company Warner Music Group. In July and August 2007, the band went on a co-headlining US tour with Reel Big Fish. Following this, work on a new album began in earnest. They wrote material in a warehouse where they practiced and at Lima's house; they recorded rough sketches that the members used as a reference to suggest ideas for. Drummer Vinnie Fiorello said the full-album shows "set a good direction in writing new songs". In September and October 2007, they embarked on a tour of the UK and Japan, and ended the year with an Australian tour. Label and recording In January 2008, the band started their own label, Sleep It Off, through which they reissued their back catalogue. Alongside this, Fiorello revealed that they were allowed to leave their contract with Warner, despite still owing them another album. He mentioned that when they were on Sire, some members wanted opportunities such as radio play and MTV appearances, while others did not; being on their own label would allow them to find a common goal. Fiorello mentioned that the band potentially could have worked with labels such as Fat Wreck Chords and Epitaph Records, but they felt they had experience between them that they should self-release it. At Sleep It Off, Lima described each members' role: frontman Chris DeMakes "doesn’t really do that much, he’s the lead singer he’s allowed to do whatever he wants"; Lima tackles audio; Schaub handles video content; saxophonist Peter "JR" Wasilewski does the online aspect; and Fiorello "deals with everything else", with assistance from their publicist Rey Roldan. The album was recorded between March and April 2008 with producer Matt Allison at Atlas Studios in Chicago, Illinois. The workdays typically consisted of midday to midnight hours. Lima co-produced the sessions; Allison also acted as engineer and mixed the recordings, before the album was mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk in New York City. Composition and lyrics Themes and music The album's title is an abbreviation of the band's hometown, Gainesville, Florida. Corey Apar from Allmusic writes that: "Less Than Jake have essentially created a bittersweet tribute to their hometown of Gainesville, sparing no detail in naming the album GNV FLA, stringing the liner notes together with bleak snapshots of the city, and littering song names and lyrics with nods to both the state of Florida and the beloved college town of their inception." Sputnikmusic staff