"'Drown' is a song about coming to terms with the decision to start a new life -- just jump in headfirst and be set free. In a lot of ways, it's about where the band is now. We've parted ways with our label and are putting this new record out on our own. Like any new adventure, it's something that's both daunting and exciting, but luckily we live in an age when artists no longer need the major label machine to heard. So we're looking forward to this new journey. The album title 'Wild Blessed Freedom' also ties in to that theme.

This is our second album with producer Max Martin and once again, it was an amazing experience. He has an incredible ear and an uncanny ability to bring out stuff that you don't realize you have inside. We ended up with a bigger-sounding album and music that really lends itself to a live experience. We wanted to write songs that can get the audience up and moving and excited. And we had a great time making it.

It's funny, we spent 6 months recording in Sweden and then 6 months in LA. But there was a record snowfall while we were working in Sweden. It was just unbelievably cold and I was staying in a basement apartment and the snow was stacked so high, I couldn't see outside the window. And yet we wound up recording the poppiest moments of the record there. I think subconsciously we were just trying to create our own joy to escape from that miserable weather.

There was a bar across the street from the studio and every night we'd go there for a break. The first time we went, we noticed shelves of bottles with stuff we'd never heard of before, so we agreed that with each visit, we'd all have to take a shot of something none of us had ever tried before. It was fun, but I must admit, there were a few times when we returned to the studio and were too hammered to keep working."