Considering their live show is one of the loudest and most sonically ear-splitting of any in music today, it's quite ironic that speaking with Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite on the phone from Brazil is the equivalent of listening to a static-filled Howard Stern broadcast from a Buffalo radio station on a cloudy morning.

Picture this - after spending 15 minutes on a cell phone trying to reach Braithwaite's hotel, and another 10 trying to get Brazilian hotel desk clerks to put you through to the correct hotel room, you finally have contact. But then on top of the shaky, international line, you forget about Braithwaite's thick, Scottish accent that is often difficult to decipher... even in person. Oh, but there's more.

"Are you driving?!" asks a bemused Braithwaite, commenting on the street noise around you that he manages to hear over the line. Your eyes do a panoramic scan of the busy street the coffee shop patio you're sitting at is on. Then you scrunch your body even closer under the patio umbrella to get out of the pouring rain. If he only knew, you think to yourself. After explaining your situation, Braithwaite laughs with approval at the difficult conditions for the interview and you soldier on.

"Yeah, we're in Brazil right now - we've never been here before," he says. "We like playing in Japan, actually, because they really like us there. I think when we play back home in Scotland it's much more different. We don't play there as often, so it's more rowdy when we do. Not like rioting or anything, but the atmosphere is rowdy."

What does the band think of playing in Canada (considering they seem to travel across the pond a few times a year lately)?

"I think in Canada it's also different," says Braithwaite. "It seems like things are taken a lot more seriously there."

So then that's a new way of describing our reputation for being boring, lead-footed music audiences - we're serious about the music we like. Nice.

"Or maybe we like Canada because of your poor dollar!" laughs Braithwaite.

After the release of last year's dark and moody Rock Action, Mogwai toured endlessly, vowing to blow the ears off their audiences. Anyone who saw any of the shows would attest.

"Last year was as loud as we get," admits Braithwaite. "We had so many amplifiers on stage. But now, as long as we're reasonably loud, then I'm happy."

Braithwaite couldn't be any happier than the situation his band is currently in. While not outright international superstars, Mogwai has managed to grow a large cult following that thrives on the band's trademark indie rock instrumental dirges and sonic noisery. They've also spent the last five months writing new songs with the hopes of recording a new album soon.

But then how does a predominantly instrumental band continue to keep evolving its sound and keep things interesting for itself and for its fans?

"I think it's just a case of keeping ourselves happy," says Braithwaite. "I don't think there are any limitations on what we can do. We do even use a vocalist sometimes. It's just the instrumental stuff is the stuff we do best and try more often."

On the subject of writing and recording new music, the Scottish music scene is brought up, along with the fact that two phenomenal records in the past few months have been released that contain various collaborations between some of Scotland's cream of the crop. Released late last year, the Reindeer Section boasts help from members of Belle And Sebastian, Arab Strab and even Mogwai itself, while Future Pilot AKA gets help from, among others, The Pastels, Teenage Fanclub, The Delgados and Belle And Sebastian. Is there some new, harmonious, music community where each band is there to lend its creative help to another?

"I think it's the same as it's been in the last few years," ponders Braithwaite. "It's not really a music community, although we do have a lot in common with some of the bands. With the Reindeer Section, I think that was just Gary [Lightbody] from Snow Patrol gathering together a bunch of friends that he knows. Now, if I were to make that record, there wouldn't have been as many people contributing!"

Braithwaite laughs, but his joke alludes to Mogwai's standing as arguably one of the world's most controversially straightforward bands. In interviews, they've come off as cocky, brash, in-your-face and utterly arrogant.

"We're pointlessly outspoken," he declares. "But we've got a reputation because people find things to say about us. Yeah, we hate a lot of bands that I'm sure a lot of people hate too, but those things get blown up."