From June 2000, the band took a six-week break from touring to record an album with producer Neal Avron. Having met him previously, the two parties discussed the desired sound the band were striving for on the record. Avron said, "During pre-production, we'd get in their van for lunch and they had a poster of Britney Spears up. They wanted the music to be heavy, but the vocals to be super-pop, that was the goal". They re-recorded "Hit or Miss" again, as they felt the increase in recording budget would help the song. Avron felt that less focus on the drums was better; he would be apprehensive when Bolooki came up with a fill. As a result, most of the drum parts were "kind of more laid back" than what Bolooki had intended.