"nv" was produced with an incorrect track listing... twice! The first mistake was due to a mix-up during the mastering of the CD (i.e., the programmer got the songs mixed up, and the artwork was already printed). Then the NEW artwork (with a track listing that was meant to follow the incorrect programming) was scrambled up by the graphic design company. If you can't beat 'em... shoot 'em! For the correct track listing, click here.

The packaging for "Distance" originally included a clear inside tray (you know, the plastic insert thingie where you stick the CD). This was an important feature, considering the fact that there are liner notes and artwork behind the CD! However, subsequent pressings of "Distance" were produced using a solid black inside tray (hello!). If you have a copy of "Distance" with a solid black tray, pull it out for a surprise!

For the song "Deluge" (on the "Distance" CD), we tried to come up with new and interesting ways of making it sound more... well, water-like. So someone (we're not saying who) came up with the brilliant idea of trying to record Maria singing underwater! To accomplish this, a bathtub was filled with lukewarm water. A microphone was affixed to a tube, which was placed in the bathtub. Then, Maria's head was dunked into said bathtub, where she was expected to sing lines from the song. This went on for some time... until it was decided that the sounds of the tube in the water sounded much more interesting than Maria blowing bubbles in the bathtub. Samples of the underwater tube-thingie can be heard at the beginning of the song.

"Aftermath" was recorded in a rehearsal space in Oakland, CA. These were un-soundproofed rooms, built inside a warehouse, where mostly grunge-guitar bands (and Slave Unit) came to practice. Sometimes when we were working on music, the sounds of other bands playing were so loud we couldn't hear our own music unless we wore headphones.

To record vocals, Shawn and Maria had to arrive at the rehearsal space at 8:00 am, before any of the other bands got there. They usually had about two hours before the depressed, moaning man with the droning guitar (whom they suspected of having terrible stomach pains) started up in the adjoining studio. After some vocal takes, they would have to listen to the tracks very carefully to make sure that there were no other bands playing in the background!

Have you ever wondered why the vocals on our cover of "All Cats are Grey" sound so, well... strange? It's because Maria actually sang them backwards! Then the backwards vocals were reversed, so a resemblance to the original words could be made out. (Well, we think they do... you can judge for yourself!). As an additional feature in the song, we included some of the tracks where Maria is singing the lyrics backwards... that's the "neeeerg vash schweel twieg luh" part of the song. (For all you David Lynch fans out there... YES, we stole the idea from Twin Peaks!) THAT was a fun day in the recording studio...

The stage lights went out during our Hamburg show, leaving only a strobe light for us to play by! We played two or three songs this way. There are some times when the show maybe shouldn't go on!

An abandoned building in Berlin, with no running water, no heat, and charming concrete floors to sleep on.

This amazing, haunted house in Milwaukee, WI that was stocked full of animals. We're talking 18 cats, 4 dogs, 8 birds and an iguana. (We had arrived in WI with no place to sleep, and the radio DJ who interviewed us was kind enough to invite us to his house!)

A bona-fide crack house in Columbus, OH, where we feared for our lives and snuck out at 5:00 am, tip-toeing over the passed-out body of our host on the living room floor.