The Rationale Quest - All decisions should be made at the lowest level possible- (Subsidiarity)

James: Rubin is really good at feeling songs, and he'll tell you straight-up if he doesn't like something. We started with 20 songs and we've whittled it down to 14 since he came in. He won't say "This f[---]ing sucks," but he'll make suggestions and I'm definitely open to that. With "St. Anger", it became so open-minded that it became unfocused. This time around, there's a lot of "Sorry, it's not good enough." We're aiming for excellence.

Kerrang!: With "St Anger", did the democracy you practiced in the studio end up comprimising the album?

James: Definitely. It was very unrealistic. We went from tearing each other's throats out with sarcasm, anger and not speaking to the polar opposite where we'd embrace every stupid idea so as to not hurt anyone's feelings. And that didn't work either!