Reuben's second album was recorded in Wandsworth, London, between February and March 2005. Even though it would be another six months after that before its release, many people were surprised by the seemingly brief period of time that had elapsed between their debut and their sophomore albums. In fact, the song-writing for the second album had begun almost as soon as the recording of 'Racecar Is Racecar Backwards' had been completed in September 2003, and several of the songs that went on to feature on the second album were played at a secret Christmas show the band performed under the name 'Los Skeletos' at the end of 2003.

The record label were keen to bolster the band's success and appeal by using a 'name' producer for the second album, so the band got in touch with Chris Sheldon, who had produced all the Biffy Clyro albums, as well as mixing the Foo Fighter's classic 'The Colour And The Shape'. The album recording was extremely pleasant for all involved, and a strong group dynamic was quickly formed between the band, the producer, and the engineer at Raezor studios, Ryan Maunder.

The album marks not so much a change in direction but rather a broadening of musical horizons for the band, featuring for the most part simpler, more rock-and-roll arrangements and riffs, sometimes heavier than the first album and at other times softer than anything the band had attempted before. Hardcore fans of the band were initially perturbed at what they heard in the band's choice of singles as a more commercial approach, but when the record was released in September 2005, it was wholly embraced and celebrated as a stronger and more complete album than its much-loved predecessor. The music press at large wrote ecstatic reviews of the album, calling it "fantastic" and even "essential", and this in turn created a backlash from some smaller independent internet fanzines who had championed the band in the earlier days, and who saw this album of straight-forward rock as a narrowing of musical scope and an even accused it of being an attempt at selling out.

The album entered at number four in the UK Rock Charts, beaten only by the Foo Fighters, Green Day, and flash-in-the-pan Finns The Rasmus – impressive company for an underground rock outfit from Farnborough.

The tracks:

A Kick In The Mouth The first "real" single taken from the album, a good old fashioned rock and roll number, and fucking filthy to boot.

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em One of the older tracks on the album, this was one of six new tracks played at the "Los Skeletos" gig at the West End Centre in Aldershot

Best Enemies Another "Los Skeletos" track, this sombre, lilting song is the closest the band have got to what we now call "emo".

It's All About Control The oldest track on the album, this song was written in the control room in Stakeout Studios during the mixing of Racecar Is Racecar Backwards, and was even played in sound-check with on the "Stuck In My Throat" tour. It was also played at the "Los Skeletos" gig.

Every Time A Teenager Listens To Drum And Bass A Rock Star Dies A song infamous for its title, but also the first to feature a pre-song computer "beats" section. After an experimental airing at a show in Manchester on the November-long Hundred Reasons tour, the song went down so well that it remained a set-list fixture for almost a year before the recorded version was heard by the wider public.

Nobody Loves You Probably the softest song Reuben have ever recorded, it is also the only one to feature a real-time fade-out performed by the band and not tweaked on the faders.

Blamethrower One of the heaviest tracks on the album, almost industrial-sounding, it became the new album's herald and ambassador track. Released as download only, this was people's first taste of new Reuben since the release of the first album.

Keep It To Yourself A track that flaunts its roots and makes no bones about being unabashedly sing-along, this was the second single taken from the album. It was also played at the "Los Skeletos" show.

Lights Out The last of the "Los Skeletos" songs to appear on the album, this song is one of a few experiments on VFVD (Best Enemies, A Kick In The Mouth, It's All About Control, Boy) attempting to try and create dynamism without heading straight for the distortion pedal. Notoriously hard to play live.

Alpha Signal Three As raw as a dead body, this track saw Reuben's first foray into the back-slapping world of guest vocalists, as they managed to convince personal hero Karl Middleton of Earthtone Nine, who had influenced the band’s sound as far back as "Alpha Signal Seven", to sing on the track with Jamie.

Good Night An up-tempo number, verging on disco in the second verse, with the worst lyrics for any chorus ever.

Return Of The Jedi Reuben's longest and most ambitious piece to date, a seven-minute epic that is something akin to a rock concerto with its separate movements and recurring themes.

Boy A soft, mumble-y song, written on the Freddy Kreuger tour that preceded the release of the first record, sewing up the album with a sweeping, positive vibe as oppose to the solemn, uncertain-sounding last few notes of Racecar's closing track.

The facts:

The band demoed 18 tracks for inclusion on the album in one day at Jacob's studios in Farnham. These included two tracks which had been demoed for Racecar and not made the cut: 'Stupid' and 'Approaching by Stealth', the latter of which was later re-recorded by the Sam Bell, who'd also engineered the demos, for inclusion on the vinyl release of 'Keep It To Yourself'.

The band and the production team (Chris Sheldon, engineer Ryan and studio owner Ian), as well as a few guests managed to drink 750 cups of tea during the five week recording. When it was revealed that the band were only thirty or so cups away from drinking the whole of the third box of 250 teabags, a mammoth tea-drinking mission was undertaken, and things got pretty serious.

Martin, who played cello on the album, also played guitar in Therapy?
(No, he really did. That's just how you spell Therapy?)
(It really is.)

The band's record company asked them if they would record the song 'Blitzkreig' during the album sessions if they had enough time, even though it had not made the final selection of 13 tracks that the band had agreed on. The band agreed, but ran out of time when a whole week was lost, spent re-recording guitar parts that were found to be out of tune. Up until that time, the recording had been running ahead of schedule.

The first 'you're so pretty and I'm so stupid' lyric that is heard on 'Every time a teenager…' was sung through a microphone stripped form a WWII tank that Chris Sheldon had bought and was incredibly pleased with. It is the only time that the thing was used on the album, which is not to say that Chris didn't try his best at every opportunity.

In the gap between the intro of the same song and the start of the big riff, Jim can be heard shouting 'place your bets now,' a catchphrase from Channel 4 gambling show Banzai. Jim is referring to the odds on whether or not the band will get through that particular take from start to finish without screwing up.

They did not. The phrase is lifted from the room-mic recordings on the take previous to the one that is heard on the record.

The talking on the front of 'Good Night' is Chris Sheldon, talking about his performance of a few 'Come on's' at the start of the song, which Jim had heard him doing in the control room and insisted he re-create. The squeals of 'argh' are genuine yelps of pain he emitted when Ryan had his headphone mix too loud.

Chris Sheldon is totally brilliant.

The tinkling sounds on the second verse of 'A Kick In The Mouth' are a selection of mugs and glasses from Raezor's cupboards, filled with varying amounts of water and hit with drumsticks by Jim after Jon suggested it would be funny if they had them glasses with water in them on the song. They are actually in tune.

Return Of The Jedi was originally called 'Recouping is SO 1987...', and kept this name until after the sessions. The section at the end of the song where the strings comes in is known as 'The sea battle', because when listening to it, it is easy to imagine a slow motion battle on the high seas between two huge galleons, cannons firing, smoke everywhere etc.

During the mixing of the album the crew, especially Chris Sheldon, became fascinated by a book about pirates that Jim had brought in. He spent the week telling everyone all the incredible facts and amusing stories he had learned. The band often had to check in on him to make sure he was actually mixing and not just reading the damn pirate book.

The band invited their photographer friend Emowen to take pictures of the recording process, some of which can be seen on the PICS page.

A blamethrower is a special kind of non-lethal weapon invented by Dr. A. Heller, featured in the film Mystery Men.

The song 'Every time a teenager listens to drum and bass a rockstar dies' was originally called 'Hulk Smash'