Smoke was written as a simple love letter to my wife when
I was feeling really burned out from being on tour for such a long
time with no real end in site. I love what I do, and everyone who is
a part of it, but this does not make me immune to homesickness.
When this song was finally finished at pre-production, I can’t
tell you how much of a relief it was. There were so many different
incarnations of this song before it all came together… It was very
frustrating. Derek and I recorded a couple different versions of this,
and I had at least a couple more that were never really heard. It took
some time to get used to the fact that we were writing a very slow
song, almost a ballad of sorts, and I think that’s why it was hard to
finish. But once we all got comfortable with that, it became really
fun. We messed with a lot of cool effects in the studio, and Derek
wrote a guitar part on the spot that made the chorus extra cool…
Turned out to be one of my favorites, and in my opinion, one of
the best sounding songs we have ever recorded…
This was one of the last songs to get mixed and I remember
sitting in my Dining Room listening to the mix for the first time.
I heard the gong at the end of the song and I thought I was going
to die I was laughing so hard… I had no idea it was going to be
there… It was something Derek had slipped in after I had gone
home. I love it now, I think it’s a great touch, it took a minute
to get used to, but now I want to have the gong on tour and
incorporate it in to every song.
-Dan Andriano
Matt broke his wrist, and Dan and I took the time to further
some ideas for the album. We worked this song from every angle,
there were painfully slow versions and frighteningly fast versions.
This (slightly less-moody) incarnation of the song is almost identical
to what ended up on the album.
-Derek Grant
Smoke was written as a simple love letter to my wife when I was feeling really burned out from being on tour for such a long time with no real end in site. I love what I do, and everyone who is a part of it, but this does not make me immune to homesickness. When this song was finally finished at pre-production, I can’t tell you how much of a relief it was. There were so many different incarnations of this song before it all came together… It was very frustrating. Derek and I recorded a couple different versions of this, and I had at least a couple more that were never really heard. It took some time to get used to the fact that we were writing a very slow song, almost a ballad of sorts, and I think that’s why it was hard to finish. But once we all got comfortable with that, it became really fun. We messed with a lot of cool effects in the studio, and Derek wrote a guitar part on the spot that made the chorus extra cool… Turned out to be one of my favorites, and in my opinion, one of the best sounding songs we have ever recorded… This was one of the last songs to get mixed and I remember sitting in my Dining Room listening to the mix for the first time. I heard the gong at the end of the song and I thought I was going to die I was laughing so hard… I had no idea it was going to be there… It was something Derek had slipped in after I had gone home. I love it now, I think it’s a great touch, it took a minute to get used to, but now I want to have the gong on tour and incorporate it in to every song. -Dan Andriano
Matt broke his wrist, and Dan and I took the time to further some ideas for the album. We worked this song from every angle, there were painfully slow versions and frighteningly fast versions. This (slightly less-moody) incarnation of the song is almost identical to what ended up on the album. -Derek Grant