Don't Leave (Undead Oxygen album)

Don't Leave is the debut album of Undead Oxygen, recorded from June to August of 2003, and being released on January 21st, 2004, after 5 months of delay so that the band could afford to put the album out and tour for it. It was recorded in drummer Jordan Perry's garage utilizing multitracking, due to the fact that the band only had an overhead microphone and an SM57 at the time. The first issue of the CD was 400 copies, all made using a 2 CD copier, an Inkjet printer, and some sticker paper. They gave about 100 copies out to minor record stores, and tried to sell the rest on their "Tri-State Tour" of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, projecting 100 sales per state. They managed to sell all but 23 copies of the album, which they sent out to a singular record store in Pittsburgh. The album was recorded in a garage using a cheap audio interface, Jordan's brand new (at the time) iBook, a cheap no-name large diaphragm overhead microphone, and a Shure SM57.

The recording process was influenced heavily by the shoestring budget, having to use a guitar practice amp for the bass for the first sessions because of the fact that Brian Welsh had left his 1981 Bassman amp at home. None of the recordings from these sessions ever made it to the album, however. Also, the guitar amp was a JCM800 combo amp whose speaker had blown mid-recording, resulting in the band buying a dual speaker Randall cabinet that didn't work on the right speaker at a thrift store the following week. The album was mixed by Jordan Perry, with it being only the second album he had ever mixed, after Marijuana Enthusiasm's "Color" in 2002. Other than complaints about the slight room noise that remained in some songs, his mixing job was praised.

Critics believed this album was a mixed bag. They encouraged that "8 Years Away" and "Pushover" become singles, but that at least 3 of the songs were "absolute garbage". They did recommend the album, however, with an average rating of 6.5/10.