“In the Black”
Brendan: That one was initially a Joel and Jake demo called “The Fizz.” Then I put the vocals over it, and once we had that, we started playing it live. We used to play the middle section twice—so it would be a verse, bridge, back to the verse. Then when we got in the studio, Greg Magers said, “I don’t really believe the repeat of the bridge is necessary. Do you guys wanna do a take where we cut that part out?” So we did that and it kind of condensed the song, so it had a better flow to it. But then when we started playing it live, we messed it up a couple of times because we were going back to the way we used to do it. So I think we did it once or twice, then we just put it on the shelf and we were like, “Let’s just bring it back when the album comes back out.” The album that as far as everyone else knew, didn’t exist.
”What We Could Get”
Joel: I really love this tune and I’m happy that we got it on there. Jake has a catalog of probably 200 different original tunes that he’s recorded. And he was like, “If you wanna listen to these and think any of these sound good, we could try ‘em.” So this is one of the ones that jumped out at all of us as one of his stronger tunes. And he agreed with us, which is also nice. It’s cool to have.
Jake, vocally, can do so many different things. He’s got kind of the R&B soulful vibe of “Booth Love” or “Deeper.” Some of the more recent stuff, “Dark Brush,” “Hindsight” is really heavy, dark stuff and this one is just letting Jake belt vocally and to me, it has a little bit of hints of “Spires” from Mantis with these big unison riffs that the guitars and keyboards are playing. It’s also a lot of fun for me and I’m excited for people to hear it.
“Push & Pull”
Brendan: When we started talking about going in the studio, we began compiling a list of stuff that we had previously looked at or talked about, or touched in rehearsals. I think maybe it was the week leading up to it that I started combing through old songs of mine just to see if there was something I forgot about or something that might just hit at the minute. And I stumbled across that one and I thought it was good enough that maybe it had a shot.
I think we did it last after we had tracked everything else. That one and “You & You Alone” were probably two of the last things we did. I just wanted to make sure that we got everything done that everyone wanted to do and once I saw that we still had a half a day, I brought those back up again. They’re simple enough and the guys in the band are so good that I think four chords and 4/4’s they can do in their sleep. So we probably tracked it twice and got it. I was very surprised and happy because it’s a nice breath after so much heavy stuff.
“Hanging Chads”
Ryan: I made a promise after Zonkey, half joking, that I would only sing in a British accent from now on for studio recordings. As “Hanging Chads” will attest, I am a man of my word. And this time we got the whole team to follow suit. After another long day of recording more serious material, we decided to lighten the mood and lay down this short, comedic punk tune. The studio becomes home for us for over a week while recording and it’s important to work hard but also have fun. Hanging with your best friends and making music may be the greatest job in the world. The song originated backstage at Hulaween 2016 killing time after rehearsal. I do my job on the stage, but I really shine backstage. Only Farag has been lucky enough to witness most, if not all of my classic backstage ditties, gems if you will, ranging from punk rock to jazz ballads. He is a not only a great listener but an honest critic too.
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