Recovery One

Recovery One
Recovery One is the twenty-fourth studio album by The Dropouts, released on January 6th, 2022. After their last two albums My Friend Circle is Shrinking and Be Still, My Beating Heart both performed averagely, many people began falling off with the band, leading to a small hiatus. Recovery One is the first album out of that hiatus, now with a full lineup of every single member of The Dropouts, bringing the amount of members on the album to 9 people. The album continues the more personal themes that Nick Barnett had been writing in with the last two albums, but focuses on having an optimistic outlook. The album was also written under a very loose narrative about a man surviving after the apocalypse happens, but according to Nick, it isn't a fully realized story and rather just a sort of guiding pathway for how he was writing the songs. The name of the album and the art both follow this story, Recovery One being the name Nick imagined for the sanctuary that our main character is looking for, as well as relating to his outlook for 2022, as the album is starting off the year for them. The album art references both Nick's resolution to not use his phone or social media as much this year, as well as the idea that in the loose story, phones are dangerous and are one of the causes of the previously mentioned apocalypse. After keeping fans waiting for so long, many were very pleased with Recovery One, calling it one of the best recent albums by the band since Goodbye, Hello!!! in 2017. The album leans heavily into the punk sound they're known for, as well as mixing in some ska sounds and more experimental tracks like Cold Chillin' Cold Chillin' or ''Come To The Valley. ''The new mix in style as well as the genuine feeling to all of the tracks added to the success of the album, as well as the appeal to old fans that the entire lineup was on the album - something not revealed until the release party. Many people apprecatied the time of year it was released, using it as their own motivation to have a better year.

The Fourth Hiatus
Not feeling creatively fulfilled with their last two albums, Nick Barnett decided he would take another hiatus between 2020 and 2022, ending the one album per year streak the band had been on since 2010. During the time off, Nick took time to really think about the songs he was writing and whether they were added to tell the story he was trying to tell or just in a rush with how fast they had been putting out music. While both My Friend Circle is Shrinking and Be Still, My Beating Heart had their standout songs like Twinkle or Fever, neither album felt like a complete experience, missing that extra oomph to make the albums stand up against their most iconic ones like Goodbye, Hello!!!, That Old Familiar Feeling, Dorm Tour, and many others, those just being the most recent. According to Nick Barnett in an interview,

"I had just been making music to make music, not to enjoy it and express myself like I had been doing. It hasn't felt like I had done that since Goodbye, Hello!!!, which I regret, I know we got some good songs during the last couple of years but we could've done so much better."

Nick has talked about this feeling of regret and disappointment in himself before, a big example being his reflections on Tales From Summer Camp Vol. 4-6, which Nick said afterwords shouldn't have existed, as it didn't serve a real purpose like the original 3 did. Not that he hates the albums or anything, in fact he does think Vol. 4 came out pretty good.

During the hiatus, Nick spoke to his band members, old and new about what he should do and how he should approach another project, even having considerations about ending the band, something he hadn't thought of doing since before Dorm Tour was released. These talks eventually lead to a short reunion of the original Dropouts lineup with the singles on 5 Incredible Songs in a Row! which they did a small tour of. The writing process for 5 Incredible Songs in a Row! is truly what inspired Nick to start the next Dropouts project. In the same interview, Nick later says

"Being in a room with the original lineup and all working together to write songs really brought me back down to earth, and reignited the flame in me - true inspiration and I can't thank those guys enough. I'm really excited to share what's coming next with everyone."

After finishing their short tour of 5 Incredible Songs in a Row!, the pre-production of Recovery One had officially started in spring 2021.

Planning Stages
Getting back into the studio, Nick got the lineup that had been on the previous albums back together, except for Kevin Brockton, who couldn't make it to the beginning stages of Recovery One due to family issues. In order to get to work faster, Nick approached Jimmy Rodriguez, the original drummer for The Dropouts, who agreed to help now that he was on his own hiatus in his solo career, as well as his positive experience writing and performing again with Nick during 5 Incredible Songs in a Row! This brought Nick Barnett, Scott Wilson, Chris O'Brian, Nikki Brown, and Jimmy Rodriguez together as the new official lineup.

Nick had already gotten the basic idea for the themes of the album as well as the name during the tour of 5 Incredible Songs in a Row!, presenting Recovery One as the name, as well as the basic premise of the underlying story of the apocalypse. To give the idea he had support, Nick also presented the one song he had written for the album in a demo he made the night before their first meeting - this being the demo for Side Projects are Never Successful. The song has a somewhat sarcastic lookout on the world, being backed up with comedy, leaning into some of the styles of writing Nick used when writing for California Kids, but much more vulgar and cynical. Nick recorded the demo very roughly, using whatever instruments he had at the time and virtual programs on his laptop, but the sound ended up inspiring the band to be more experimental with the album as they thought it fit the kind of post-apocalyptic nature of the album.

Upon brainstorming more ideas for the rest of the tracklist and what they wanted to try in this album - especially when performing it live, they realized that this was a project that required more than just the 5 of them. Nick decided to invite all of the previous members of The Dropouts to come and provide their input as well as be apart of the album - creating The Dropouts Full Band, which is what they dubbed the combination of every lineup. This brought Nathan Taylor, Alex Kuzmack, and Miles Gonzalez on as well as Kevin Brockton once he had the chance to get back into the studio with them. This of course, not including The Dropouts Brass Section, which this time was filled up by Alex Kuzmack, Miles Gonzalez, and on some songs Kevin Brockton as well. Together, the entire band wrote the remainder of the album together much like the writing process for 5 Incredible Songs in a Row!, however this time it was more centered around Nick's vision and the stories he was pulling from the craft the story of the album.

