Crimson is the fifth album by Alkaline Trio

Alkaline Trio

Alkaline Trio is an American punk rock band that formed in McHenry, Illinois, in 1996. The band's line-up consists of Matt Skiba , Dan Andriano , and Derek Grant...

, released May 23, 2005. The record is produced by Jerry Finn

Jerry Finn

Jerry Finn was an American record producer. He was perhaps best known for his work with Blink-182, as well as Morrissey, AFI, Bad Religion, Alkaline Trio, MxPx, Rancid, Green Day, Sum 41 and The Offspring.-Death:...

.

A 'Deluxe Edition' was released on November 28, 2005. The first disc contains the original album, while the added second disc features the album as demos, home demos and acoustic songs. It is presented in a color slipcase based on original artwork.

Recording

Bassist Dan Andriano

Dan Andriano

Daniel Michael Andriano is the bassist and co-vocalist of the punk rock band Alkaline Trio.-Education and early bands:...

 notes that:

it was kind of the same as always. We just spent a little more time in all areas of the recording process. We spent a little more time in pre-production, where we worked on the songs with Jerry

Jerry Finn

Jerry Finn was an American record producer. He was perhaps best known for his work with Blink-182, as well as Morrissey, AFI, Bad Religion, Alkaline Trio, MxPx, Rancid, Green Day, Sum 41 and The Offspring.-Death:...

. Before we started recording, he came out to Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and [came to practices] and he was listening to the songs, and we had an opportunity to ask him what he thought. It kind of gave us more time to re-work some stuff that we thought could have been a little better but were a little stumped on, as Jerry had good ideas for the songs. And as far as the actual recording, it was great working with him. It was more like working with a friend. We've known Jerry for a long time, and he's really easy to work with and be around for 12 hours a day. He's got an amazing gear collection. Any kind of guitar you want to use for a song or any kind of amplifier, he probably has it—and he probably has one of the nicest one's of that model. To me, recording was like being in a playground. It's just like, "Let me play this one. Let me try this." Every bass track on the record was recorded with an old Marshall guitar amp.

A tentative title for the album was Church and Destroy.

Lyrics

The song "Sadie" is about Susan Atkins

Susan Atkins

Susan Denise Atkins was a convicted American murderer who was a member of the "Manson family", led by Charles Manson. Manson and his followers committed a series of nine murders at four locations in California, over a period of five weeks in the summer of 1969...

 (aka Sadie Mae Glutz) a murderer in the Charles Manson

Charles Manson

Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...

 family, who took part in the Sharon Tate

Sharon Tate

Sharon Marie Tate was an American actress. During the 1960s she played small television roles before appearing in several films. After receiving positive reviews for her comedic performances, she was hailed as one of Hollywood's promising newcomers and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for...

 murders in 1969. The quotation near the end of the song is a quote from Susan's testimony which is spoken by Heather Hannoura, the band's merchandise and artwork creator.

The song "Prevent this Tragedy" refers to the West Memphis Three

West Memphis Three

The West Memphis Three are three men who were tried and convicted as teenagers in 1994 of the 1993 murders of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. Damien Echols was sentenced to death, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. was sentenced to life imprisonment plus two 20-year sentences, and Jason Baldwin was...

, whose trial and conviction for the murder of three children in 1993 was widely publicized and is still considered controversial.

Songs

Skiba on "Sadie":

That song was actually the first song that we wrote for Crimson. We were still touring on our previous record and I wrote it just on tour. We started playing it at soundcheck and we had planned to do this split with One Man Army

One Man Army

One Man Army is an american punk rock band that was formed in San Francisco, California, in 1996 and separated in 2005 and reunited in 2011. The band was discovered by Billie Joe Armstrong while playing in an East Bay club, and their debut album Dead End Stories was the first release on Adeline...

 on BYO. That’s where that song came from originally. But we knew even then that we were probably wanting to re-record it and putting it on an album, which it was on Crimson later. So yeah, I think that came from knowing that we were starting to write a new record and wanting to take a different approach. As I said before, you don’t ever want to write the same record twice. So yeah, I think it was just a fresh start and it just had a different kind of feel and sort of set the tone for Crimson, not that there is other songs like it on the record. But it’s definitely a good thing to get the ball rolling.

