tone for the song perfectly , which ended up being retained for the final arrangement . “ It ’ s awesome ,” says Jones , adding with a chuckle , “ It ’ s based on a riff by Soul Brothers Inc ., although nobody ’ s asked .”
After the socially-distanced success of writing “ Blue Jean Denim Jumpsuit ,” Jones sent an email to Calabrese and Knox expressing his excitement with the tune , and that kicked the snowball over the metaphorical crest . “ I was genuinely blown away ,” Jones recalls . “ And I told them that , and I think it galvanized them as much it did me in coming up with more riffs . We had a bunch of riffs before the pandemic that we had already started to write , but there was not one song written ; just riffs or jams , and five or six of those ended up being turned into songs .” He explains that piecing those together happened as part of the remote procedure , “ with other riffs that were written during lockdown , and then arranged together .”
“ The writing for this record was definitely different than it ’ s been in the past , given the pandemic and all that ,” Calabrese substantiates . “ We had rehearsed a few times beforehand ; but then when the pandemic happened , we couldn ’ t get together . So , we started exchanging files and I created the sessions for what later became the songs .” He details , as well , that this remote writing and demo process continued until around September 2020 .
“ It was definitely a unique process , but we ’ ve done 10 records , so over the years we ’ ve honed in on how to fine-tune the writing process ,” says Calabrese with a cool confidence .
“ We ’ re used to writing albums together in a room , bashing it out until something sparks ,” adds Jones . “ So , it ’ s a longer process , often more frustrating , but I wouldn ’ t be opposed to doing this again , if we had to .”
CM : Have you ever needed to make an album as much as you needed to make this one , whether you realized it or not ?
Jones : Well , whether I realized it or not , I mean , we all have to make the albums we have to make . You know , we don ’ t have something like a Nevermind where we can just sit back and enjoy our millions that we ’ ve made and maybe write an album in a couple years when the money starts to run low . So , every album is needed and we ’ ve got to keep going . It ’ s a monetary thing , really . A bottom line thing , or else we can ’ t pay the rent . But looking back , I think as time goes on , I think this will turn out to be a very important album to have made . And from the reviews and just to how I feel about a year after we actually finished it , I think it ’ s the best album we ’ ve done .
And I know every band says that about their new album , but I really do think songs like “ Good Looking ”, “ Blue Jean Denim Jumpsuit ”, “ I Want Out ”, “ Let ’ s Rock Together ”, and “ Saturday ”; I really like those songs and I ’ m really proud that we are the writers of those songs .
JOHN ‘ JC ’ CALABRESE , GOTHENBURG , SWEDEN ; 2017
CM : JC , in terms of composing your own parts , how much interplay was / is there between you and Rich , especially given the heightened prominence of the rhythm section in a three-piece ?
Calabrese : I guess there ’ s interplay , but we always have to be conscious of where the lyric lines are . Ultimately for this record , I think what helped us the most for both me and Rich was that Danko was able to really finish the lyrics ahead of time , so he wasn ’ t mumbling melodies , per se , he had lyrics . When you have the lyrics done , for the
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