The Boston Phoenix reports :

About half of Nationwide was recorded in LA with Roy Z (who put some of the kick into Tree's last album). The trip was financed by guitarist Shepard's winning $8000 on a scratch card he bought at a convenience store. In the past, one could have imagined Roadsaw spending all the winnings on beer.

"We learned how to make the arrangements more concise, instead of just dicking around in the studio," Catz acknowledges. "Roy'd say, 'Why did you just do that part 10 times?' and we'd say, 'Uh, I dunno.' But some of the LA stuff came out way too slick, so we came home and redid it in Boston. Now it's got the best of the rougher and more polished stuff.