Days of the New is the third self-titled album by alternative

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 rock band Days of the New

Days of the New

Days of the New is an American alternative rock band from Louisville, Kentucky, formed in 1995. The band consists of vocalist/guitarist Travis Meeks and a variety of supporting musicians...

. It was released in 2001 and was originally scheduled for late 2000, but Interscope enlisted Ron Aniello

Ron Aniello

Ron Aniello is an American; Grammy Award nominated, multi-award–winning, multi-platinum record producer. Some of the noteworthy artists that he has worked with include; Lifehouse, Barenaked Ladies, Guster, Jars of Clay, Days of the New, Sixpence None the Richer, Leigh Nash, Ashley Tesoro, Patti...

 to help the band re-record and remix several songs for the record. The songs "Hang On to This," "Die Born," and "Once Again" were also added during this process. Reinforcing the Days of the New album color theme, the CD case to Red is translucent red.

Overview

In February 2000, Meeks returned to the studio with a new band. This album incorporated aspects of the previous two; much of the energy from the first album had returned, combined with orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

l interlude

Break (music)

In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece....

s similar to the second album. Red also continues the upbeat vibe as emphasized on Green with more emphasis on electric guitar

Electric guitar

An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

, namely in the opening track. The album encompasses several tracks written in 2001 as well as some of Meeks' earliest compositions, such as "Words" and "Fighting With Clay."

The original version of the album was completed in 2000. At the record label's request, the album was retooled with producer Ron Aniello enlisted to remix tracks and record several new songs. During the 2001 recording sessions, Meeks' drug use escalated to cocaine. After the album's release that September, he also started using methamphetamine

Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...

 and lost an extreme amount of weight, and due to Meeks' drug problems, the tour soon became chaotic.

Reception

The first single, "Hang On to This," charted fairly and was the most added song on rock radio the week it was released. However, the album was released two weeks after the 9/11 attacks

September 11, 2001 attacks

The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...

 and, with very little promotion, only sold 90,000 copies. The band maintained a profile touring with the likes of Creed

Creed (band)

Creed is an American rock band formed in 1995 in Tallahassee, Florida. Becoming popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the band has released three consecutive multi-platinum albums, one of which has been certified diamond, and has sold over 28 million records in the United States, with an...

 and 3 Doors Down

3 Doors Down

3 Doors Down is an American rock band from Escatawpa formed in 1996. The band consists of Brad Arnold , Matt Roberts , Todd Harrell , Chris Henderson , and Greg Upchurch ....

.

Track listing

1. "Hang on to This" – 4:11
2. "Fighting w/ Clay" – 2:52
3. "Days in Our Life" – 3:42
4. "Die Born" – 3:56
5. "Best of Life" – 5:33
6. "Dirty Road" – 4:43
7. "Where Are You?" – 3:33
8. "Never Drown" – 5:05
9. "Words" – 3:42
10. "Once Again" – 3:39
11. "Giving In" – 5:44
12. "Dancing with the Wind" – 10:09

• All music and lyrics by Travis Meeks.

Personnel

• Travis Meeks
  Travis Meeks
  Travis Shane Meeks , is an American musician, and is the lead singer, guitarist and song writer for acoustic rock band Days of the New.-Early life and career:...
  
  - vocals, guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, percussion, instrumentation
• Mike Huettig - bass
• Ray Rizzo - drums, percussion, choir
• Sam Anderson - choir, choir conduction
• Roy Horton - trombone, bass trombone
• John Ray - choir
• Roger Soren - bassoon, contrabassoon
• Wendy Doyle, Louise Harris - cello
• Doug Buchanan, Julie Edwards - viola
• John Chisholm - violin
• Trevor Johnson - English horn, oboe
• Scott Staidle - violin, arrangements, conduction
• Ron Aniello - keyboards
• Robert Edwards - percussion

Charts

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
2001	"Hang on to This"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	18