As with previous Descendents albums, all four band members contributed to the songwriting of the new record. With their shared history and eclectic musical tastes, Alvarez and Egerton brought new ideas to the band. "We already had a kind of highly evolved vocabulary of licks and riffs", recalled Alvarez. Egerton remembered "What was interesting about putting that band together at that time was that there were two already functioning chemistries that existed: Milo and Bill, and me and Karl." "They had all these really cool experimental, instrumental deals going", recalled Aukerman. "Stephen came in with these crazy songs, this kind of King Crimson-eque thing, and I was like 'ooh, okay.