This Addiction

Untitled

This Addiction is the upcoming seventh studio album by the Chicago-based punk rock band Alkaline Trio, scheduled for release February 23, 2010 as the first release by their newly-formed record label Heart & Skull, a joint venture with Epitaph Records. Described as a return to the band's punk rock roots, it was recorded at Atlas Studios in their hometown of Chicago with Matt Allison, the same location and producer used for much of their early material. The album draws lyrical inspiration from the band members' personal lives, addressing themes such as love, addiction, death, divorce, grief, suicide, politics, and war.

Formation of Heart & Skull

Following the touring cycle for their 2008 album Agony & Irony, Alkaline Trio left Epic Records due to personnel changes within the record label. Singer and guitarist Matt Skiba explained in a May 2009 interview with Billboard that "Everyone who signed us to Epic, all of the people we trusted there, were let go. And that's not to say the people running it now aren't cool, we just don't know them and we don't like to work generally with people we don't know. We had a bunch of material and wanted to do a record sooner [rather] than later, so we called them and asked them if we could leave and they said, 'Yeah, that’s cool.'" Rather than signing a recording contract with another label, the band decided to release their next album themselves, a move Skiba explained as partially inspired by the independent releases of Nine Inch Nails' Ghosts I–IV and The Slip and Radiohead's In Rainbows:

With the way that everything is being done, with people like Trent Reznor and Radiohead, it was very inspiring to us that when you're doing things on your own you can do whatever you want. Not that we're going to give records away but this time we're starting a label, we want to build it up first and have the freedom to release exclusive things whenever we want. That's something we've always been able to do until we were on Epic, so it's nice that we're able to do that again.

In November 2009 Alkaline Trio announced the formation of their own independent record label, created as a joint venture with Epitaph Records in a manner similar to ANTI- and Hellcat Records. Epitaph had previously released Patent Pending, the 2006 album by Skiba's side project Heavens. Named Heart & Skull after Alkaline Trio's logo, the new label would be innaugurated by the release of their new album. Skiba remarked that "We made the decision to form Heart & Skull to put out our own records after having been through every kind of label deal in the industry, big indies, small indies, majors. We knew it was time to adapt to the shifting tides of the music industry and we could not be more thrilled about doing that in conjunction with the team at Epitaph." Singer and bassist Dan Andriano added: "For our band at this time it really makes sense to release our own records, but we wanted to make sure we could partner up with good people who we would want to share in something very special to us. When Brett [Gurewitz] called and said he wanted to be involved, that was it. Epitaph is a label I've admired and supported for more than half of my life."

Background and recording

During their Spring 2009 tour, Alkaline Trio tested new songs including "Dine, Dine My Darling" (a title derived from the Misfits' "Die, Die My Darling"), "Dead on the Floor", and "This Addiction". Skiba explained that "we used our soundcheck basically as pre-production" and stated that the band would choose the ten best songs and "record them lickety-split in July". Reflecting a desire to return to their punk rock roots, the band chose to record at Atlas Studios in their hometown of Chicago, where they had recorded much of their early material including their first two albums, 1998's Goddamnit and 2000's Maybe I'll Catch Fire. They also chose to record with Matt Allison, producer of both of those albums as well as 2001's From Here to Infirmary and much of their other early material. "Matt has a really great ear and some really great ideas, so he engineered the record and co-produced it", said Skiba. "The official production credit is ours though. We went in with a very strict idea of what we wanted to do."

During the Summer and Fall of 2009 both Skiba and Andriano worked on solo projects: Skiba recorded a solo album entitled Demos for the band's early label Asian Man Records, which was originally scheduled for a February 2010 release but was pushed back until after the release of the new Alkaline Trio album. Meanwhile, Andriano performed and recorded as a solo project titled The Emergency Room. That October Alkaline Trio played the Riot Fest, an annual Chicago punk rock festival, alongside older Chicago bands including Screeching Weasel, Pegboy, and Naked Raygun. Skiba noted that reconnecting with these and other friends in the Chicago music scene allowed their punk rock influences to seep into the new Alkaline Trio album even more.

On December 1, 2009 the album's title was announced as This Addiction, which is also the title of its opening track. Of the eleven tracks selected for the album, eight were written by Skiba and three by Andriano. Skiba explained that both members came up with an equal number of songs during the writing process, but that "it was pretty easy to pick out the ones we wanted to use. There are three of us that have equal say in the creative process, so you gotta leave your ego at the door. Dan and I are best friends and we're not competitive with each other at all. We're partners and we try [to] do everything for the better[ment] of the band and for the better[ment] of the record."

