Riot is a band with a great history and an extensive catalog and while Riot V is rooted in the Thundersteel era, both Mike and Donnie wanted to write songs that reflected the bands history as well as its future.

Mike wrote the music to Take Me Back and the first recording I heard was a rough recording that Mike, Frank, and Nick put together from just a digital recorder in the middle of the practice room. Even though the recording was rough, the initial riff really grabbed me and the main refrain certainly takes you back to the hard rock roots of Riot.

I normally listen to new songs while driving around in my car, because I don't usually have a lot of free time at home. After listening to the demo a few times, I was feeling rather nostalgic. All these thoughts about how life was like when we were younger and more care free started filling up my head and all of the sudden the initial chorus melody and the phrase "take me back" came into my head.

Often is seems that the best songs come to you quickly and that is what it was like for me with "Take Me Back". Once the title came to my mind, the rest of the words just started flowing.

The last piece to put in place was a great chorus melody. Originally, the song had a slightly different chorus melody that I developed, but Mike came back with a different melody suggestion that worked well with my lyrics and it really seemed to be a great finishing touch to the song.