Since the release of their second album, 2016's Wood Metal Plastic Pattern Rhythm Rock (Thin Wrist), 75 Dollar Bill has travelled and performed extensively- bringing their music to a wider audience and performing everywhere from sidewalks and intimate clubs to large concert halls and overseas festivals. The result of these journeys is their expansive new double album I WAS REAL. Requiring a variety of approaches, the album was recorded over nearly four years, in four different studios in a range of different ensemble configurations. The album features several “studio as instrument” constructions that harken back to the collage-experiments of the band’s early cassette tapes, while at the same time pointing to new territories altogether. The players involved highlight the “social” aspect of the band and the eight guests that appear on the record are some of the band’s closest friends and collaborators. While Che Chen and Rick Brown are always at the core of 75 Dollar Bill, the band is much like an extended family, changing shape for different music and different situations. Some pieces were conceived in the band's very early days and others are much newer, but the music is unmistakably 75 Dollar Bill. As Steve Gunn has written on their work: “Strings come in underneath Che Chen's supreme guitar tone. Rick Brown's trance percussion offers a guiding support with bass, strings, and horns supporting the melody. They have gathered all the moving parts perfectly.”