Interview: Gloriana ‘Creatively Free’ With Recording, Release of ‘Three’

Gloriana recently released their highly anticipated third studio album, Three, on June 2. The trio, made up of Rachel Reinert and brothers Tom and Mike Gossin, poured more than three years into the 12-track record, and their hard work clearly shows in the final product.

The record's debut single, "Trouble," is in the Top 40 and climbing -- their first Top 40 single since 2012's "Can't Shake You." Both "Trouble" and Three are available for download on iTunes.

The Boot sat down with the threesome to discuss their new set of tunes, how and why they selected the songs they did and why Three could launch them into superstar status.

What was the process of recording Three like?

Reinert: It took about three years to make. It was probably the most fun we’ve ever had recording an album. We recorded it all over the country, because we were in the midst of touring. I think the first stop was Bozeman, Mont., and that’s where we recorded the first five songs. That was actually in a townhouse we rented, and some of the recordings we did everywhere from the garage to Tom in a closet full of blankets, playing guitar. And then we did some recording in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Austin [and] here in Nashville.

It was all over the place. We just really wanted to take our time with this one. We felt super-liberated, being that it’s our third album, and so we kind of took some chances with this one. We’re really proud of it. I think it shows a lot of growth.

How did the recording process for Three differ from the process for your sophomore album, A Thousand Miles Left Behind?

Tom Gossin: Your second album -- they say if you get through the curse of your sophomore album, you have to match what you’ve done on your first, or beat it. I think, luckily, we were able to do that, with "Kiss You Goodnight" on our last album being our most successful song yet. But your third album -- it’s like, now we’ve been touring for eight years, we have two full-length albums, so now it’s not really about proving ourselves or trying to win awards. It’s like, we know what we like, our fans know what they like, and we went into the studio and were like, "Here’s the best we can do," and not putting it in a box. Just saying, "We like this music, and I hope [our fans] do, too."

We felt super-liberated ... and so we kind of took some chances with this one. We’re really proud of it. [We] think it shows a lot of growth.[/pullquotes]

Three seems like one cohesive project, with each song easily flowing into the next one. Was that intentional?

Tom Gossin: We all grew up listening to albums that our parents turned us on to from the ‘60s and ‘70s. I think, when people only listened to vinyl, you had to kind of listen to the whole thing, unless you were going to get up and move the needle around all the time. Most of the time, you started in the beginning, and you went through, flipped it once and then heard the back half of it.

So we wanted to really make a modern version of that, [and Three] is our take on that. We really think people should be able to start something in the beginning and get through all 12 songs. Especially in the world we live in, where it’s so single-based and people do albums that are a lot of fillers and one or two radio songs. We didn’t want to do that.

Why did you choose Matt Serletic as your producer?

Tom Gossin: He picked us. He’s the one that signed us. Around the time that he had been looking at Rachel as a solo artist, he was also looking at Mike and I as a duo. At that time, we all sort of moved to Nashville and were writing. We met Rachel, who happened to be thinking about talking to these guys, and we were, too. We were like, "Why don’t we try all of this together, the harmony thing?" and then it all kind of just happened, but Matt was the one who was kind of the centerpiece of all of us coming together. We kind of feel like he’s the fourth member of the band.

He’s a great producer, great arranger. A lot of his talents lie in the sequencing of songs. We write tons of songs, and he’s very good at knowing what we should do. It’s always good to have that outside opinion, that’s not one of the three of us, because we always have our favorites.

You seem more confident on Three, like you've each come into your own, both as individuals and as a group.

Mike Gossin: This was definitely the most peaceful, easiest process for records that we’ve been through so far. There wasn’t any stress. There weren’t any massive disagreements.

Tom Gossin: I think that might have been what put us in this place now, is we were facing pretty much the biggest adversity you could face: We had a song that was cruising up the charts, and then a member of our band decided to get out [when Cheyenne Kimball left the group in 2011]. We had to hold it together and say that if we’re really meant to be here, let’s show people what we can do with just the three of us, and then "Kiss You Goodnight" was our next song and was a platinum hit for us. After that, we all went, "We can do this," and we’re still on the path we need to be on, and this is the next level of that.

Reinert: And if you saw us four years ago, we got pretty shaken up. But like Mike said, we’re just in a solid place.

Did you have any anxiety about the release of Three?

Reinert: We didn’t. We just felt creatively free on this one. I think that getting past everything that we went through on the last album was a hurdle of itself, so to still be here doing this, this one just felt liberating, really.

See the Gloriana Members + More Country Stars as Kids