In a 2005 interview with "Kerrang!", Trent Reznor expressed his intentions to write material for a new release while on tour promoting "With Teeth". He reportedly began work on the new album by September 2006. Reznor devised much of the album's musical direction on his laptop. Reznor told "Kerrang!" in a later interview, "When I was on the "" tour, to keep myself busy I just really hunkered down and was working on music the whole time, so this kept me in a creative mode and when I finished the tour I felt like I wasn't tired and wanted to keep at it."