I am with Jeff on this one Mitch Easter is the way to go. Has there been any
word on where the band will be recording.  I would vote for someplace in the
southeast.  It seems the bigger bands get and the further away from home
bands go to record the more they seem to diverge from the what they were
when I originally started to like them.  Not to say I don't like anything
since Fun and Games but each album seems to have a different feel.  This
could have nothing to do with where they recorded but with whom.  However,
my logic is your immediate environment has a lot to do with your state of
mind.  If you are in Minnesota its winter and your from the south I think it
will directly influence your mood and the direction of your creativity
because it is cold as hell and there is nothing to do.  I mean no offense to
anyone from Minnesota.  It's the whole Buffett  thing "changes in latitudes,
changes in attitudes."  I also feel, for a band which has all its family so
close together it makes a lot more since to stay close to home to record so
the time they do spend away from there families can be spent on the road
rather then in a studio.  That's just my 2 cents.
jarratt