Paper Walls is the third major-label album from American Pop punk band Yellowcard, released July 17, 2007. On its first day of release it reached 4th most popular album on the iTunes charts. The album was recorded at Ocean Studios in Burbank, California and was mixed at South Beach Studios in Miami, Florida.
In an interview with Jason Tate of AbsolutePunk.net[1] released on June 17 (one month before the release of the album), vocalist Ryan Key described the album as
“
...very much a record of hope and finding yourself again. It’s after you’ve come through all of that – going to the height of it – and picking yourself back up again. And by “hitting rock bottom” I don’t mean in record sales or fame or any of that shit. I mean personally – emotionally...Paper Walls is the story, the feeling, of what it’s like to be out of those holes, looking back, no regrets, but smarter and having grown through them.
Recording and production
On October 16, 2006, only six months after the release of their previous album, Lights and Sounds, the band announced over their official website that they were back in the studio recording a new album. Pre-production began in October 2006 and tracking began in January 2007. From January to March 2007, studio footage labeled "Yellowcard Sessions" regarding the band's progress on making the album was posted on the band's MySpace.
"Light Up The Sky" was the first track to be fully mixed and finished. However, "Fighting" was the first track to be released to the public on Yellowcard's official MySpace page. Shortly afterward, the full version of "Light Up The Sky" was posted as well along with another new song, "Five Becomes Four." On June 4th, "Light Up the Sky" was released to radio stations across America, and became the most added song to radio that week.
On July 17, 2007, the release date of "Paper Walls", lead singer Ryan Key posted a blog on the band's official MySpace page regarding the album's debut as well as thoughts concerning it's previous leak onto the internet.
Shortly after the album's leak and release date, the songs "Shadows and Regrets" and "Five Becomes Four" were first believed to have been written about former guitarist Ben Harper, who left the band to focus on his record label, after recording Lights and Sounds last year. However, recently it has been said that "Shadows and Regrets" is about Scott Shad, former drummer of Inspection 12 and best friend of Ryan Key, who died in a car crash. The song seems to reflect this interpretation better, as the chorus states "We were only kids. And we were best of friends. And we hoped for the best. Let go of the rest." While this could understandably be about Ben Harper, he and Key only met in high school, whereas Key and Shad knew each other their entire lives
Music style
Throughout the months of October 2006 to March 2007, Yellowcard engaged in feedback response with their fans to somewhat suggest or influence the outcome of the upcoming album. When asked about the direction of the album, Ryan Mendez responded that this follow-up to Lights and Sounds "has the energy and intensity that Ocean Avenue had and some similarities, but not necessarily exactly the same". He also stated on the official Yellowcard message board on October 21, 2006 that three songs were currently completed and that "[he] really thinks fans of both older and newer Yellowcard are going to be very happy." Additionally, in January 2007, some sample demo songs were released on the band's MySpace, though they were only rough recordings from pre-production and not the final recorded versions. One demo was a 30-second rough recording of "Date Line (I Am Gone)". Another was the intro to "Bombers", which ultimately did not make it onto the album.
