With a summer of shows over and done with, and the two new singles already heralded as staples of their set, OM&M found themselves with some free time to fill and a fire already alight inside. Their new record was not only going to allow them to continue doing what they love - touring - but deal process the seismic change within the band. “Making this record is our way of communicating with the outside world,” considers Aaron. “After going through such a major band change, and life change, the way we get through that and express that is through music. I think making this record allowed us to heal in all kind of ways, and we hope it brings in this new chapter.” It was time to paint a record dyed in many shades; an album that addressed their feelings, their fears, and ultimately, their defiance. They set out to reinterpret and reconstruct what OM&M meant not only to them, but to their audience. “Anytime you go through major changes, whether it’s your band, or your job - which for us is the same thing - or your life, there’s a certain amount of rediscovery and getting back to your roots. You have to remind yourself who you are, and why you’ve done the things you’ve loved. “We got to sit back and go, ‘Why did we like certain songs of ours?’ or, ‘Why do people listen to OM&M?’ We really tried to take all of these things into consideration, and at the same time, have some reckless abandonment with it. To not focus or stress too much on it, but to keep it in our peripheral vision of the way that we define ourselves as a band, and the way that we sound and the songs that we write and the lyrical content.” ‘Defy’ is a statement of intent from a band beating back at the cold world they’ve faced headfirst; a cocktail of metallic riffs, ginormous hooks, and lyrics that’ll motivate you far more than your mother’s self-help books. In a year filled with change, a band suffering a loss of confidence found comfort, surprisingly, in more change - this time in the shape of producer Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance, Three Days Grace, Skillet). “Working with him really pushed us to be ourselves,” Aaron reflects. “Instead of saying, ‘This should change, this should change, this should change’, he said, ‘I love this, here’s how we make it even better’. It wasn’t by changing what we were doing or doing something else, it was like, here’s your idea, and here’s how we can improve your idea, to make it even more like your idea than you even realise.”