At about 9:30 PM on the June day we wrapped “1-800-SUCCEED,” we walked over to the local Pawtucket dive to celebrate, just as we did upon completion of album one, with jello shots. Same as it ever was. Despite posted operating hours, we were greeted by a locked door and no explanation in a completely still, silent neighborhood fraught with urban decay.

There’s no cure-all elixir for feeling lost or confused and attempts at suppression may have some side effects. “1-800-SUCCEED” is the unavoidable hangover that follows our first foray into multi-level marketing, “$99 R/T Hawaii” — the promise of a better, or at least other, place within reach.

We bought and sold the dream. While deep in an unsustainable REM slumber, escapist ambitions took a nosedive out of that budget airliner, artlessly hurtling back to earth with no recourse. Maybe there was nothing to celebrate. There’s no tube amp warm enough, no microphone sensitive enough, no pickup sweet enough to shake off the debris of this world. You can’t snap your fingers and step out of this claustrophobic plane of existence. “1-800-SUCCEED” is the sound of this realization. 

“1-800-SUCCEED” was recorded, mixed, and mastered at Machines With Magnets in Pawtucket, RI by Seth Manchester and Keith Souza (Lightning Bolt, Battles, Load Records).