Lowenberg: It's great, dude is skilled. The mixes have been nice and clear right off the bat. As mentioned, the style of music we play requires great sound. We toured with an engineer for many years, Richie tha T, who was also really talented. He often made us sound as if he was doing a "remix" while we played live, which I very rarely hear bands do. It was an integral and unique part of our sound. I expect over the coming months, as Steele gets more comfortable, he'll explore some of this as well.
Do you guys feel that you're doing anything differently this time around?
Lowenberg: Well, personally, I used to practice my technique all time in an attempt to sound as machine-like as possible. While that's still my goal and my style, now that I spend less time playing I've begun to appreciate that it's sometimes easier to become inspired when not practicing all the time.
Hamilton: Yeah, definitely. I think we are much more relaxed and enjoying ourselves and each other. We have gotten back to just being four guys that play music together instead of getting wrapped up in all of the other shit. That was the point of taking time off in the first place. I know a lot of bands that are more successful than us but they hate each other and some don't even like playing that much anymore. That's not somewhere I ever want to be. I'd rather eat Ramen Noodles playing music I love with people I dig than eating steak dinners playing music I wouldn't buy with people I don't like. It's not worth it.
After Rick left we were pretty much getting to that point so we called it off and took the time we all needed. I think in the end we made the right choice.
So far so good.