Producer Opitz said of the band's reaction to "East", "Don came to me six months later and said, “I never want to have another commercial album again.” Which I thought was really funny, because what the fuck? Don said he didn’t want to do another commercial album, but thank God for Steve Prestwich." Walker said, "With Steve demoing such melodic songs - it didn't matter what we did to them, they were going to be extremely melodic, accessible songs - I felt no pressure to write commercial. I didn't try to write singles, tight arrangements or anything. I had a bit of an indulge." Barnes added, "Immediately we had success, Don went dark."