That was probably a conscious effort. But we're not really trying to sell out; it's not an effort to go mainstream. It's a natural evolution.

What we can measure is how hard we are trying. Measures of effort may be a more useful indicator than estimated rates of species loss. For example, we can measure the number of new protected areas being established and ask if they have sufficient budgets.

Having a really solid drummer behind us gave us all a charge. Dave is just this gem in Pittsburgh, this national caliber drummer. We were very fortunate to have him. It's like playing a pickup basketball game with an NBA guy, it just forces you all to play better.

I went into record some demo songs and Paul [Fitzsimmons] let me borrow one of his electric guitars, so maybe that's where I started to write a little more on the electric.

I think today record companies are looking for a single, rather than here's an album we made that tries to have some flow to it, tries to weave common threads and themes to it.

I was just trying to get my teammates involved. We had a great defensive effort. That was a team when right there.