Andriano on "Smoke":

It's the last song on the record. I actually wrote that song like two years ago. I knew I liked certain aspects of the song, and those were basically the aspects of the song that made it to the final version. For the two years before we recorded it, I had been kind of toiling over this. It was kind of the bane of my writing existence. It scared me, because I knew I liked parts of it but was really unhappy with other parts. I couldn't make the vibe work. There was a time when that song was really soft, actually. I tried to make it like a loud, mid-tempo rock number, but nothing really worked. That was one that we spent a lot of time on actually, making that groove that we wanted that's there now, almost a ballad [like] kind of song. It gave us a lot of time to think about cool effects, effects we could use on the chorus and string parts that are in the song.

Artwork

The album's cover art features drummer Derek Grant

Derek Grant

Derek Grant is the drummer for punk band Alkaline Trio, where he replaced Mike Felumlee. He was previously a member of The Suicide Machines, Telegraph, Gyga, Thoughts of Ionesco, Remainder, Walls of Jericho, The Exceptions and Broken Spoke, a side band with Royce Nunley and Jay Navarro...

 and Matt Skiba

Matt Skiba

Matthew Thomas Skiba is the lead singer and guitarist of Alkaline Trio.-Early life and family:...

's then fiancée (and now ex-wife), Monica.

According to Matt Skiba

Matt Skiba

Matthew Thomas Skiba is the lead singer and guitarist of Alkaline Trio.-Early life and family:...

, the band were:

"doing the photo shoot and we had a completely different idea of what the record was going to look like. And Monica was there doing our styling; she got a bunch of outfits and she did the styling for pretty much all the new pictures for the record. She was there and the photographer was just doing all these different things and he had her stand in. He was toying with these different ideas with just a small portion of her face in the picture and then, lo and behold, she's our cover star. So we thought it looked cool and the people at the art department are in cahoots with the photographer who is amazing. Everybody who worked on the thing was cool and hands on and saw these pictures of her and were asking “who is that?” I said “that's my girlfriend” and they said “that's perfect, we have to use her." I think it looks very cinematic, and that's what we were going for. Once it was coming together, it was like film noir

Film noir

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...

.

Crimson

All songs written by Alkaline Trio.

1. "Time to Waste
   Time to Waste
   "Time to Waste" is a song by the Chicago-based punk rock band Alkaline Trio, released as the first single from their 2005 album Crimson. It peaked at #40 on Billboards Modern Rock Tracks chart, #32 on the UK Singles Chart, and #97 on the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles...
   
   " – 4:11
2. "The Poison" – 2:04
3. "Burn
   Burn (Alkaline Trio song)
   "Burn" is a song by the Chicago-based punk rock band Alkaline Trio, released as the third single from their 2005 album Crimson. It peaked at #34 on the UK Singles Chart. The single was released as both a compact disc and a pair of vinyl 7-inches, each containing different demo, remix, and alternate...
   
   " – 4:05
4. "Mercy Me" – 2:49
5. "Dethbed" – 3:03
6. "Settle for Satin" – 3:49
7. "Sadie" – 4:39
8. "Fall Victim" – 3:18
9. "I Was a Prayer" – 2:36
10. "Prevent This Tragedy" – 3:06
11. "Back to Hell" – 2:54
12. "Your Neck" – 3:15
13. "Smoke" – 3:00

Crimson (Deluxe Edition) Disc 2

1. "Time to Waste" (Demo) – 3:24
2. "The Poison" (Demo) – 1:34
3. "Burn" (Matt's Home Demo) – 2:57
4. "Mercy Me" (Acoustic) – 3:12
5. "Dethbed" (Demo) – 2:56
6. "Settle for Satin" (Demo) – 3:31
7. "Sadie" (Acoustic) – 3:19
8. "Fall Victim" (Demo) – 3:04
9. "I Was a Prayer" (Acoustic) – 2:54
10. "Prevent This Tragedy" (Demo) – 3:40
11. "Back to Hell" (Matt's Home Demo) – 2:56
12. "Your Neck" (Demo) – 3:14
13. "Smoke" (Demo) – 3:07
14. "Time to Waste" (Acoustic) – 4:21

Also included:

• "Time to Waste" (Video)
• "Mercy Me" (Video)
• "Burn" (Video)

B-sides

The band recorded three other songs for the album. "We Can Never Break Up" and "Don't Say You Won't" can be found on the "Time to Waste" single and as bonus tracks for non-US releases of Crimson. "Buried" is available on the "Mercy Me" single. As well, these three songs can be found on the b-sides and rarities collection Remains

Remains (Alkaline Trio Album)

Remains is a compilation album from Alkaline Trio that was released on January 30, 2007. The album is a collection of 22 tracks that the band has recorded for various compilations, EPs, B-sides and international releases. The disc also includes three new live tracks from a 2006 concert at Avalon in...

released in 2007.