Production
Recovery One officially entered production on March 13th, 2021 with the goal to release it either on New Years day 2022, or nearby that date. The tracklist was still getting finalized on their first day of recording, leaving them to record the songs they knew would 100% stay on the tracklist first - these songs being Side Projects Are Never Successful, DVP, and ''Come To The Valley. ''They had many rough ideas for the tracklist, leading it to be a longer cutting down process than usual. According to Nikki Brown,

"The hardest part we dealt with was finding an opening track for the album. We wanted something to introduce this story, something somewhat meloncholic, but with that tinge of hope and optimism. Nick had some lyrics written around that time for Cold Chillin' Cold Chillin', but it wasn't until a few weeks into production when we took a trip down to the city for a dinner that Nick got the idea to reverse the sound of a train approaching, and lead to that experimental weird song that opens up the album."

Nick gave the blueprints for every song, letting everyone build upon that and he would finalize them once they got back to him, leaving us with the current version of all the songs.

After signing onto CHARGE! Records the band was usually assigned a random producer from the company's roster and before that, Nick was usually the producer of the band's albums since Dorm Tour, but reuniting with the whole lineup, Nick brought Nathan back on as a producer to help out since Nick respected Nathan's vision and wanted him to produce again after not producing since Make Believe Records was shut down.

Cold Chillin' Cold Chillin' was started by Nick, with the rough sounding recording of his voice, almost compressed in a way coming to after the reverse sounds were added, being mixed together with the sounds of Nikki's keyboard in reverse, an idea Nathan Taylor had to make it not sound as jarring. The lyrics bounce between Nick and Scott mostly, as they reminisce about their time living in New York before the band started. Nick felt it was a good starting point for the story, and felt like a relatable place to start. The song is kept at a slower tempo, using keyboards and bells to create the optimistic feeling they were going for.

DVP smashes into the album next, named after the Don Valley Parkway which is mentioned in the song. Nick pitched this song as the day the apocalypse hit, and our main character is freaking out trying to figure out if the girl he had recently been broken up with was ok, being seen in the way it's written as a phone call to her sister, and his attempt to speed down the titular DVP. Nathan Taylor helped write the bulk of this song, figuring out how to frame it as a deep dive into a character even they didn't know much about. Chris O'Brian is credited as writing some of the standout lyrics like "I don't give a shit, I just don't wanna die and I don't wanna live!"

Songs like Depression is No Fun, and Un Mensaje serve as little middle points, check in on the characters as he deals with being alone and survivng, as well as his attempts to contact his ex, who refuses to see him even in post apocalyptic times. The first of the two was mostly written between Scott Wilson, Alex Kuzmack, and Miles Gonzalez, with the latter being written mostly by Nikki Brown.

Sibling Rivalry, Fuckin' A, and Dialogue all delve more into the internal conflicts of this imaginary character, as well as his relationship with his sister. Nick wrote a large majority of these songs, as they are the ones that are most tied to him and his own personal life, reflecting mostly on how he was feeling during the release of the last two albums as well as his thoughts during the hiatus. Nick had recently reconciled with his sister, who he hadn't spoken to after a fight around the time Be Still, My Beating Heart was released.

Come To The Valley was written mostly by the original lineup, with the idea to be a song similar to their cover of New York, New York on Here's To You. The song follows a similar sound, but this time incorporates more instruments, light on guitar as Nick really only plays a few repeated chords, and the rest is mostly keyboard, drums, and vocals. The song plays into the story as Nick views this song as from Recovery One, the sanctuary that the main character was looking for as they introduce themselves to him and tell him to meet them in an unnamed valley.

Kids and Let Them Win were written in a large collaboration effort of everyone who was working on the album, Nick wanted at least one song like that and they ended up with two that they really enjoyed and so they round off the tracklist. Kids was written as a reflection on each members childhoods as well as the friendships they had all made with each other - leaning into the story of the main character as well as he finds someone new to love and face the apocalypse with after joining up with Recovery One in the valley. Let Them Win is more about the doubts and hardships the band faced when pitching Recovery One, as many thought that making an album with a band that big would never work, as well as getting lots of hesitation when showing people their more experimental songs, as many in the industry were convinced that their audience wouldn't want this after a hiatus. But sticking to their guns the band continued, letting this just inspire the song. It is also a reflection on the band's entire legacy, written as a "middle finger" to everyone who doubted them. Within the story, Nick sees this as the promise to continue on and recover the world, this is Recovery One as everyone left alive promises to move onward and rebuild.

Nick and Nathan both produced the album together, mixing their many influences together to give each song a distinct feeling but to keep the entire thing under one unifying umbrella of sound. It's much more put together and similar sounding than some of their previous albums, as well as having some songs that flow into each other like Fuckin' A and Dialogue, an idea that was actually pitched by Kevin Brockton, who was thinking of ways there would be less breaks between songs when performing them live.

The Road to Recovery One
With the band's relevance a bit low now that they had gotten away from the tail end of 5 Incredible Songs in a Row!, They knew they didn't have much of a choice in experimental ways to promote the album, instead they opted for a more traditional route. By the time they were ready to release singles, almost the entire album was finished, giving them many choices for singles. It was decided to release both Side Projects are Never Successful and DVP at the same time as the first singles, coming out on June 15th 2021 on the Talkie McTalkerson show. The choice was also made to hide that the entire band was coming back for the album, leaving the performance to be only Nick Barnett, Scott Wilson, Chris O'Brian, Nikki Brown and Kevin Brockton, who took Jimmy's place so it wouldn't lead to speculation.