In a interview with Review Rinse Repeat, Underoath’s Chris Dudley spoke for the first time about the departure of former drummer Aaron Gillespie:
It was definitely a long time coming. Obviously, we had been in a band with him forever, but musically it had become increasingly harder to write with him. As a lot of people know, he has pop-rock tendencies and that was not where we were going with the music. There was that, but there were personal things and what not. He’s not going to leave the band because he does not like a song or something. He is doing another solo record right now. All in all, Aaron leaving was really beneficial for everyone involved. I was talking to him the other day and he said he was saying that he was working on his record and everything. It is so awesome because for a long time it had been—in a lot of ways—the five of us on one page and then him on another musically and in other ways. With him leaving, he is able to write the music he wants to write and work on his own, which he wanted to do for a long time. For us, it was awesome because when Daniel joined, he was on the exact same page as we are, as a person and musically. Aaron actually heard the record a little bit ago and he thought it was awesome and could not believe we had done it. I’m sure when his stuff comes out it is going to be awesome. All in all, for everyone, it was really good.