>{n0t3}creat.e/0r.5 “I remember having a pretty solid idea of how I wanted this album to end up. I wanted the rhythm section to be tracked live as much as possible and just overdub the vocals because I wasn’t very confident in my singing abilities. We ended up dubbing quite a few extra guitar tracks and various keys/synths/ vocals and harmonies/ percussion/ you name it; but every track has a solid live rhythm foundation. I knew in my head the vibe though and the tones, it all made sense to me. We tracked everything in my bedroom. I still lived with my mom. I remember in preparation for the recording sessions I moved my bed and things onto the floor of the garage. It was like the middle of December, very cold. Alex and I spent a couple days trying to acoustically treat the room with blankets and egg crates. Trying to get it perfect. It all worked out pretty good. This was really my first try at some more complex arrangements and working with a string section. I wanted to do a lot of collaboration too, did some remote stuff with a friend, had some fools lay down some tracks at my house. I also took the mixes really seriously, I was pretty much glued to my laptop for about a month non stop. A friend and I took a trip to Portland in between the tracking and mixing, where we tracked an album of their’s in a real studio. In between studio sessions I did a few home-sessions with a vocalist friend who happened to be living in Portland at the time. We tracked in her apartment on the floor. When I came back down to Sacramento I just sat and mixed. I’m very proud of this album. There’s obviously things I would tweak or change, given the opportunity to go back in time. Dial in the mixes and polish them up a bit. Redo some dubs, mistakes I only found after release, but then again it stands as it is, and truly I wouldn’t change a thing. The quintessential album for the era.” -Liam "The process of making the album was very sick, you could see and tell how much everyone wanted this to work. I was pretty new to the band when this was happening, and was happy to be along for the ride. I was undoubtedly a very awkward and always nervous youngster at this time, but I gained more ambition and more footing in seeing these fools do what they do. This album will always be something I hold dear to me. A nice mark of my youth and aspirations that I can be reminded of when I need it." -Angel "When I think about making this album and what it took, I think about how much energy it took to get myself to drive over and be ready to record. After a long shift the last thing you want to do is record an album, but the pure excitement of being involved in this creation never goes away. When I play back and listen to it i’ll always remember the feeling of finally getting every single track right. Either someone messed up or we weren’t feeling it so we moved on to the next track. I’ve always been proud of being a musician and being able to contribute something beautiful to this life. This album is proof of that. Even in the darkest of times I can find beauty because of i’m lucky enough to bestow such a talent through this sort of media." -Alex