Following the release of Gone Wild and rising tensions within the band as the pandemic raged onward, we decided it would be the best idea if we took some time off to recollect ourselves and isolate going into the winter of 2020. But with isolation spawns creativity, and I found myself unable to not write during this time. With the current impression that a new Free Rock album was off the table, at least for the moment, I began work on what was intended to be my first solo album. It would feature eleven songs (the two that didn't make it are "Hardship," a single I released solo in February '21, and "Speed of Might," the song that gave way to our 2023 LP Dirty Disco) and would host plenty of guests from my musical inner circle. Using the Free Rock Google Drive as a file host for my new demos, Justin gave them a listen and told me he was going to track drums for them. That was great, and he sent me tracks as he recorded them, but all the while we were not talking about what the album would be released as. At the time, we had continued to use the New Threads brand to release Free Rock, Buford, and Gone Wild, and we felt that the brand may be dead. But there was little talk of a new brand, either. Rather, we simply made the record with no intentions in mind. Before we knew it, Liz was tracking bass, and we reformed as The Free Rock Trio that spring. But what's the best way to link both bands together forever? How do we make what is essentially a new band disguised as a name change known to as many people as possible? So we named the album New Threads is Dead. Easy.

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- Jacob