CREDIT: FISH GRIWKOWSKY
The Wet Secrets perform at Call The Office on February 15.

I write about random things a lot. I write a lot about random things. Recently, '80s metal rock outfit Mötley Crüe announced not only that they would embark on their final tour, but that they took exceptional contractual steps to ensure that none of the members could change their mind in the future — a surprisingly modern twist to mark the end of an era.

And while the current musical landscape doesn't offer much that sounds in close comparison with the Crüe, the spirit on which they were founded and their sense of self and awareness of their limitations is present in the histories of bands across the country. For most, it simply begins with an unforgettable story.

Formed on a drunken dare, The Wet Secrets' origin story is one for the ages. In that state, Lyle Bell and Trevor Anderson booked and completely forgot a show until one week in advance, scrambling to write and record an album for release at that first concert.

But for the band — frontman and bassist Bell, drummer Anderson, keyboardist Paul Arnusch and horn section Kim Rackel and Emma Frazier — it proved to be an unsustainable model, and too close to the band's identity for comfort.

The Wet Secrets perform in London on February 15 at Call The Office, part of a brief southern Ontario mini-tour in support of the release of Free Candy. Released just last week, the group's third full-length album owes a lot to the way they produced their first two; their very nature shaped the future of the band by inspiring them to take a different direction with their approach, and in doing so cemented the band's voice once and for all.

After two albums written, recorded and released at such a breakneck pace, The Wet Secrets decided to take their time with the sessions that would become Free Candy. Side projects and other creative pursuits — Bell and Arnusch serve in other bands, while Anderson doubles duty as a filmmaker and founder of Dirt City Films — provided outside perspectives and experiences, and the band were eager to apply them internally to strengthen the band moving forward into their third record.

“You begin to learn more about the recording process, and it came to a point where I wasn't happy just releasing a tossed-off punk rocker anymore,” Bell said recently by phone. “We actually recorded a bunch of the tracks a few years back; we were trying to do everything ourselves, but after a couple of years, it just became this overwhelming project. Going back into the sessions was a nightmare — things were recorded in different spots, and I never quite knew what version of it was correct.”

Despite efforts to take time and care during recording, album sessions were dragging on and often interrupted. The band kept playing gigs in the interim, and eventually chose to embrace their spark of immediacy and record Free Candy like its predecessors.

“We just decided to start completely fresh, knowing what we know now,” Bell confirmed. “Just go back in and bang it all out in one fell swoop ... the ones that we liked we re-recorded, and the rest of them we wrote together inside of a week.”

According to Bell, the decision to reintroduce that element of immediacy was the key to recapture the spark that went into the recording. Free Candy came together in a little over three weeks after that, marrying that spontaneity with everything the band had learned from working on sessions themselves over the years.

“I think that's the way I like to record,” Bell agreed. “I did all the beds at a really nice studio here in Edmonton, but the meat of the record — all the vocals, the horns and keyboards — were all done over a two-and-a-half week period at my place. So it's a little bit of both — a little bit pro, a little bit DIY.”

The band preceded the release of Free Candy with a free EP entitled Nightlife/Knifefights, released via Bandcamp on January 21. While it hinges around their lead single “Nightlife,” the EP also features the title track, a boozy noir tangent that adds eccentric depth to the track.

The video for the single, filmed in the Edmonton winter, features iconic TV comedian Joe Flaherty, reprising his beloved SCTV role of Count Floyd as an aged vampire who struggles to relate to modern life. A Dirt City Films production, the video is a stylish semi-autobiographical commentary on the decline of Whyte Avenue, a once-proud fixture in Edmonton's arts district.

For more information on The Wet Secrets, visit thewetsecrets.com or follow along on Twitter @thewetsecrets. Their show at Call The Office on February 15 is an early event — the show is set for 7 p.m., $5 admission — and even precedes their hometown album release show in Edmonton by a couple of weeks.

And for more of the latest in music news, album streams and concert previews, consider following this column on Twitter @fsu_bobbyisms. I'm out of words.