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For The Afters, life as a band began at a Starbucks in Mesquite, Texas where lead vocalist Josh Havens and vocalist/guitarist Matt Fuqua served up coffee and plotted their entrance onto the music scene. They recruited Dodd and Wigg and began performing under the name Blisse, earning a reputation as a potent live act with an arsenal of catchy pop/rock anthems.
The Afters signed to INO/Sony Music Label Group in 2005. When their debut disc started to create a buzz, their partnership with Columbia Records helped propel their career to the next level, setting the stage for Never Going Back To OK. "I feel like we all came in feeling more experienced as musicians," Havens says of the band's approach to the new disc. "We had more song ideas to pull from being out on the road. We discovered who we were as a band. I think being together nearly every day for a couple of years, we really developed our sound and I couldn't be happier with this album."
Fuqua agrees. "We really took our time writing this record. We really believe in every single song. That was really important to us."
The band credits veteran producer Dan Muckala (Backstreet Boys, Mandy Moore, Nick Lachey, Brian Littrell) with helping them create a sophomore album that is even stronger than their acclaimed debut. "He would push us to write better songs," says Havens of their producer. "He challenged us in ways that we've never been challenged before. I feel that that is a really big difference on this record. I think he took a lot of ownership on this record because he really loved the music as well and spent a lot of time working on it with us."