Spymob Releases New Album, 1st Recording in 20+ Years since Touring with Pharrell Williams’ N.E.R.D.

The band Spymob has reunited to record a new album, Another Night, their first recording in over twenty years, since disbanding, shortly after touring with Pharrell Williams’ band N.E.R.D. (Guitarist Brent Paschke, on his own, continues to record and perform with Pharrell Williams following Spymob’s tenure as N.E.R.D.’s backup band.)

The complete album of Another Night will be available for purchase on Bandcamp on Tuesday, June 2nd. And for those who prefer streaming, Spymob will release singles on June 2nd, July 7th, and August 4th, with the complete album appearing on streaming platforms on September 1st.

“Spymob’s new album is a beautifully crafted musical journey with grooves that make you move, melodies that kiss your emotions, and lyrics that inspire you to open your heart and feel something deeper. It’s a wonderful record,” says Stefan Lessard, bassist for the Dave Matthews Band.

Chad Hugo, Grammy Award-winning record producer and songwriter of The Neptunes and N.E.R.D., says, “I’m grateful that I had learned with Pharrell of this awesome band from a label rep. It was suggested that Spymob record [live instrument tracks] for “In Search of …” by N.E.R.D., our album at the time. Spymob’s energy revitalized our tapes with dynamic frequencies, bringing live elements of classic rock infused with jazz, funk, soaring riffs, backed up with gritty drum vibes. I am looking forward to when Spymob’s new album drops.”

The members of Spymob had stayed in touch as friends during their 20-year hiatus though they no longer made music together. Late one evening in January 2024, in a group text, the band discussed recording a song together again. Singer, pianist, and songwriter John Ostby went to bed feeling uninterested in the idea of recording with Spymob again, even though he cherished his friendships with the guys. It had been 20 years. Ostby had become a therapist, rarely played music and had even sold his grand piano a few months earlier. By happenstance, drummer Eric Fawcett had also become a therapist after pursuing a music career performing and recording post-Spymob.

But when Ostby woke up the next morning, he checked his phone and saw that the chat between the guys had lit up. He was moved by his friends’ enthusiasm and agreed to try to write a song to record. He purchased a cheap keyboard at Guitar Center to write songs on. Though his songwriting chops felt rusty going in, he surprised himself by writing a few of the initial songs on the new album. His bandmates loved them and went to work on them. This spurred Ostby on to keep writing and led to many more songs. His old musical compatriots had re-awoken his drive to make music with them.

Spymob is no stranger to recording albums…and label politics. Spymob signed its first deal with Epic Records (Sony Music Entertainment) in 1998, but its album, Sitting Around Keeping Score, got stuck in label politics and in 2000 Epic dropped Spymob. Then, during the summer of 2001, N.E.R.D. rerecorded their celebrated debut album, In Search of…, with Spymob as its backup band. Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo then signed Spymob to Startrak, their imprint label on Arista Records. Because In Search Of… with Spymob turned out so well, Chad and Pharrell hired Spymob to be N.E.R.D.’s backup band to play live shows throughout North America, Europe, Japan and Australia between 2002 and 2005. While touring with N.E.R.D., Spymob often played an opening set on its own before many shows, introducing their music to new listeners.

N.E.R.D. also included a Spymob song, “Half Steering, Half Eating Ice Cream,” on a 2003 compilation album of Startrak artists called Neptunes Present Clones, which went gold. Yet, during that same time period, Spymob’s album got stuck yet again in label politics and was never released on Startrak due to obstructions at Arista, the parent company. Eventually, Ruthless Records released Sitting Around Keeping Score in 2004.

This time around, Spymob will release its sixth album, Another Night, independently, with the support of many friends in the music industry. Their friendship and shared love of music motivates Spymob more than ever, yet without having to navigate label politics.

“When Spymob disbanded in 2005, it wasn’t because we no longer loved making music together. It was because we couldn’t afford to. We were busy starting families and raising children, and we were fed up with the capriciousness of record labels,” says drummer Eric Fawcett. “When the idea came up to record again 20 years later, not only was the inspiration still there, but technology had evolved in a way that allowed us to produce the entire album both independently and long-distance, with John and I in the Twin Cities and Brent in Los Angeles.”