(TeamRock Radio) Of Mice & Men's Aaron Pauley says the writing sessions for their upcoming album Cold World were like pruning a growing tree. Comparing their producer David Bendeth to a "tree trimmer," the co-vocalist and bassist recalls the pain of constructive criticism in the studio and "hacking" away parts of the record which held sentimental value for him.

Pauley tells Metal Hammer: "He's fantastic. A great producer to me is a tree trimmer, in that their entire goal is to make sure you grow into a gigantic tree and the way they do that is by hacking limbs off. You have to be of the mindset to be strong enough to do that because it's always very painful.

"When you're writing you have to dig deeper and it's painful. It's hard trying to write about and talk about stuff that we do and it's also hard to take criticism of everything you do in the studio. But if you want your tree to prosper and grow, you have to be willing to do that.

"While he's one of the kindest people I know, he's very direct and his honesty is important and more valuable to me than worrying about my feelings. The visceral honesty is the catalyst for the songs becoming what they become.

"It's always the best and worst of times, but every time we come out I feel stronger than I did when I went in there. Now that we're starting to play we're starting to feel the branches come back and they're gonna grow back bigger and better." Read more here.

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