“It definitely wasn’t during the writing of it because honestly that record in particular was the pivotal moment of where I was trying to really define this band’s sound, and in a way that was going to separate it from everybody else. I wanted to sound different than everybody else,” Ness said. “When I was writing ‘Ball and Chain,’ ‘Story of My Life,’ ‘Sick Boy,’ I was really happy but honestly I didn’t know if people were going to like it. But I had to put a record out that I was happy with; so, it was huge risk-taking, you know, but I had to be true to myself and write a record that I liked. When it started to get airplay that’s when I realized, wow, that risk paid off by staying true and just believing in myself.”