PropertyOfZack had the chance to chat with some of our favorite people in Now, Now not too long ago for a great interview. Brad, Cacie, Jess, and I discussed the writing and recording for their new album, how working with a legitimate producer was, plans to join a new label, release plans, and much more. Read up!

For the record, could you state your names and roles in Now, Now?
Brad: Can I say it in Norwegian?
Cacie: No. I’m Cacie, and I play guitar, keyboard, and sing in
Jess: I am Jess, and I play guitar and do some singing.
Brad: I’m Bradley, Brad for short, and I play drums.

In the last year, the band has released an EP and has done some touring. A year later, are you guys happy with the reception to the EP?
Brad: I’m happy with it.
Cacie: It did more than what we were expecting. We were just expecting to release it ourselves on Bandcamp and have that be it.
Brad: It was something for people who had been waiting forever for us to release stuff.
Jess: It was a weird transitional period where I joined the band and we started to develop a little bit of a new sound.
Brad: I wasn’t expecting No Sleep to push it at all either really. I thought they’d just put it out to our fans who listen to us a lot.

There was definitely a slight change in sound from Cars. Do you think people grasped onto it?
Brad: I think so. It wasn’t so drastic or anything. If bands develop in a tasteful way, I like it. If band’s suddenly decide to do something crazy different, it can be good or bad.

Now, Now did the Hellogoodbye tour in support of the release…
Cacie: That was fun.
Jess: We met a lot of people and went to a lot of places. We weren’t really expecting to get on a full tour like that on Neighbors. We thought it was really cool when that happened.

The band was supposed to do a spring tour, but cancelled it to hit the studio.
Cacie: It was a weird situation. We knew that we had to be in the studio, but we didn’t know exactly when. Suddenly those dates were booked and we needed that time to make sure the record was everything we could make it and then be gone for like a month.
Brad: Especially because it’ll be our first full-length in four years. We wanted to make sure that we had all of the songs together and to have them super prepared. We wanted to make this record mean something since it’s been so long.
Cacie: We’re not comfortable going into the studio and then writing the record. We’re super anal and we have to have every single layer written beforehand or we get stressed out.
Brad: Most bands have pre-production where they finish the songs and write other things. We had almost everything planned out. Our pre-production was basically practicing.
Cacie: Yeah, he helped us change from things and go through what we had already written.

You did Neighbors but yourself, so how was it working in a bigger studio with a real producer?
Brad: I was kind of nervous about it because we had never worked with someone like that. Cars didn’t feel as official as this did. We were kind of nervous.
Cacie: When you think of a producer you think of someone that’s going to meddle and mold you.
Brad: Howard ended up being amazing. Producers can be forceful sometimes, but he was just another ear to our band.
Jess: The record is mainly everything we wrote, but he made it tighter sounding.
Cacie: Changes would be like bumping the tempo up by 1 and the little suggestions made the biggest differences.
Brad: He also engineered the record, which was really cool.
Cacie: He’s mixing it and everything too.
Jess: We were also in this studio in Canada and there were people to pick up our lunch and stuff for us. The studio was so nice.
Brad: We were used to recording songs in our basement, but it just felt really meaningful to do it.

Neighbors was a transition period for the band, so what was the writing for this album like?
Cacie: It was the same pretty much.
Brad: It’s cool to have three different ideas to fit together. The three of us now understand each other’s brains kind of.
Jess: We all have elements that we want. Neighbors was us first writing together, and we all have different styles. We’re happy with it, but some songs sound totally different. Now we understand how our brains work when we’re writing. We’re not scared to yell at each other anymore either. Sometimes we get crazy and yell at each other though.
POZ: And is the sound similar to Neighbors?
Jess: It’s more intricate.
Brad: I think the writing is a lot stronger too. We all make sure a song is really put together in the best way possible. I think we spend a lot of time just going through song structure and changing things. It’s the best representation of ourselves.

How many songs were recorded on the album?
Cacie: Fourteen or fifteen. Fifteen including one that we didn’t finish.
POZ: Has mixing been finished yet?
Brad: Mixing was done, but then the label that we’re working with and ourselves wanted to spend a little more time on it for a few things. Last week, I think it was, we went back into a studio for a day and did a few things. Now we’re waiting for those songs to be mixed.

Will this album be released on No Sleep?
Cacie: This won’t be put out on No Sleep, but not for any bad reasons.
Jess: We’re still awesome with No Sleep.
Brad: They helped us so, so much. We really, really owe then.

When will we start hearing label stuff or album details?
Cacie: Sometime in the next month or so.
POZ: And the album will be in early-2012?
Cacie: Hopefully in February.
Brad: We’ll be releasing a bunch of information at soon.
Cacie: Hopefully we single by the end of the year as well.

Now, Now is touring right now with Mansions. How have the dates been?
Cacie: We have Mansions with us and the dates are great.
Brad: This tour is filled with our friends, so it’s nice to be surrounded by your friends. It’s really refreshing to be able to travel with people you’re familiar with.
Jess: When you’re on a big tour with so many bands, it’s a lot to deal with. Sometimes you don’t know how to handle it. Chris is one of our closest friends though.
Brad: It’s been a laidback tour as well. It’s just fun.

Will there be more touring this year?
Brad: We’ll be touring at the end of the year.
Jess: We’re not headlining it.
Brad: It’s a Midwest and Southwest tour. It’s like everywhere except the east coast.

Should we expect more touring next year?
Cacie: We’ll be touring until we drop.