“III,” the aptly-titled third studio album from Shiny Toy Guns, debuted today (October 23), following a hiatus, reunion, and four years without an album from the L.A. synth-pop group.
The four members of Shiny Toy Guns — Carah Faye, Chad Petree, Jeremy Dawson and Mikey Martin — sat down with Billboard to discuss their album and the story behind each of the 11 tracks on “III,” from first single “Waiting Alone” to the closing song, “Take Me Back to Where I Was.”
“The process was a very lengthy one,” keyboardist/bassist Dawson said of “III.” “Part of the title of the album is the amount of years that it took to make it.”
He added, “We had some scraps left over from our whole career that we sort of dove into, but once we became the original band again we sort of started with a fresh palette of new songs mixed with a little bit of the scraps.”
After releasing “We Are Pilots” in 2006, vocalist Carah Faye left the band, to be replaced for their sophomore album “Season of Poison” in 2008. She moved to Sweden and began a new project, Versant, but returned to Shiny Toy Guns in early 2011. The third track on “III,” “Carrie” tells the story of the band’s reunion, Faye told Billboard.
The group has already released two singles from “III,” starting with “Waiting Alone” in June and then “Fading Listening” in August. “Waiting Alone was formerly called ‘Do You Really,'” explained Dawson. “It’s probably the oldest song on the record.”
Added vocalist Petree, “We had it even when we were making ‘[We Are] Pilots.'”
The new album, mixed by Tony Maserati (Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Tupac), closes with “Take Me Back to Where I Was,” a song that Petree wrote about “being selfish,” and wanting to go back to an unselfish state of mind.
Now available in stores and online, Shiny Toy Guns’ “III” is streaming in full on their website. Listen in the player above.
Reporting by Lisa Binkert.