Let’s talk about fundamentals.
When Hamilton’s The Reason released its sophomore album Things Couldn’t Be Better back in 2007, the five-piece rock outfit wasn’t entirely satisfied with the outcome.
“Although the album was called Things Couldn’t Be Better, to be honest, things weren’t that great,” The Reason’s Adam White – singer, lyricist and guitarist – laments. “The album didn’t really sound like us. We listened to too many people who told us we were going to be the next Billy Talent. We didn’t really know what we wanted. We weren’t ready.”
Two romantic transitions, one management shuffle and one new drummer later, The Reason is no longer lost in naïveté. They’ve regrouped, taken reality by the gonads and churned out a stunning new album with Fools, propelled by the electrifying first single “The Longest Highway Home.”
Call it the antithesis of Things Couldn’t Be Better, but the passionate confidence that exudes in the eleven songs that comprise Fools is the maturity of a band that has finally found its true voice. “We’ve certainly made a lot of fundamental mistakes over the years,” states guitarist James Nelan of the band’s seven year history. “Whether they were musical, about business or relationships, they were all indicative of the times.”
Jeremy Widerman, who shares guitar duties with Nelan, nods his head in agreement. “Whatever,” he sighs, “now its time for us not to be like that. So we wrote a record that kind of sums up about why we’re not going to be fools anymore – because we’ve learned our lesson in so many different ways.”
Indeed, the concept of Fools has been a long time brewing.
“I came up with the title Fools a long time before we recorded it,” recalls White. “I knew where the songs were going, and it’s about the fact that we should have listened to our hearts.”
As songs like “Come & Go,” “Where Do We Go From Here?” and “I’ll Be Around” crackle with the articulate authority of subjects ranging from inner soul searching to love gone both good and bad, it’s clear that there’s an organic element to Fools that comes from plenty of ruminating.
The answer: spontaneity and simplicity.
“We knew what we didn’t want it to be,” explains Nelan. “We had worked pretty rigidly on Things Couldn’t Be Better and by the time we were done with it and gotten the final result, we felt like we had missed the point on a lot of songs. “So this time out we decided we weren’t going to fake the drum parts, layer the guitar parts or fix it in the mix. So when people hear this record, it’ll be a nice transition to hearing us live.”
But they didn’t do it alone: Producer Steven Haigler (Pixies, Brand New, Quicksand) played the role of overseer in North Carolina’s Echo Mountain Recording Studio, and enforced a much-needed discipline.
Haigler, in his 50s, ran a tight ship. Band members were expected to be up and in the studio by 11 a.m. every morning – regardless of the amount of carousing done the night before. Bassist Ronson admired Haigler’s commitment to ensuring that the band reached its maximum potential. “He was never on the fence; he was always super decisive – to the point where he’d yell at you and say, ‘Don’t play that shit. That shit sucks.’”
Another key factor in making Fools, the definitive and most rewarding offering in The Reason’s three-album catalogue, was the location: Echo Mountain was far away from home, and even further from disruption.
For 30 days, The Reason ate, drank, inhaled and exhaled the recording process from morning till night, with one day off a week to relax and allow the creative juices to ferment. “The whole idea was that we wanted to be away from everything – free from distractions,” says White. “The last record was so hard to do because we went home all the time. It was like, okay, we’re not recording this Saturday, I think I’ll take a shift at my job.”
“The studio was this big church with all this vintage gear,” marvels Widerman. “We lived in a band house that was blocks away. You shift gears in your mind, and it gets morale up instantly. Everyone was so happy to be away from home. The people in Asheville that lived and worked there were so hospitable: They were genuinely excited to have us there and really tried to help us make a good record. It made it so much easier to concentrate on it exclusively.”
The band is also effusive in its praise for new drummer Steve Kiely, who was in the studio with the band before he even gigged with them. “We wrote most of the record without a drummer,” says White. “Our last drummer left the band after we’d written three songs, and it took us four or five months to find Steve. We’d have two or three practices a week just with acoustics.” Kiely made the transition easy. “He just picked up the songs immediately,” says Ronson. “It’s a testament to how good a drummer he is.”
Fools also benefited from some of the lessons Things Couldn’t Be Better producer Gavin Brown (Billy Talent, Three Days Grace) imparted – especially when it came down to writing and arranging. “The main thing with him is being the song doctor,” White explains. “What we brought from the last record to this one in terms of song arranging – we got all that from Gavin.” Widerman says Brown taught them to streamline their arrangements. “He taught us some of the fundamentals. Some of the best songs on the record, in my opinion, were easy to write. A song that writes itself, like “Where Do We Go From Here?” or “Come & Go” really shows that you’re on to something good.” James “Cubby” Nelan adds: “I feel like we did a really good job of working smarter, not harder. We spent the least amount of effort on things that were just happening naturally. We finally found a way to step back and say, ‘Okay, we’re not beating our heads against the wall.’”
In fact, the bite packed by Fools will ensure that walls facing The Reason -- now managed by SRO Management -- will crumble.
Brightly mixed by Vic Florencia (Nelly Furtado, Five For Fighting, Justin Nozuka) Fools sets the stage for a band universally respected by its musical peers to do what it does best, throughout North America – play live. “I don’t think there’s a tighter band out there,” marvels Saint Alvia singer Ben Rispin, who has known the band principals for the better part of a decade. “It’s the kind of band we aspire to be.”
More importantly, Fools feels like the right move for The Reason – from the energetic, melodic drive of songs that will continually resonate in your temporal lobes, right down to the Becky Katz wood engraving cover art. “Usually I picture the end result of something and it’s always different,” Adam White admits. “Fools came out exactly how I pictured it in my mind, from the artwork to the way it sounds. It sounds exactly like us.”
