To record the album, the band lived in Malibu, California, on a street called "Morning View Drive". Former bassist Alex Katunich (aka "Dirk Lance") noted that the band had previously "tried to do that for at least the writing portion of "Make Yourself", but we didn't have enough clout at the time. When we were getting ready to write this one, we knew that we needed to get into a more creative place. The idea was to not feel as if you were driving to work on a record. You could just get up and it was a natural extension of your day."