Building upon the groundwork of 2003's "6" EP, The Stepford Five's new album "A New Design for Living" is the third full-length release from this Columbus, Ohio guitar rock staple. Recorded, mixed and mastered at the familiar home of Workbook Studio at various times throughout 2003 with longtime producer/engineer Neal Schmitt (RJD2, The Sun, Tiara), "A New Design for Living" captures various aspects of The Stepford Five's persona. From the multi-layered orchestration of "Ted Hughes" and "Getaway Car" to the live-to-tape "No Use" and "Last Possibility," the band sought to represent their live sound as well as spending time experimenting in-studio. The groundwork for The Stepford Five was laid at a 6th grade talent show in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. With a love of all music that featured a distorted electric guitar, Keith Jenkins (vocals, guitar) and Jason Dziak (guitar, vocals) spent high school and college in various bands. After graduation, Keith and Jason moved to Columbus with college friend Tim Minneci (bass, vocals) in search of a drummer. That void was filled by Mark Kovitya in January '99. Within six months, the band entered the studio, and in February of 2000 released their first album "Mesh." With obvious nods to influences the Afghan Whigs, Catherine Wheel and Dinosaur Jr., the band's guitar oriented sound earned favorable reviews from local papers and national 'zines, such as The Big Takeover and Splendid e-zine. The band spent the majority of the year supporting the album with regional shows before entering the studio again to record the follow-up to "Mesh." In November of 2001, The Stepford Five released "The Art of Self-Defense," an ambitious expansion of the songwriting that found the band exploring a more dissonant sound. Adding Rhodes piano, Farfisa, layered guitar and vocal tracks, the obvious influences of "Mesh" fade with tracks "Foot Soldier" and "Showing Through." Despite the fact their band van and some gear was stolen soon after the release of "TAOSD," the next year and half were spent playing regional shows and tackling the first full tour before the band entered the studio to record tracks for the "6" EP, released in April 2003.