In pop culture

"Mercy Me" and "Fall Victim" were both included in the soundtrack of the video game FlatOut 2

FlatOut 2

FlatOut 2 is a racing video game developed by Bugbear Entertainment and published by Empire Interactive and Vivendi Universal Games. It is the sequel to the 2004-2005 releaseFlatOut....

.

Personnel

• All songs written by Alkaline Trio.
• Bass guitar and vocals by Dan Andriano
  Dan Andriano
  Daniel Michael Andriano is the bassist and co-vocalist of the punk rock band Alkaline Trio.-Education and early bands:...
  
  .
• Drums and vocals by Derek Grant
  Derek Grant
  Derek Grant is the drummer for punk band Alkaline Trio, where he replaced Mike Felumlee. He was previously a member of The Suicide Machines, Telegraph, Gyga, Thoughts of Ionesco, Remainder, Walls of Jericho, The Exceptions and Broken Spoke, a side band with Royce Nunley and Jay Navarro...
  
  .
• Guitars and vocals by Matt Skiba
  Matt Skiba
  Matthew Thomas Skiba is the lead singer and guitarist of Alkaline Trio.-Early life and family:...
  
  .
• Piano and keyboards by Roger Joseph Manning Jr.
  Roger Joseph Manning Jr.
  Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. is an American keyboard player and founding member of bands Jellyfish, Imperial Drag, The Moog Cookbook, and TV Eyes. He has also spent several years as an integral member of Beck's backing band, and made contributions to several recordings by the band Air. He is...
  
  .
• Lead guitar on Sadie by Nolan McGuire
  Nolan McGuire
  - The Parker Brothers :Nolan's earliest work was with The Parker Brothers .also did a tour with digger- The Honor System :He played on The Honor System's debut album, Single File, and subsequent EP, 100% Synthetic...
  
  .
• Spoken word on Sadie by Heather Hannoura.
• Additional string arrangements by Warren Fitzgerald
  Warren Fitzgerald
  Warren Fitzgerald is an American punk rock musician, guitarist, songwriter, and record label owner.-Overview and business:Warren Fitzgerald is most famous for being the current guitarist of The Vandals...
  
  .
• Produced and mixed by Jerry Finn
  Jerry Finn
  Jerry Finn was an American record producer. He was perhaps best known for his work with Blink-182, as well as Morrissey, AFI, Bad Religion, Alkaline Trio, MxPx, Rancid, Green Day, Sum 41 and The Offspring.-Death:...
  
  .
• Engineered by Ryan Hewitt.
• Assisted by Seth Waldmann.
• Drum Teching by Keith Schubert.
• Recorded at Conway Studios, Los Angeles
  Los Ángeles
  Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
  
  .
• Mastering by Dave Collins at Dave Collins Mastering.
• Management by Daniel Field/The Firm.
• Business management by Zach Zeisler for Zeisler Zeisler and Rawson LLP.
• US Booking by Andrew Ellis/Ellis Industries.
• International Booking by Steve Strange
  Steve Strange
  Steve Strange , is a Welsh pop singer, best known as the lead singer and frontman of the 1980s pop group Visage...
  
   for X Ray Touring Ltd.
• Legal by Michael Toorock/Toorock and Rosen, LLP.
• Published by ASCAP. Alkaline Trio's publishing title is Hell Toupee.
• Photos by David Raccuglia.
• Set designer and stylist is Monica Parker.
• Make-up/stylist is Cheri Keating.
• Art direction by TODA (Marcos Chavez, Tyson Thorne) and Heather Hannoura.
• Production by Cass Productions.
• Clothing provided by E.C. Star and Camden Lock.