Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs

Alkaline Trio began writing new material for their next album in early 2022. While touring with Taking Back Sunday, Derek Grant revealed that they had been playing new songs at soundchecks, and were preparing to take the new songs in for recording soon.[1] Prior to this news though, Grant had started to become more absent in the band's activities, mostly due to ongoing mental health concerns. For their previous album, Is This Thing Cursed?, he was unable to perform on the supporting tour, and was also absent for the recording of their 2020 EP. While he had begun to be more present in later touring dates, it was announced in early 2023 that Grant was leaving the band to focus on his mental health and pursue graphic design.[2]

Shortly after, the band announced Atom Willard as their new drummer.[3] Prior to when Grant originally joined the band in 2001, Willard played multiple shows with Alkaline Trio and appeared in their music video for "Private Eye." Willard had also played with guitarist Matt Skiba in their band theHell, and the two had also recently started a new band, Lektron.

The album's title comes from a term used by Skiba's mother, who was once an emergency room nurse; "She and her co-workers referred to exceptionally busy nights as ‘blood, hair, and eyeballs.’"[4]

Recording officially began in 2023 at Dave Grohl's Studio 606, which is where Skiba and Willard had recently recorded a joint single for Lektron.[5] Skiba stated that the trio had started to think about bands such as Nirvana, The Police and The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and were excited to record in a studio "engineered for loud, live rock music." The band took a more collaborative approach to the recording and made sure to build the songs "from the ground up, in the same room which hasn’t happened since the band started."[6][7]

Skiba and bassist Dan Andriano were inspired by what they referred to as "apocalypse culture," and how bad news in modern culture creates so much fear in people.

“Without sounding trite, it’s the way that we get our information now through social media. There’s always been good and there’s always been horror, but it feels like the horror hits our doorsteps much quicker these days. It gives people the feeling that things are escalating horribly.” - Matt Skiba[6]

The album was announced on October 17, 2023 alongside the release of the title track and its music video. The band is also set to tour in support of the album with support of Drug Church.[8]

Alkaline Trio

• Matt Skiba – guitar, vocals
• Dan Andriano – bass, vocals
• Atom Willard – drums

Additional Musicians[9]

• Jamie Blake - Background Vocals

Production

• Cameron Webb – production, mixing
• Andrew Alekel – engineering