to vocalist Connor Lovat-Fraser, who also writes lyrics alongside Davis. They came up with a narrative that they considered would best their contemporaries in the screamo scene, to which the band felt like outliers; Davis outright said they did not fit into this style. While in the writing process, they became aware that they needed a strong female voice, at which point Southall drafted in keyboardist Kara Dupuy. Around this time, Shawn Butchart also joined the band. They were hesitant about making a concept album, as Davis explained that some people associate the phrase with The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) by Pink Floyd, and "[i]t's a very pretentious-sounding thing, and we wanted to avoid that". Recording The band were put in contact with producer David Bendeth, most known for his work on Contact (1987) by Platinum Blonde. Boys Night Out sent demos to Bendeth; they received a message from him, asking for more demos and radio-sending songs. He went on a speech about being sold to a major label, which perplexed Davis: "I was like, 'What the fuck are you talking about?!' I called Ferret [Music] and refused to work with that guy".Machine flew from his home state of New Jersey to hear the songs the band they had, and after discussing the direction they were aiming for, he wanted to work with them. Davis knew of him with his prior work on Ashes of the Wake (2004) by Lamb of God and The Power to Believe (2003) by King Crimson. Trainwreck was produced by Machine; drums were recorded at iiwii Studios in Weehawken, New Jersey with engineers Jakob Nygard and Machine, Pro Tools operator Dan Korneff and assistance from Sal Mormando. Guitars and vocals were then recorded at The Machine Shop in Hoboken, New Jersey with engineers Nygard and Machine and assistance from Toby Paice. Lovat-Fraser said he was nervous working with Machine, as they previously recorded with a friend of theirs in the past, as Machine helped to push the band vocally. One instance saw Dupuy think about her deceased grandfather at the insistence of Machine. Davis recorded all of his vocals portions in a single day, and "after every take my head was swimming. I thought I was going to barf". Davis, Southall, Machine, Sam Hinzes, Dupuy and Diane Pacenka contributed group vocals, which were recorded at Harariville in Weehawken and engineered by Rob Harari.