Scott Kirkland seems to have mixed feelings about Utah.

The man who is one-half of the electronic duo known as The Crystal Method says that he and partner Ken Jordan had a good time performing a DJ set at Elevate last August.

He's also been known to enjoy a trip to Park City during Sundance.

And he looks back fondly on a 1997 show at Saltair during which the band played an early mix of "Keep Hope Alive," a song that went on to become one of their biggest hits.

"We dropped that on the crowd that night. It was good. Good memories," he recalls.

However, he says, thinking back, "We played out near the lakebed. That was quite an interesting smell out there. It takes a little bit of time to get used to."

And the last time he was scheduled to play a live set in Utah, things didn't go so well. It was April, 2004, when the band was touring in support of their album "Legion of Boom," and they were booked to play at In the Venue. Kirkland recalls that it was a wet day and the club's roof wasn't covered, so the band's gear was getting rained on as they were setting up.

There were puddles of water everywhere, resulting in unsafe conditions for both the band and the their expected audience, he says, so the band canceled the show.

However, he's not holding it against our fair city. "I'm hoping that was a one-time situation. I'm sure it is, because a lot of people in Salt Lake have been fans of ours for a long time and we look forward to putting on a really good show," he says.

For one thing, he says, the visual experience this time around is "pretty spectacular," involving new moving LED lights, strobes, and visual projections that play on the circular theme present on the band's new album ("Divided By Night," released on May 12).

"There are moments when things get pretty bright up there, but it's also about dynamics and creating lots of different looks," he says.

The tour's been going well so far, he tells me, speaking by phone from a beach in San Diego while he and his wife and children watch a friend surf. His family's not on tour with him, says the L.A.-based musician, but they get to spend time with him when he's touring close to home.

The Crystal Method have just been performing three songs from the new album, he tells me: the title track, "Divided By Night," as well as "Double Down Under" and "Come Back Clean."

"If you do too many songs off the new record, a lot of people don't know them," he says, but then he adds, "I guess there's the opposite theory that if you play them out live, people will get to know them."

When I note that there's a "poppier" sound to the new album, he says, "Our main focus is just to create good music that we love. I think the melody part of a song is what makes it seem more quote-unquote pop, but I don't know if you're going to be hearing us up there with the Britneys and the No Doubts."

"I think it's just that our sound has always had a lot of musicality in it, and melody," he continues, "and I think this time we just wanted to explore that. I don't know if it's pop, but I think maybe it will cast a little bit wider net."

There's a good energy on the record, he says, that he thinks was influenced by the duo's recently completed studio. "I think that has really re-energized us," he says. "It's got a completely different feel from what we had before. It's bigger. Lots of natural light. You know everything's going to work when you turn it on. And it's a really great place to go to work every day."

That enjoyment shows in the music, he says. "There's definitely some of the big record bpm tracks but there's a lot of fun and there's a real attention to detail that I think shows. We try to do that same thing when we put together our live show. We've gotta make sure that every detail, from what we play to, even the set piece, the way it all comes together and the lighting and the position of every light and all that is cohesive."

Besides familiarity, another challenge to performing some of the songs on the new album is that they feature guest vocalists. "Divided By Night," is just Kirkland on a vocoder, and "Double Down Under" just features a few samples as vocals, so those aren't problems to perform live.

But what of "Come Back Clean," a bouncy number with a chorus of "I'm gonna hold my breath till you come back clean," and full verses of lyrics like "don't blame the drugs in your bloodstream," sung in sultry tones by Metric's Emily Haines?

"We sort of cut up the vocals and use choice bits and pieces and the essence of the song," Kirkland says. "But yeah, it's kind of hard to do the full versions without the artist there to participate." Haines, he says, is welcome to join them on stage at any point, but she's currently on tour herself.

One of my favorite songs from the new album is "Kling to the Wreckage," which features Justin Warfield of She Wants Revenge. Another is "Drown in the Now," featuring Jewish rapper Matisyahu. Neither of these are being performed on the tour, though, says Kirkland.

"It's hard to do that when you've worked with vocalists who have a lot of stuff going on in their lives," he says. "But we hope to get whenever someone's available to come in and just join us. We have all of the songs ready to go."

Still, we're talking about a Grammy-nominated band with a career that's spanned over 15 years. With hits like "Now is the Time" and "Trip Like I Do" on the setlist, there should be plenty to keep your feet busy, child.