Radiosurgery is the seventh studio album by American rock band New Found Glory. It was first released in Australia on September 30, 2011 before being released on October 3, 2011 in Europe, and in the US on October 4 through independent label Epitaph Records. It is the band's final studio album to feature founding guitarist Steve Klein. To follow up predecessor Not Without a Fight (2009), the band began writing new material during their stint on the 2010 Honda Civic Tour. After self-producing a set of demos and contacting long-term record producer Neal Avron, the band went on to record the album in Avron's home recording studio over a period of three months in 2011. The quintet set out to write an album that paid homage to classic punk rock records that first inspired them to form a band during the 1990s. Listening extensively to the likes of early Green Day and Ramones, New Found Glory strove to create a sound that could "bridge the gap" between old and new generations of the genre.
The album title is a reference to the actual medical procedure radiosurgery, with the lyrics directly influenced by a troubled divorce suffered within the band. Radiosurgery was written as a concept album about the different emotions an individual goes through after a separation, including feelings of regret, sadness, and insanity. The band looked up several brain surgeries, settling on Radiosurgery, using the idea that instead of using the procedure to remove a tumor from the brain, it could remove memories.
The first official single from the album was title track "Radiosurgery", released on August 2, 2011 Upon its release, Radiosurgery was a moderate commercial success, debuting at number twenty six on the Billboard 200, number four on the Top Independent Albums chart, and number one on the Hard Rock Albums chart. The album was also well received by music critics, who noted its throwback sound and infectious songwriting, seeing it receive various accolades from within the rock music community.
Background In March 2009, the band released their sixth studio album Not Without a Fight after signing with Epitaph Records. The band then underwent extensive touring to promote the album, including a headlining slot at the 2010 Slam Dunk Festival alongside Alkaline Trio and Capdown. Later, following a bout of pneumonia, Chad Gilbert underwent surgery to remove suspicious cells found in his thyroid before releasing some solo work on his website under the pseudonym of What's Eating Gilbert?. Gilbert later posted on his Twitter account that the surgery had been a success, before the band started a new tour to promote the tenth anniversary re-release of their self-titled second album. The anniversary tour saw the band play the album in its entirety, although despite Gilbert's recovery, Anthony Raneri of Bayside replaced him for the first three legs of the tour as a precautionary measure. It was during the band's stretch on the 2010 Honda Civic Tour that they began writing new material. Frontman Jordan Pundik told Texas-based publication MagX in September that a new album would "probably be recorded in January", and upon being asked what the new material would sound like, he added "We always let it happen. We're a real band. We obviously have a vision of how we want it to "sound" but the songs are always what feels right and true to who we are."
Shortly afterward in a November interview with Reverb music magazine, the band's chief lyricist Klein reported that new demos were in the works and that his early indications were that the songs would make for a "really catchy summer record." Klein went on to explain the band's procedure when writing new songs, noting that in the early stages Gilbert will write new guitar riffs, before sending them to Klein, who in turn begins work on lyrics and harmonies alongside Pundik. The band will then collectively begin writing their own instrumental parts, with Klein summarizing, "Ever since we started the band we've always had the same kind of writing routine where we write the music first, do some lyrics and then begin to record demos." Pundik added that unlike earlier in their career, the band can now simultaneously work on new material together over the internet. "The overall process hasn't really changed, but now it's kind of like we can do it through Skype, or iChat or something. It's kind of cool because we can be at home and work on songs. Before, when we would write songs we would write on the road touring in the van; I remember Cyrus playing drums on the steering wheel and Chad with an acoustic guitar in the passenger seat, you know? So it's definitely a lot easier." In the new year, the band released a teaser trailer, containing footage of them in the studio recording demos.
