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Reprise: Ten Years in the Making

Where We Left Off

A decade ago, Days Pass went quiet. There was no big falling out or dramatic breakup. Life just pulled everyone in different directions. Jake ended up in Indiana. Nathan moved to Austin. Dan headed to Skidmore.

The band never completely lost touch, though. Jake, Dan, and Nathan kept texting over the years, usually just catching up or swapping jokes. Then one day Nathan’s wife nudged him to pick up a guitar again. He hadn’t touched one in almost ten years, but he started writing.

From a Text to a Group Chat

It started with a small idea. Nathan asked Jake if he would want to sing on a track he was working on, and Jake was into it. Before long, Dan was added to the chat and the three of them were throwing around a crazy thought: What if they wrote a whole new album, did it all remotely, and just had fun with it?

Nobody hesitated. Everyone was in.

Two Years of Dropbox Demos

The band spent a little over two years building Reprise from a distance. Each member wrote and recorded his parts and dropped them into Dropbox. Nathan would pull everything together and send it back around. They went back and forth like that, piece by piece, until they finally had the album they’d been chasing.

Then it was time to make it real, and that meant finding the right studio.

Finding the Right Studio

When the band was ready to record, they went with NoizFaktory, an Austin-area recording studio just north of the city in Georgetown. Nathan reached out and laid out their plans, and Eric Meyer, who owns the studio, turned out to be exactly the person they needed. He sat down with the band, helped map out a game plan, and made the whole thing workable even though everyone was scattered across the country.

And the logistics were no joke. Jake flew down. Daniel drove up. Nathan came over. Each member had about a single day in the studio to track his parts, so there was no room to waste time.

They built the album from the ground up in order. Rom Gov came in first and laid down the drums, stepping in for longtime drummer Larry, who couldn’t make this one. Nathan went in next and tracked the guitars. Daniel followed with the bass. Then Jake came in last and brought the songs to life with his vocals.

The People Who Made It Happen

Two people really made that tight timeline work. Eric was the enabler. Whatever the band needed, whether it was amps, ideas, or anything else, he found a way to make it happen. Engineer Thanos Willey worked with incredible attention to detail and captured exactly the sound the band had in mind.

The tracking went fast and focused. Mixing and mastering were the complete opposite. That part was slow and careful because Nathan wanted every little detail right, and Thanos stuck with him through the entire process until the record sounded exactly the way the band imagined it.

Reprise Is Here

Ten years apart, two years of long-distance writing, and a few intense days in the studio. That’s the story behind Reprise. The band owes a big thanks to Eric, Thanos, and most of all to our families, who supported us through every late night, every trip, and every “just one more mix.”

Making this album reminded all of us why we started playing together in the first place. Whether this is a one-time reunion or the start of something new, we’re just glad we got to do it again.

Album Credits

Reprise by DAYS PASS
Recorded at The Noiz Faktory in Georgetown, Texas
Engineered, mixed, and mastered by Thanos Willey
Studio owner Eric Meyer