I wrote our last record, Black Sheep Boy, in the middle of the winter in rural Indiana. While writing, I tried to dig into myself to pull out something squirming, unsettling, grotesque. When we recorded it, the band barely learned the songs before we went in to track because we wanted to keep aspects of our performance raw, even ugly.

For The Stage Names, I moved to Brooklyn and lived there for most of 2006. While working on these new songs, I realized I'd be skirting self-parody if I attempted to repeat my process for the last record. Plus, it didn't seem as fun. I've always been excited by reaching for things I risk failure in attempting, and I've always loved making slight, even arbitrary changes in my approach to each record in order to break habits. For the new record, the greater challenge seemed to be to reach outside of myself, to create something musically generous - playful even - with lyrics that leaven all the seriousness with jokes and bullshit and stuff I threw in just for fun. Fun was the watchword this time. Fun for everybody.

At the end of the year, I moved back to Texas to make the album. We rehearsed the songs every day for a month straight, coming at them several different ways and fine-tuning arrangements. Then we went into Austin's Wire Recording to cut basic tracks live. I played acoustic guitar, Brian Cassidy played electric guitar, Jonathan Meiburg played piano, Patrick Pestorius played bass, Travis Nelsen played drums and Scott Brackett played coronet and some other keyboards. We recorded overdubs at Brian Beattie's Wonder Chamber studio, and mixing - along with more overdubs - was done with Brian and Jim Eno of Spoon at Spoon's Public Hi-Fi studio. Where Black Sheep Boy had an archaic vibe, we wanted The Stage Names to feel briskly contemporary. Where Black Sheep Boy had been serious, this time there was a general frivolity to the proceedings. We wanted to scoop out all the weight of the songs so that they could float. And we wanted them, above all, to feel like a gift.

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. 1.Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe
2. Unless It Kicks
3. A Hand To Take Hold Of The Scene
4. Savannah Smiles
5. Plus Ones
6. A Girl In Port
7. You Can't Hold The Hand Of A Rock N Roll Man
8. Title Track
9. John Allyn Smith Sails