Twenty-six years after its original release, Hudson Valley, NJ’s Joshua went back and completely re-recorded “A Whole New Theory” — not because they had to, but because the opportunity landed weird enough to make sense. The result, “A Whole New Theory Redux,” drops March 20 via Immigrant Sun Records, and we’re premiering the full thing below.
The whole thing started when Japanese label Stiff Slack — a name the band had admired for years — asked about reissuing the album. Two songs had already been re-recorded for the 2024 reissue of their debut EP “Nascent,” and those came out well enough that Sean Mallinson from Immigrant Sun apparently said something along the lines of wanting to hear the entire thing done over. That planted the seed. Dan Coutant, who handles guitar and vocals, had his own reasons too.
“It has nothing to do with the production but I can just hear that I wasn’t really performing my best in those original takes, it sounds very ‘tight’,” he says. “So now that I have the luxury of having my own studio and more time, I really wanted to improve on those original performances, and I do feel much better about that aspect of the record now.”
The original “A Whole New Theory” built a quiet cult following among late 90s post-hardcore and emo heads, known for its D.C.-flavored dissonant guitars, dense arrangements, and vocal hooks that stuck. That reputation has held up for over two decades, which is partly why this whole exercise felt risky. Coutant admits he went back and forth the entire time wondering if it was worth the effort. But the deeper he got into relearning the parts and revisiting lyrics, the more the stuff started feeling genuinely new again.
“I guess there were a lot of things that happened in the aftermath of that record back in ’99 that I still hadn’t really resolved for myself,” Coutant explains. “The band sort of fell apart around that time and there was a lot of anxiety during the beginning stages of making the new version, but once I felt reconnected with the songs it became sort of a triumph to get through it all.”
He was also dealing with the fallout from political disagreements within his own family during the sessions, and says those feelings found their way into the performances in ways he can hear. Lines he’d written at 25 kept landing differently at 51. “I was continuously stumbling on lines in the songs that felt very relevant to things that are happening now. That gave me some reassurance that this was all a useful exercise, and not just self indulgence.”
“I’ll See You Never II,” sits right at the front of the record. Originally it was written from the perspective of a young guy convinced he was going to leave the small place he came from and never look back. Twenty-six years later, Coutant lives less than five miles from the house where the song was written.
“Life didn’t really play out how I planned, but I still feel fulfilled and happy,” he says. “So originally it was a song about feeling like you come from a place where nobody understands you and needing to get out, but now it’s about thinking you know everything when you’re young and learning later that you really didn’t know anything, and life is messy, and you need lived experience to really appreciate and accept that.”
The record runs ten tracks deep, with cuts like “Your World Is Over III,” “The Hard Part Is Letting Go II,” “Divide Us II,” and “Piss On Your Parade II” filling out the tracklist alongside a brand new song called “History Repeating.” That last one is the only track here that didn’t exist on the original — and it features Chris Cotter on drums instead of Shane Chikeles, who handles the rest.
Joshua on this record is Coutant on guitar and vocals, Keith Bogart on bass guitar (plus guitar on tracks 2 and 5), Sean Hansen on guitar and background vocals (bass on tracks 2 and 5), and Chikeles on drums. The band recorded and produced it themselves.
Drums were engineered by Mark Frankel at Nearfield in Cornwall, NY; bass was recorded by Jeff Rendano at Dad’s House in Monroe, NY. Mixing was split between Paul Carabello (tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8) and Tom Hill at The Bookhouse in South East London (tracks 4, 7, 9, and 10).
Mastering was handled by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering for tracks 1 and 3, with Coutant mastering everything else at his own Sun Room Audio.
For Coutant, this is about closure – not a new beginning.
“There was a lot of fallout and disappointment around the original release, and a lot of thinking about what ‘could have been’,” he says. “But I think I learned during that time that I wasn’t necessarily built for the unstable world of being a full-time musician, and that’s OK.” He calls it humbling that a handful of people still care enough about the record and the band to make something like this worth doing. “That’s always been why I wanted to be in a band — to write some songs that would matter to people for a really long time, and we’re pretty lucky that we got to do that.”
He doesn’t see a new future for Joshua. But there’s enough history left to celebrate.
“A Whole New Theory Redux” is out March 20 on Immigrant Sun Records. Vinyl pressings include a blue with gold and black splatter (limited to 100), blue and gold swirl (limited to 100), and a Stiff Slack-exclusive blue/gold split (limited to 100). Test presses are limited to 15 and already sold out. A limited edition CD (300 copies) is also available.
Pre-orders are up now: US via MerchNow, EU via Thirty Something Records, Japan via Stiff Slack.
