Nothing Gold Can Stay (album) - Background and Recording

Background and Recording

Following the band's underground success with the release of debut EP It's All About the Girls (1997), they soon caught the attention of independent label Eulogy Recordings, and the quintet subsequently signed in order to increase distribution of their music. The album was recorded on a low budget with the members having to self-fund the sessions. Jordan Pundik recalls, "I was working in Walgreens, I remember borrowing money off my sister to pay for the recording and everybody getting on me for not throwing in enough." Chad Gilbert also said that the album "wasn't recorded too well", but also praised its rawness by adding, "It sounds more real than a lot of other records". Pundik worked alongside primary lyricist and rhythm guitarist Steve Klein to pen the tracks. "When me and Steve would work on the songs, he'd come and pick me up in his punk-rock station wagon, with stickers all over the back. It didn't have a stereo, just a boombox. We'd sit in his room at his parents' house, and we'd work on lyrics and melodies with sheets of paper everywhere". Pundik also said that a five-year relationship during high school inspired the lyrics to "Winter of '95". "I was with her for 5 years, she was the only thing I knew, so that played a big part. I remember listening to a Gameface record on vinyl, but was writing my own lyrics for the song at the same time in my head". Gilbert reflects on the album as "100 percent, without a doubt, the most honest, simple, pure record. We were just a bunch of kids who grew up in the suburbs. We never expected to leave Florida, we were just making a a record we could play locally and sell to friends. Then, eventually, it took us so many other places".