According to Foljahn, the recording session was "mellow" and "quick," and he referred to their recording space— purportedly a moist basement lined with musical equipment and empty beer cans— as "literally the third subbasement. It was so New York." Contrarily, Marshall described the recording session as "anxiety-ridden." "Most of the time Steve and Tim ended up looking at each other like, "What do we do"?" said Marshall. "I wasn't sure what to tell them since I had never really written songs with a band in mind."