Collider

Collider is the fourth studio album by American rock band Cartel. In 2008 Cartel left Epic to sign with Wind-Up. Following this the group released Cycles (2009). Bassist Jeff Lett left to focus on school, and the band parted ways with Wind-Up. In October 2011 the group self-released In Stereo. The band called the idea of self-releasing music as "experiment[al]". Following a tour with Set Your Goals in March and April 2012 the group started writing new material. In August, the band started recording, and they finished in January 2013. The album was produced by vocalist Will Pugh and guitarist Joseph Pepper. After making a few songs available for streaming, the album was self-released on March 26, 2013. It charted at number 141 on the Billboard 200 chart. To support the album, the band toured the U.S. and the UK alongside New Found Glory, State Champs, Kids in Glass Houses and Mayday Parade. Background In July 2008 Cartel left Epic and signed with Wind-Up. While on Wind-Up the group released Cycles (2009). In April 2011 it was announced that bassist Jeff Lett left the band to finish school. Nic Hudson initially took over Lett's position. Shortly afterwards, the group left Wind-Up. In August 2011 the band revealed that they had left Wind-Up. The band realized that they needed to release new music or else they "wouldn't be validating ourselves", according to vocalist Will Pugh. The band "experiment[ed]" with the concept of self-releasing their music; this resulted in the In Stereo EP, which was released in October. The recording process for which was not that different from their previous efforts, besides the fact Hudson was playing bass. The band saw the release of an EP as suitable due to the momentum of continuing without a record label. Pugh mentioned that they didn't have time to recording an album's worth of material. The group planned to have another EP out in March/April time. However, when the band realized they were going on tour, they decided to release a new song, "Disconnect", to help promote the tour. Composition and recording Cartel toured alongside Set Your Goals in March and April 2012. In a March 2012 interview, Pugh mentioned that the band were going to write new material after the tour was over. Pugh revealed that the band were at the beginning of the writing process. Pugh didn't want the material to be "a bunch of girl songs".