Electric Guest's Asa Taccone: 5 Things to Know About the 'Oh Devil' Singer

You know the feeling: You recognize a band, their music sounds so familiar, but you’re not quite sure where you’ve heard them before. Was it a commercial, a TV show, a late night talk show appearance? Or did you catch them during a summer music festival? Maybe you just came across one of their songs on a Spotify Discover playlist. Whatever the original circumstance, the tune is undeniably catchy and you’re curious for more.

Electric Guest checks off all the above boxes. The Los Angeles-based duo, Asa Taccone and Matthew Compton, released their first album Mondo in 2012. The debut song, “This Head I Hold,” was a retro-sounding, dance-inducing electronic R&B ditty produced by Danger Mouse. It was a best-selling single in France that year and hit No. 30 on the U.S. Billboard Alternative Songs chart.

A quick study of Asa Taccone, 33, takes us behind-the-scenes of the band’s mostly silly — and sometimes semi-serious — lead singer.

1. He’s the Younger Brother of Comedy Writer/Actor/Director Jorma Taccone

Probably best known for writing Saturday Night Live sketches with The Lonely Island comedy troupe (including Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer), Jorma Taccone is also the co-writer and co-director of comedies like MacGruber and Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. He’s popped up on TV shows, too, including Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Parks and Recreation and Girls (as Marnie’s crush Booth Jonathan). Asa has composed music for a number of his brother’s projects.

2. He Wrote the Infamous SNL Digital Shorts Songs “Dick in a Box” and “Motherlover” performed by Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg

Not only did Asa Taccone write the music for the SNL classic sketch “Dick in a Box,” he won an Emmy for it. Seriously. “I did songs for those dudes pretty much all seven years they were on SNL,” Taccone tells PEOPLE. “But ‘Dick in a Box,’ ‘Motherlover’ and ‘3-Way (The Golden Rule)’ were definitely stand outs because of Justin [Timberlake] being involved. For all the songs we did, I’d be in L.A. and they were in New York. I’d send them a bunch of instrumentals, and then I’d call them and they’d put me on speaker phone and go through each beat. It was semi-terrifying having Justin listen to my stuff. I was a kid back then. I’m sure the stuff I was playing was mostly terrible.” Legend has it, Jorma paid his little bro $60 for the Emmy-winning track.

3. He’s Neighbors with HAIM

4. He’s Inspired by the Bestselling 1970s Pop Psychology Book The Road Less Traveled

“That’s my bible right there. I swear it should be mandatory reading for all humans,” Taccone tells PEOPLE. “Damn near all the album’s lyrics were influenced by reading that book. The book is all about how real freedom lies in a constant pursuit of trying to view oneself as objectively as one can. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve felt that the main discrepancy between people is those that have a narrative about reality that they commit to more and more, and those that are open to new information and who keep asking the question: ‘Who am I?’ I’m less and less interested in inherited, conventional belief systems.”

Electric Guest is on tour now. Click here for dates and tickets.