Time Spent Driving are a California-based band who were Emo groundbreakers in the late 90s/early 2000s drawing their members from Melodic Punk and Hardcore bands and after a break-up, reformed in 2012. In late 2023, they released new album Estrangers, their first via Negative Progression Records. The collection is coming to vinyl soon and reflects a breadth of songwriting and the energy of some changes in songwriter Jon Cattivera’s life.
Ranging from the album opener and live-show geared track “Trust No One”, to gentler and more reflective songs like “Deep Blue”, there’s a consistent feeling of questioning that finds a kind of answer in the more hopeful direction of key track “Intents and Purposes” and its psychedelia-tinged video. Working from a well-stocked home studio now, Cattivera has even made considerable progress toward Time Spent Driving’s next release. I spoke with Cattivera about the twists and turns the band faced in creating Estrangers, how many of the songs express a necessary “darkness”, and the role that he feels communication plays in building a healthier life.
Hannah Means-Shannon: I know that it’s been a number of years since you all have released a new album, but when I look back at your releases, I see a lot of activity, including a deluxe version of Passed & Presence with extra material. You all have been pretty consistently busy.
Jon Cattivera: Yes, our label at the time suggested a deluxe release of that album and asked if we had anything else. We had actually recorded two additional songs with that set of songs, and decided to include acoustic versions as well. Those were recorded specifically for the deluxe edition. That was intentional. Then we lost a member, got a new one, played a couple shows, and started writing for Estrangers. Then the covid stuff happened. So we decided to release half of Estrangers as an EP, a kind of Volume 1, in 2020. That was half of what just came out on Estrangers.
We just finished up the rest of the record and put the two sets of songs together, meshing them in terms of track order rather than just saying, “this is the second half”. The EP was kind of a soft launch to be doing something but the whole album was put together with Negative Progression. Right now, we’re actually half-way through recording a new record, and we’re moving a lot more quickly. I’m also just in a better place. I have this studio that I’ve built at my house, and I work at home.
Some of the methods of release that you mention are getting pretty common, particularly since Covid, so you were a little bit ahead of the trend. More people are doing EP releases leading up to albums and more people are doing deluxe editions to distinguish between digital and physical releases or give a second look at the album in a new light.
I’m a little old school in that I don’t really listen to singles, I listen to whole albums. Maybe I should be more into singles, but I don’t tend to think of music as one song at a time, but as a set of songs. I know that The Smashing Pumpkins tend to think this way, too, for instance. It’s not that I’m so intentional about arcs to albums, but I’m thinking about the differences between songs and how they fit together. I’m okay putting out five songs at a time because they fit together.
It’s so much a matter of choice these days, but I’m also more album or EP-oriented. I also collect vinyl. EPs seem like a great middle road of presenting a kind of novella versus a novel and a lot of people put some thought into how they fit together.
We had originally thought that we’d release two EPs, but decided to just do one EP, then the full album. Our vinyl is actually arriving soon, too, and we’ll be announcing the orders soon.
Does the way that you approach this grouping of songs affect how you see the sound on the album? Do you see a sonic similarity among these songs, or do you see different eras of sound as they developed for you?
This is probably the most spread out [in time] that I’ve ever written. On our previous record, I did have songs from the in-between period when the band had been broken up. I even had some songs from an earlier period that we ended up recording. That’s actually why I named that record Passed & Presence. It was a play on having some stuff from the past that we needed to get present, so to speak, and some present stuff. But a lot of that was all-new, too. But on this album Estrangers, everything is basically “new” except one song called “False Fluff.” That one is from the mid-2000s, but back then it had a lot of different lyrics. I liked the song, so when I started reviving it, I changed up the lyrics top-to-bottom.
I had moved up to the property I’m at now, kind of in the woods, so there’s imagery drawn from that, but it’s also about a feeling of loss. Then there’s another song called “Wake Up and Smell the Daisies” which I actually wrote for another band I was playing in, that was heavier. That band stopped playing, so I thought I could make it a Time Spent Driving song. I didn’t have any vocals for it yet, so that was a different approach to writing, too. Usually, I’m just picking up my guitar and thinking, “How am I feeling today? What am I thinking about?” That’s much more typical of my songwriting.
I’m glad that you didn’t discard those other songs just because they came from a different writing background. “Wake Up and Smell The Daisies” is definitely a heavier song, so it’s interesting that it came from a heavier source. I think it totally works on the collection, though, even thematically.
It definitely does.
Having a studio at home must be a huge improvement. A lot of people spent time during the pandemic trying to create working space.
