By Martin Popoff
How would you characterize Eric's lyrics on this album?
"This is the first record where Eric actually wrote all the lyrics. Usually in the past Eric Braverman, our ex-manager had a lot to do with them. I've listened to Jason doing interviews and he says you really have to find your own meaning, and that sounds like a cop-out, but it's really true. I've had arguments with Jason as to what our lyrics mean. A.K. is the only one who really knows. I think Eric's themes are always the human condition, addiction, obsession. He doesn't really delve into esoteric subjects."
It sounds like this is the second album in a row for the band that tried their patience on a production front. Craig puts up the brave face.
"Unfortunately what happened in the studio was that we were recording on brand new gear, really state of the art. And the drawback is that people haven't had much experience with it. Unfortunately it was giving him (producer Bill Metoyer) a ton of problems in the studio. It was losing parts, and not recording when it should have been. We'd have to go back; we'd think we had a perfect take that turned out never to be recorded, just a lot of glitches with the computer. And I think Bill was that very calm personality that was required not to bash the machine in half or take the masters and go somewhere else and start from the beginning which would have delayed our release, which is already a long time since Unnatural Selection. So if it wasn't for Bill Metoyer handling these problems, it would have been a nightmare. It would have gone on another six months and costed a bunch more money. So we were dealing with the problems and it took a little bit away from the mix time we had. So I really commend Bill on getting a good sound despite the problems."
FLOTSAM & JETSAM - A.K. Simpson? Page 4