Recording and production
Having not worked directly with Neal Avron for six years, the band had wanted to recruit him once again to produce a new album. Avron was responsible for producing the band's three most commercially successful records; New Found Glory (2000), Sticks and Stones (2002), and Catalyst (2004). The band wrote and self-produced three demos, before sending them to Avron by email for his evaluation. However, Avron was not overly impressed, stating the songs were "okay, but I don't really think they're that great." The band responded by completing a new set of six tracks, but no avail, as the producer was still not convinced. This left the band frustrated, as they believed the new material to among the best songs they had written. Gilbert was persistent though, and after recording another eight demos that went back-and-forth with the producer, the band announced in November that Avron had agreed to produce the album and recording would commence in the new year. Gilbert has said that this process with Avron helped push the band to compose better songs; "There's only one song that we're recording for the album from the original demos we sent him. It was cool having him push us, because we sort of had a vision on this record, and he really wanted to get that out of us. It's a step forward for our band, definitely [in terms of] songwriting." Gilbert has called Avron the "unofficial sixth member" of the band, because of his open honesty and willingness to push the band. The band entered Avron's home studio, named The Casita, in April to begin tracking. Aside from writing and recording two new songs in May, the remaining batch of songs had been with the band a long time, making recording "rather easy".
The producer is known for his particular recording techniques and prefers laying down the rhythm section of guitar and drums first, as opposed to the usual method of drums and bass guitar. Avron has noted, "Over the years I've had issues with recording bass first, especially when someone is hitting the strings really hard. For me it's difficult to tell whether the bass is in tune, because the fundamental is so low. When laying the rhythm guitars down first, it's much easier to tell whether the bass is out of tune or not. It also means that the bass has a place to fit." Indeed, Pundik reflected on the recording process by stating, "It was pretty smooth, we kind of go in there and do the drums first, which takes a couple of days. Then you do the guitars before I lay down vocals. It's kind of like this factory. It's not like before when we were trying to figure out what guitar sound we wanted, now we've established how we want to sound and what we want to do." The band revealed that Avron suggested "simplifying" some of the songs whilst recording. According to Klein, certain songs had "crazy guitars", but Avron pushed the band to "make the melodies and vocals stand out, to enforce the lyrical themes." Gilbert had the idea to use his backing vocals more prominently on the record, hoping to add some extra dynamics to a songs chorus. He noted that Rancid's Tim Armstrong and Lars Frederiksen were an influence on this decision. Towards the end of recording, the band invited Bethany Cosentino of indie rock band Best Coast to provide backing vocals on a track later confirmed to be titled "Caught in the Act". Cosentino is a fan of the band, and became friends through Twitter. Gilbert explained that the song is the "slowest" on the record, despite each being "upbeat", and somehow "called for a female backing vocal". Cosentino later commented after hearing the final version of the track that she was "stoked" for people to hear it and called it a "classic pop punk gem". Recording was completed at the beginning of June, with the band later confirming on June 18 that mixing and mastering had also been finalized. Avron mixed the album, while Ted Jensen mastered it at Sterling Sound.
Composition
Prior to writing the album, the band spent time revisiting music from their youth that first inspired them to be in a band. Gilbert described how he spent six months "only listening to the Ramones, old Lookout! Records stuff, Green Day's Dookie, Descendents, Rancid's Let's Go and that's pretty much it." Gilbert had a direct musical vision for the album, similar to how he describes that Coming Home (2006) had, as opposed to Not Without a Fight (2009), where the attitude was simply "let's record a New Found Glory album." The band strove to "apply the throwback vibe to their always-evolving style," by incorporating the elements from those classic albums; "it was simple, it was fun, it was heartfelt, but it also kind of had an attitude," with the hallmarks of their own career. Gilbert described how he wanted to "bridge the gap between generations", hoping for reactions such as "Dude that's totally Ramones, but it's not the Ramones, it's New Found Glory. Or like, Dude, that totally reminds me of when I heard Dookie for the first time, but it's totally not, it's New Found Glory." As such, the band were meticulous in the writing process, discarding anything that was not in line with the album's vision or songs that felt "safe". Gilbert described that because they wanted a "fun, punk, upbeat record," any songs he would write that appeared "a slower, mellower, mid-pace thing," would be scrapped. Pundik told Rock Sound magazine that, "[With Radiosurgery] we simplified the songs. There's no riffing or jamming going on. It's just straight up and in-your-face."