Elva is the fourth studio album by the San Diego–based punk rock band Unwritten Law, released on January 29, 2002 though according to Brewer, nothing got done:<blockquote>We never went to bed while we were in L.A. the whole time, and there were people partying at our house all the time. It was pretty crazy. We had something like a $15,000 bill from trash and damages. </blockquote>

They began recording the new album in the summer of 2000 with producer John Shanks, </blockquote>

The band wrote about 30 songs with only 14 making the cut, two songs that didn’t make the album, "Dark Side" and "Baby, Come On" would end up as b-sides on the "Up All Night" single.

The album was finished, but upon listening to what they had, the band decided to scrap the recordings, go back into the studio, and redo the album with new producers Josh Abraham and Michael Happoldt.

In a 2014 interview, Happoldt recalled the sessions:<blockquote>"Now that was a hybrid because they were on Interscope and there was a lot of pressure and they were used to doing certain things a certain way. So some lines were drawn a little bit there [haha]. But still, I got a lot of soul out of those boys for the condition it was recorded in. You know, huge studios, a lot of pressure from Interscope, but we had a number 1 hit out of that with "Seeing Red".</blockquote>

Elva features guest appearances by Tony Kanal of No Doubt, Josh Freese of The Vandals, and Neville Staple of The Specials. The two "Raleigh Soliloquy" tracks are recordings of the rants of Raleigh Theodore Sakers. Previous recordings of his rants numbered soliloquies I-III had appeared on the Sublime album Robbin' the Hood.

  • Scott Russo – lead vocals
  • Steve Morris – lead guitar, backing vocals
  • Rob Brewer – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
  • Pat "PK" Kim – bass guitar
  • Wade Youman – drums

Additional musicians

  • Nicholas Wright – guitar on "Elva"
  • Josh Freese – drums on "Up All Night"
  • John Shanks – additional guitar on "Sound Siren," slide guitar on "Actress, Model..."
  • Miguel – upbeat guitar on "How You Feel," lead guitar on "Seein' Red"
  • Marshall Goodman – percussion on "Up All Night" and "Hellborn"
  • Michael Fisher – Indian percussion on "Babalon"
  • The Allday Singers – group vocals on "Babalon"
  • Tony Kanal – bass guitar on "Rest of My Life"
  • Neville Staples – DJ vocal on "Evolution"
  • Raleigh Theodore Sakers – spoken vocals on tracks 12 & 14

Artwork

  • Steven R. Gilmore – sleeve design, layout, art direction, line drawings (based on original drawings by Wade Youman)
  • Wade Youman and Marc B. – art direction
  • Mark Baldswin – cover paintings
  • Dean Karr – photography

Production

  • John Shanks and Miguel – Producers
  • Josh Abraham – producer and mixing of "Rest of My Life"
  • Mark DeSisto and Tobias Miller – engineers
  • Dan Chase, Tal Herzberg, and Baraka – Pro Tools
  • Eddie Ashworth – additional engineering
  • Mike McMullen and Jerry Moss – assistant engineers
  • David J. Holman – mixing
  • Mixed at Cactus Studio Hollywood
  • Brian Gardner – mastering

Charts

Album

{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+ Chart performance for Elva

!Chart (2001–2002)

!Peak<br />position

|-

|-

!scope="row"|US Billboard 200

| style="text-align:center;"|69

|}

Singles

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Chart performance for singles from Elva

!Year

!Single

!Chart

!Position

|-

| rowspan="5"|2002

| rowspan="3"|"Seein' Red"

|align="left" valign="top"|US Modern Rock Tracks

|align="left" valign="top"|1

|-

|align="left" valign="top"|Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles

|align="left" valign="top"|105

|-

|align="left" valign="top"|Australian Singles Chart

|align="left" valign="top"|73

|-

| rowspan="2"|"Up All Night"

|align="left" valign="top"|US Modern Rock Tracks

|align="left" valign="top"|14

|-

|align="left" valign="top"|Australian Singles Chart

|align="left" valign="top"|71

|}

References

  • Elva @ discogs.com