When I first worked with Hundredth on Free, they were already building serious momentum as a hardcore band.
I produced and engineered that record, but because of other production obligations I wasn't able to mix it, so I never felt like I got to take the process all the way with them.
Then they came back for the next album.
And this time, we did.
What We Did
The safe move was obvious: make another hardcore record.
The band had momentum, the audience was growing, and the label strongly encouraged them to keep making the kind of music that was already working.
But Chad had a different creative vision.
And I backed it.
I believed the songs were more interesting, more honest, and ultimately more valuable than simply repeating what had already worked.
So we went all the way.
I produced, engineered, and mixed RARE at The Panda Studios.
Screaming became singing. Breakdowns became atmosphere. Hardcore became shoegaze, post-punk, texture, melody, and space.
The label was nervous. The reaction was polarizing. Some people literally booed the new material on Warped Tour.
We had to believe the music was worth the risk before there was proof that it was.
The Result
Five of Hundredth's current top six Spotify songs come from RARE.
Before And After The Reinvention
The biggest song from RARE has more than 2x the Spotify streams of the biggest song from Free.
Years later, the numbers caught up with the instinct.
The safe record might have protected the moment.
RARE gave the band a future.
Chad kept pushing Hundredth further with every release, building a cult audience around constant reinvention instead of trying to recreate what had worked before.
The Takeaway
Hundredth had momentum and willingly risked it because the old version of the band no longer represented where they wanted to go.
I didn't try to protect the old version of the band. I helped them destroy it and build the next one.
Sometimes the best thing you can do for a band is stop giving people what they expect.