On "Crazy Eyes", Patrick collaborated with old friends such as the man behind 1999's seminal platinum-certified "Title Of Record", producer Ben Grosse (THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS, MARILYN MANSON), and Michael "Blumpy" Tuller (NINE INCH NAILS). He also worked closely with new bandmates Oumi Kapila (guitar, programming), Ashley Dzerigian (bass), Chris Reeve (drums) and Bobby Miller (keyboards), plus former FILTER bandmates Johnny Radke and Danny Lohner. Mixing, meanwhile, was taken care of by Brian Virtue (JANE'S ADDICTION, THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS, DEFTONES), with the mastering being handled by the colorful Howie Weinberg (VAN HALEN, THE MARS VOLTA, THE WHITE STRIPES). "FILTER is the mind," exclaims Richard. "It's your interpretation or my interpretation. Our thing is to look at people's unexplainable behavior and assess it, using sound. It's a way to approximate the insanity of the human condition. The reason this record is so fucking heavy and strange is it's exactly the opposite of what's popular. It's not pretty. It's not cute. It's real." Rather than partner with a producer, Richard took up the reins and oversaw the production side himself… "You recognize it's us from my aggression and singing, but the instrumentation had to change," he admits. "It wasn't about just stacking guitars like we might've done on the last couple of records. There are way more electronics and sound design used." Ultimately, it all comes back to the fact that Richard remains honest. "I'm completely into this for the music," he concludes. "Being yourself is the most important thing. I authentically went to places I'd never gone before. That was from my heart. I'm trying to be as genuine as possible to what FILTER is. It's about sounding fucking different, forward and original."