Manipulator

About

The album was written in 2006 during what was to vocalist/guitarist Thomas Erak "a really dark time" in his life. Erak states: "We wanted to expand upon our band in every direction musically and attitude-wise", resulting in a much more eclectic album; one that "always keeps listeners guessing." The band also wanted to pursue some of their more pop and pop-rock influence. Drummer Andrew Forsman described the record as "...a mix of staying true to our punk rock roots whilst pushing new musical ground. We definitely wanted a more poppy sound; we love good pop and we wanted to explore what we could do with that kind of sound. Other than that we wanted to make the songs flow a little better; instead of riff after riff after riff we wanted something that would be more cohesive regardless of the specific style." Erak adds "Weezer, Saves The Day and The Get Up Kids were all great band. I am not afraid to venture into that world as long as the creativity and the art is still preserved as part of it." Some noticeable changes from their previous works include the increased amount of non-screamed vocals on the album, and the inclusion of "Caught Up", a song consisting of just Erak singing and playing guitar, with no accompaniment from bassist Tim Ward or Forsman. While the album was being recorded, Erak stated that Nouela Johnston of the Seattle band Mon Frere was playing keyboards and adding backing vocals to several of the songs on the album. However upon release of the album, a misprint in the booklet listed Erak as having played keyboard. Erak later apologized on the band's forums for this misprint and asked fans to spread the word online that Johnston played all keyboard parts on the album. The band has stated that "Semi-Fiction" is a renamed version of the previously unheard song "Ghostship VII", part of a suite of songs scheduled to appear on the upcoming "Phantom on the Horizon" album, although its inclusion on that album in its present form is uncertain. The track name "A Man a Plan a Canal Panama" is a palindrome, as it is spelled the same forward as backward. It is a reference to former US president Theodore Roosevelt and his role in the construction of the Panama Canal. .

via Last.fm

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