commence, the rest of the band arrived in Los Angeles and initially visited clubs and watched other artists perform. They stayed at the Oakwood Apartments on Barham Boulevard, close to Universal Studios Hollywood, and made a set-up in Collins' room where they could record potential ideas for songs. In October 2000, the NME reported that the band would issue their next album in early 2001. That same month, recording was underway at Saber's residence on Wonderland Avenue in Los Angeles, dubbed Krevorkian's Lab. Burgess intentionally wanted them to record here in an attempt to leave the band's comfort zone, such as the members not being able to see their family on a nightly basis, which he felt hampered the making of Us and Us Only. He wanted to be as far away as possible from Manchester, thinking that Los Angeles had as wide of a musical palette to take from like Manchester did, naming a variety of artists from the Beach Boys, the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers, among others. Burgess would be dropped off at the band's apartments around midday and they would drive to the studio. He mentioned that the atmosphere in Saber's place effected the songs; they spent the daytime writing and would later be recording in a blacked-out room on the third floor that they referred to as the "junkie den". The rest of the band had brought some of the ideas they had from the UK, and would continue writing in Saber's kitchen. According to Burgess, each member at one point exclaimed that they were either "not going to have a mad one or we weren't going to go crazy at all" as they worked. By this point, they had finished five songs out of the planned 16 they were aiming to do. Though work was initially continuous, with them starting at 3pm, the work period would start later, eventually beginning at 4am. Burgess' sole explanation was taking a large amount of cocaine, to the point he would have a dealer around him constantly, who would take to sleeping on the sofa at Collins' apartment. Burgess praised Saber's expertise as a producer and a multi-instrumentalist, though would brand him a egomaniac for being under the impression that bassist Martin Blunt, drummer Jon Brookes and keyboardist Tony Rogers were holding the band back. After making his debut with the band on their previous album, Rogers