MAE guitarist Zach Gehring joined the band in the middle of its first tour after its first album, "Destination: Beautiful," was released in 2003.
"I was in another band called Unsung Heroes," Gehring said by phone from Boston. "We were opening for MAE and their guitarist quit. In a strange coincidence, I was going to be leaving Unsung Heroes after the opening slot's contract fulfillment. When it all came about, MAE asked me to fill in and I had time and, well, here I am.
"MAE is an easy band to be with, and, I guess, they think I'm an easy person to be with because I'm now a member of MAE."
MAE — an acronym for Multisensory Aesthetic Experiment — just released a new album "The Everglow." Gehring said he was happy to be a part of the creative process. "I had never made an album with MAE until then. We had written most of the songs while on tour. And we were very conscientious about the songs we were choosing for the album. In fact, we didn't have any left over, although some of the songs we did put on the new album were left over from the last session."
The 15 tracks recorded for "The Everglow" began taking shape through mixing and matching. "We ended up with somewhat of a concept album," said Gehring, whose MAE bandmates are vocalist Dave Elkins, drummer Jacob Marshall, bassist Mark Padgett and keyboardist Rob Sweitzer. "We decided to package it together like one of those books-on-tape packages that Disney does. And that's how the project came together."
The single, "Suspension," had gone through some lengthy reworkings before it was laid onto the album, said Gehring. "It went back and forth between demos forever. We recorded it at least four times. It was just that we wanted it to be as good as we could make it."
Another different aspect of "The Everglow" was the band worked with a producer — former Failure guitarist/vocalist Ken Andrews. "He brought a lot of things to the table," said Gehring. "He was a positive influence on us, and we recorded the album as a band and not just pieces here and there.
"The last MAE album was recorded in pieces. The guitarist, drummer and bassist came in and put down the tracks. Dave went in and did his thing and then Rob did his. This time we were all together doing take after take. It was a collaborative effort. We worked together from the start."
If you go
What: MAE, Circa Survive, Mutemath, Discover America
Where: The Great Salt Air, 12408 W. Salt Air Drive, Magna
When: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.
How much: $11.50
Phone: 467-8499 or 800-888-8499
Web: www.smithstix.com
E-mail: scott@desnews.com