Bad Meat
Morgan Mechling (drums): "For me, personally, this is one of the songs that I initially thought we could have been swapped out with one of the other songs that didn’t make the full-length. It was only after we tracked the album that we thought that it would be a great opener. My favourite parts about this song would be the syncopated vocal pattern at the beginning of the track, and the part where I use my bell during the pauses in the transition that follows the intro section."
They Never Spoke
Tyler Squire (vocals): "They Never Spoke was one of the first songs where we experimented with a really low tuning. I had originally written a messy, stoney riff that didn’t really gel with the rest of our music, but from there the rest of the guys simplified that part and structured it into what became the current iteration of the track."
Nothing New
Kasey Richardson (guitar): "This is a track that I feel influenced the tone of the record a lot during the writing process. It was the first song we wrote in a tuning that we predominantly used throughout the record. This was a catalyst for that 'Grumpy' sound that has been thrown around quite a bit for this record. By tuning lower, the grump was upped, and I think it provided a creative reinvigoration for us. The hammer on/slide guitar parts give this song a real cool groove that has always made me enjoy playing this song. I really like Morgan’s drumming throughout this song. The combinations of his hard-hitting accents coupled with some D-beat inspired bits just hit me in the feel-goods. This song was finished when Phil brought up the idea of adding an outro, shortly before we went into the studio. Initially I think there was some resistance, but ultimately it was a great addition and gave the song an appropriate denouement."
Derelict
Bryce Kresge (bass): "This is my favourite song to play live. It's just so gnarly. If I remember right, Kasey came up with the bones of the main riff, and Phil took it and added a little extra to it, to put some syncopation in the part. When they brought that idea to our rehearsal space, I had the idea of taking that dissonant riff and slowly turning it to a consonant part, where we all slowly drift out of tune from each other but eventually end up on the same chords. From there, Phil and Kasey started expanding on that idea with different lead guitar ideas. Even if this were a one-riff song, it would have still been heavy as fuck, but what those two ended up working out for the middle section of the song was something that had some really undeniable dynamic ideas, which really elevated the initial concept to something totally different and special."
From Their Nails
Phil Davis (guitar): "Lyrically, this was originally a poem I had shared with Tyler. I was taking a Geology class in college and I had one of those 'I am so insignificant compared to the universe' moments . As far as the song goes, there were riffs that we had messed around with for a bit, but put on the back burner while working on other songs. When we came back to them, I remember that the structuring process was extremely smooth; this song came together in a matter of only a couple sessions."