The Academy Is... Hit the Studio for "Santi" Follow-Up LP

"I would compare it to starting over," the Academy Is... singer William Beckett says of working on the band's third full-length album. "The way we felt on [2005's debut] Almost Here." Beckett, along with drummer Andy Mrotek, bassist Adam Siska and guitarists Mike Carden and Michael Guy Chislett entered a New York recording studio this week to begin production on the follow-up to last year's Santi. Armed with an estimated 20 tracks in "final form," the Chicago band will now determine what Siska calls "the best of" for the album's tracklisting.

While Almost Here leaned towards a poppier rock sound, Santi incorporated heavier guitars and a grittier edge thanks to the contributions of producer Butch Walker (Pink, Avril Lavigne). For their still-untitled next LP the Academy has paired with S*A*M and Dave, a.k.a. Sam Hollander and Dave Katz, who have worked with labelmates Gym Class Heroes on "Cupid's Chokehold" and Cobra Starship on "Snakes on a Plane" along with American Idol runner-up Blake Lewis. While the band is hesitant to assign a sound to the record, which is due at the end of the summer, Beckett maintains, "What we do is write songs, and we're going to stick to it."

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Song Stories

“Is It True”

Brenda Lee | 1964

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."

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