossing the continent a couple of times and playing on a wide range of bills. The band’s musical diversity and eclectic, energetic live show open them up to a wide variety of billing possibilities.

“We can be on a tour with Don Caballero this year, but last year we did 10 shows with Crystal Castles,” says Holmes. “The kind of people coming out to those shows are completely different,” says Jordan. “We’ve opened for DJs in Baltimore, Dan Deacon, we’ve toured with Video Hippos, the whole spectrum. Because we kind of don’t fit in anywhere, therefore we could fit in anywhere.”

That egalitarian attitude extends to the band’s decision-making as well. Their music is equally the product of each of the band’s five members, a sort of democratically achieved weirdness.

“Yeah, totally we are,” he says without hesitation. “We’re all strong musicians and we all have strong opinions, but we’re very close, so we work really well in the democratic environment. Of course, there are a few times where there’ll be one person who is way more strongly opinionated about something, and there are arguments, but it usually works out and ends up being a way better song or show. It’s like a family group, where you argue and it can get pretty intense, but at the end of the day, they’re still your family and you’re in it together. There’s never any hard feelings that come out of touring for us.”

Touring in the U.S.A. has brought its own set of challenges. Despite incessant touring and European and Canadian label support, the U.S. market remains a tough nut to crack.

“What we’ve found coming into the States is a lot of independent labels in America, they’re independent and they like to deal with their own friend networks,” explains Holmes. “It’s kind of hard for a Canadian band to get in unless you already have a major label or even a large indie label pushing you.” Still, they’re happy to show up, play their shows and slowly, steadily grow their diverse and unique fan base. Through it all, DD/MM/YYYY remain utterly true to the spirit of indie rock.

“To be what we are, we have to always be aware of the limits of our influence, of what we can do,” says Holmes. “As we are growing now, we have to be even more aware of it. We really like the control we have over what our band does. We want our interests to be looked after. We don’t want to compromise for the bottom line or to what somebody else’s idea of DD/MM/YYYY should be. We are fiercely independent, you might say.”