It’s been a game-changer. For our newest record, I was pretty much able to write all of it in about two months, which is crazy talk. It’s also probably a testament to where I am in my life right now, motivated, and better mentally than I’ve been in a long, long time. I also had a lot of inspiration and could tap in, so I think it’s going to be our best stuff ever.
What can you tell me about the song sequencing on Estrangers? Is it more idea-based or sound-based?
It’s more sound-based. The first song, “Trust No One”, is actually one of the first I wrote for the album, but my approach with this record was to be shorter and sweeter since we had a lot of longer songs on the last album. I was thinking about being short, and sweet, and coming in, and just rocking. I was also thinking, “I’d love to play some live shows.” So that song is like one that would open a live show. It instantly jumps in. We’ve always had some heavier stuff and this one has a little more of a Punk edge to it. I come from playing Punk bands before Time Spent Driving. For the order on the album, I tried a lot of different orders. That song is one I tried in a bunch of places, and that song didn’t work unless it was the first one.
That made sense for me as a first song, and I also wanted to introduce some songs that people weren’t familiar with yet, so “Intents and Purposes” was a good one to put next for that reason. It has quite a different feel from “Trust No One.” That song is short and sweet, with no bridge, but a fancy chorus at the end, and good momentum. I like putting faster-paced songs at first, and then the third song is a little more mellow. Then we chill a little bit and keep it interesting.
Those are actually all things that I was noticing and thinking about regarding the sequencing. I thought that “Trust No One” would make a great live song, and it’s one that drops you into the action like a “cold open.” In some ways, that song has some mantra-like repetition, creating a cyclical feeling.
[Laughs] Yes, I can get kind of carried away with repeating things sometimes, but it’s an intentional thing. Sometimes when you’re trying to say something, repeating something makes it clear what you want to say. It also makes something memorable as long as it’s not too much. With that song, the whole thing is about being more guarded and not really trusting people. I tend to be a person who wants to trust people and confide in them, but I’ve just learned over time, unfortunately, that people come and go. Or maybe that’s fortunate, if they are negative in your life, or feel that you are a negative force. But deciding that is the important part, and it’s something to remember.
A lot of the feelings that I was picking up on across this album seem appropriate to how people are feeling these days, generally, after what we’ve been through in the last few years. I know that some of these songs go back further, but I think audiences will find this album relevant. “Trust No One” is one of those songs.
Oh, you should hear my brand-new songs! They are the most relatable to right now that they could be, I think. [Laughs]
Even in that song, “Trust No One”, it has a brighter, electronic passage, though. Sometimes the music forms an interesting contrast to the lyrics in terms of mood.
It does get kind of mellow and pretty in the middle. That’s kind of our thing. Though that song is abrasive in many ways, I think it was a good contrast to have that break in there.
Actually, the one that I thought was most relevant is the older song, “Wake Up and Smell The Daisies”. It’s this whole idea of “brace yourself because everything is coming down.” But “Intents and Purposes”, as you mention, has a very different feel. The video for it is really bright and interesting, with this orangey wash. Was the color important to the vibe?
Yes, that was very intentional. My vision with the video was to make it kind of psychedelic, like a mushroom trip. That’s where the contrast and the color comes in, to make it have a surreal look. It also covers us up a bit, making us blurred out!
It feels time-warpy and made me think of the ways that memory can change on you. That song has a lot of naturalistic imagery, and you mentioned the impact of where you’d moved to.
That is all stuff related to where I live now, in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and the redwoods. That video is shot on my property, actually. We’re talking literal references in both the song and the video.
Do you think of that song as being more upbeat compared to others?
Kind of. It’s definitely up-tempo, but all of our music is melancholic. That song has more of a positive spin to it than most of our stuff. It’s very much about a brighter outlook and a change in your psyche. It’s a change in the way that you’re looking at things and seeing the light. That may be the second newest song on the album. But a lot of the other songs on the album are darker. I feel like I was coming out of a darker phase whereas that one is more about saying,
“I’m coming up on a new lease on life.” So it is a little bit more upbeat lyrically.
It feels more in the present, or looking towards the future, whereas some of the songs feel more like looking back at the past to work on things or to find closure or resolution. Like “Deep Blue”, which may be about a lack of resolution that needs resolution. There’s a sense of questioning what happened and why.
Yes. “Deep Blue” is definitely more about not having the ability or control to tie up loose ends and make amends, and that’s frustrating. It’s a caught-in-between situation.
That song also feels more conversational and helpfully suggests that conversation is the way forward rather than just perpetuating conflicts in our lives.
I absolutely think so. Just the older I’ve gotten, I’ve realized that life is too short to hold grudges all the time or not speak your mind. It’s too short not to address things. If you do something wrong or someone else does something wrong, talk about it.
