Grabbed a few quick words this a.m. with Spineshank drummer Tommy Decker. Somewhere in downtown L.A., Spineshank have just finished the pre-production process for what will be their third release. When we spoke with Tommy, it was 5 a.m. Californian time and he was in the middle of writing lyrics for another new “fuckin’ heavy” song, and very aware he had to take lil Tommy to school in less than 3 hours! Workaholics. We have defined the term “pre-production” before, but for those of you not listening, guitarist Mike Sarkisyan gives his definition of what goes on during this time – “(you) go through songs, rearrange if needed, tighten up. Basically, (it’s) whatever needs done before hitting the studio and tracking.” Spineshank has been elbow deep in this process for a bit more than a week – doing just as Mike described, plus “crackin’ a bunch of jokes and pickin’ on each other everyday. Like a bunch of retards that get together and have fun. That’s what we’re doing.” And most importantly, “learning a lot,” concludes Mike. The official recording of Spineshank’s third offering starts this Monday (Oct 28), when the band hits Henson Studios (formerly the legendary A&M Studios) to start tracking.