That's not to say that the previous material is insincere. I think when you have too many cooks in the kitchen, or too many painters on one single canvas--I think you can come up with things that aren't necessarily 100 percent you.
And that's because you have to jump through a lot of hoops and overcome a lot of approval and yes-and-no's. Ultimately you have to answer to somebody, and that's under any umbrella of a label.
[On Forever Halloween] we got to work with Brendan Benson, who produced the album. He opened our eyes to what it means to record the analog way, to tapes, so I think having had some of the experience we have had over the past year--I think we're a more cohesive band because of it, and I think we're closer now, as far as our music is concerned, than we've ever been.
And I think the vision that we do have--whether that's a little vision or a lot--I think it's able to be seen through at this point. We don't have to answer to anybody, so I think our mental approach has completely changed, and I think for the better.
Have your goals as a band changed? Is there something you want to do with Forever Halloween that you maybe didn't have in mind for Black and White and Pioneer?
I think the goal just became more specific, and it became a bit more geared toward the incredible fans that we've had and have. Being not only on a label, but being young, you can... buy into the idea that the whole world's gonna hear this. [But] what we want is the ability to continue to make records, and play those records for the people who care.
In some ways it becomes a bit esoteric; only a handful of people truly are passionate about it, and we're gonna do whatever we can to continue to do it for those people. But I think the goal is to not only maintain those fans and maintain those relationships, but build new ones and branch out. The world's a big place, and we've toured quite a bit in the United States, and I think we would like to explore more of the globe.
I think that would be one of the big goals on this album--to kind of set foot on foreign soil and experience shows in different parts of the world. I think we're just really fortunate with where we're at right now, and we don't wanna take the people who are listening for granted. We obviously owe everything to them. I think we're just trying to cherish what we have and build upon it.
After the jump: "Sonically, it's going to sound like a band. It's going to sound less digital."