Promotion and release

This Addiction is scheduled to be released February 22, 2010 in the United Kingdom through Heart & Skull and Hassle Records, and the following day in North America through Heart & Skull and Epitaph Records. It will be available in several versions, including a standard eleven-track compact disc and digital download, a limited Deluxe Edition with six bonus tracks and a full-length concert DVD recorded at the House of Blues in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2008, and a gatefold LP. The album's first single, "This Addiction", was made available for listening as streaming audio through a dedicated website on January 5, 2010, using a marketing technique in which listeners are required to post an advertisement about the album to Facebook or Twitter in order to access the song. The single will also be available as a download through digital retailers on January 12, and as a 7" single exclusively at Hot Topic stores on February 9. Alkaline Trio are scheduled to tour with Cursive beginning February 16 to support the album. On the 12th January 2010 the albums first single 'This Addiction' was made available to download through itunes.

Style

Dare I say it's a punk rock record. We've made a progression, but we've also gone back to our roots. There's definitely some old-sounding Alkaline Trio vibe to this record. A lot of the songs were written really quick. We added a few bells and whistles here and there, but it's pretty stripped-down, straight-up rock 'n' roll.

— Matt Skiba describing the musical style of This Addiction.

Prior to recording This Addiction, Skiba expressed a desire to return to the band's punk rock roots: "That's how we started as a band, and over the years I think we evolved into kind of more of a rock band with punk roots." Elaborating on the album's sound in a November 2009 interview, he called it "a rock record but our punk rock upbringing definitely shines through, more so than our last few records. The vibe is similar to our humble beginnings. It's a step forward but I also think it has glimmers of our past in it." He also described the album as more straightforward, with a "less is more" approach that included reducing the number of guitar overdubs, with many of the songs including only guitar track: "We wanted a record that we could easily play live. For the most part, it's pretty bare bones while still sounding full and big." The album does, however, include some synthesizer as well as a trumpet solo in the style of Neutral Milk Hotel.

Musically, Skiba has cited the influence of fellow Chicago punk bands Screeching Weasel, Pegboy, and Naked Raygun on This Addiction's sound. He has also cited the influence of the Ramones and Social Distortion, saying of the latter that "They've never put out a bad album, in my opinion. I remember being like 'Wow, this sounds like old Social D' [during recording]. It's got that melodic yet melancholic kind of mean guitar lead. It sort of reminds me of Mommy's Little Monster and some of the older stuff and like how psyched I was to hear that."

Themes

The anger is back. Not that we're angry people, but there are a bunch of different themes. All of us have been through some pretty life-changing experiences since [2008's Agony & Irony]. Friends dying; people getting divorced; things that really are rather jolting but can also be very inspiring. I think we've used those experiences as inspiration. I certainly have.

— Skiba on the album's themes and inspirations.

Lyrically, the themes of This Addiction were heavily influenced by the band members' personal lives. Skiba remarked that "The whole record is really personal, all three of us have been through quite a bit since our last album and it is all expressed through this, all the songs are about the relationships we've been in and so the record has a constant theme." He cited this as another way in which the album recalls the band's earlier material:

Another thing that makes it resemble our earlier records, especially our first record, is that it's really personal. A couple of us have gone through some pretty serious life changes. We had a good friend of ours pass away since the last record. There's a song on the record, "Dorothy", that was really influenced by the film Blue Velvet but it's a metaphor for someone and something else. Everything on the record is stuff that definitely hits close to home for us and we tried to communicate that in the songs.

Discussing other specific songs on the album, Skiba mentioned that the title track uses heroin and methadone addiction as a metaphor for love, stating that "It's a human condition that I think we all, in one way or another, fall victim to. It's not to say that people can't be happy or find bliss in a relationship. It's just amazing to me how unhappy most people are and they can't shake it and can't fix it, much like an addiction." He also discussed the politically-themed "The American Scream", a song inspired by the suicide of a United States Army soldier after his return from the War in Afghanistan: "For a long time we were afraid to write overtly political songs but I read this article about a US soldier that came back from a tour of duty in Afghanistan and blew his head off on his mother's grave and I wrote a song about that." He has described the lyrical style of This Addiction as "thinking-man's punk": "We wanted to do something that's fun but also interesting and lyrically, something that will be fun for people to read along to and hopefully understand."

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"This Addiction"	2:35
2.	"Dine, Dine My Darling"	2:58
3.	"Lead Poisoning"	2:37
4.	"Dead on the Floor"	4:20
5.	"The American Scream"	3:00
6.	"Off the Map"	3:16
7.	"Draculina"	3:34
8.	"Eating Me Alive"	2:53
9.	"Piss and Vinegar"	2:28
10.	"Dorothy"	3:32
11.	"Fine"	3:17
Total length:		34:30

Deluxe Edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Kick Rocks"	2:45
13.	"Those Lungs"	3:49
14.	"This Addiction" (acoustic)	2:37
15.	"Dine, Dine My Darling" (acoustic)	3:00
16.	"Dead on the Floor" (acoustic)	4:08
17.	"Fine" (acoustic)	3:13
Total length:		54:02

The Deluxe Edition also includes a full-length concert DVD of a performance at the House of Blues in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2008.

Personnel

Band

• Matt Skiba – guitar, vocals
• Dan Andriano – bass guitar, vocals
• Derek Grant – drums

Production

• Matt Allison – recording engineer, co-producer