So it's been five years since we put out Songs About Jane, and a lot has happened since then. Things have changed in our lives, in your lives, in everyones lives all around the world. As I'm writing this we're in Milan, Italy... playing some European shows before the album comes out... and I'm sitting here remembering the long road that we took to be here right now... thinking about all the shows we played during the three and a half years we spent touring... and then the six months we spent writing these new songs, living in Houdini's haunted house in Laurel Canyon making demos with a producer and old friend named Jason Lader... and then the year long process of recording in Los Angeles.
We really took our time to make sure that everything felt right about the songs. The first bunch of songs was recorded with a team of producers who had never worked together before, Mike Elizondo and Spike Stent. Mike was a long time collaborator with Dr.Dre, as well as an excellent musician, and he had just produced the Fiona Apple record Extraordinary Machine... and Spike was a sonic genius who had produced and mixed masterpieces for U2, Bjork, Massive Attack, Madonna, and many other high class artists. So in March of 2006 we dug in at one of our favorite studios... a place we had recorded the demo songs that got us signed to Octone Records back in 2001. We'd been waiting for a long time to be recording again, so it was a real joy to see this new material come to life. There were ups and downs and disagreements about how things were supposed to sound, and just like the first record, that conflict pulled things in unexpected directions. After six months we had the core of the album done, and we decided to get some fresh ears to help work out a few remaining songs. So we went into a new studio with Eric Valentine, who we loved for his work with Queens of the Stone Age. We cut two of the more rock and roll tracks on the album with him ("Can't Stop" and "Little of Your Time"), and then decided to get one more new perspective from a producer named Mark Endert.
Finally in January of 2007 we were done. We chose the 12 songs that made the best album, and shot some beautiful photographs with Andrew Zuckerman and Wendy Sue Lamm. As for the title, It Won't Be Soon Before Long... it can mean whatever you want it to mean, but don't spend too much time thinking about it. We'll be on the road for the next two years at least, so we'll see you soon... honestly.