Well..., there's nothing too exciting about the fact we mixed & mastered an early fade version (in case there was "single" potential). A bit more interesting might be some backstory on the song itself and the good fortune of having Alannah Myles contribute background vocals.

'Back & Forth' was one of the very first songs that came together for the "Fly Paper" album. Pat left the band in 2005 and we reunited with original drummer Mark Evans. Mark had similarly left the band he was working with, House of Usher, so we thought we'd see if the magic was still there. After all, our first three albums (for which Mark was the drummer) were quite well-received and were fun to create. We first jammed on what was to become 'Crowded Emptiness' and everything felt great.

'Back & Forth' started out with the rather questionable title of "Synapse Impasse.' I'm not quite sure what I was thinking, but when Terry suggested a less medical-textbook title might be a good idea I quickly saw his point.

Terry was working on Alannah Myles' new album (in 2007) and suggested we might include female backing vocals somewhere. You'll recall Alannah's debut album took the pop music world by storm in 1989/1990 going gold, platinum, and even diamond pretty much everywhere - and winning Grammy and Juno awards.

Our plan going into "Fly Paper" was to use more backing vocals and additional instrumentation for the arrangements. "Window Dressing" - like "Fence the Clear" - had seen a minimalist approach and I guess an alternating pattern was being set!

At this stage in the recording process, Paul had already done many of the background vocals. Of the remaining tunes 'Back & Forth' was the obvious choice - if Alannah liked it and fortunately, she did. I wrote two and three-part harmony vocal pads and recorded them with keyboards for Alannah's reference. She of course was free to pick and choose or embellish as she wished.

Alannah and Terry did a great job as you can hear (or have heard all these years). The female backing vocals were new for us and there's plenty of evidence we don't shy away from an artist's marquee value either!

Although we were not present for the recording, the band later took Terry and Ms. Myles to a nice restaurant for their efforts (of course, going out with Terry was a regular occurrence). Her stories of having such a successful album and hit single (Black Velvet) were quite interesting with all the behind-the-scenes major label machinery and politics surrounding the follow-up.

Anyway, here's the single edit without the long ride-out guitar solo - in case you wish to add it to your digital Tiles collection.

- Chris Herin