Russian Spies

After taking a break in late 2010, Florida Punkers Against Me! took the opportunity to record a couple of songs they had kicking around that did not necessarily feel like tracks for the follow up to their White Crosses album. This tune was recorded as the A-side with "Occult Enemies" making up the B-side. They were released as a 7" vinyl single on June 14, 2011 on Sabot Productions.

The songs were recorded in Madison, Wisconsin at a now-closed studio prior to the band's March 2011 tour with Dropkick Murphys. Madison is the home base of Butch Vig, who produced Against Me!'s previous two albums. "We had a break between tours this past February that left us nowhere near Florida," frontman Tom Gabel (who later became Laura Jane Grace) told Spin magazine. "When I realized that we were going to be close to Madison, though, I gave Butch a call to see if there was any way we could go into Smart Studios to record a couple of songs that I had in my pocket. I knew that Smart was closed to the public but that most of the gear was still there. I wanted to have the chance to record there before it was gone for good. Butch was cool enough to help make it happen."

The band's sessions at Smart overlapped with massive protests taking place in Madison against a bill that would remove most collective bargaining rights for public worker unions. "As we were recording, the capital was erupting just down the street from us which I think only helped add to the immediacy of the songs," Gabel recalled to Spin. "'Russian Spies' is a song about existential dread, narcotic submarines, oil spills, and the now almost distant memory of a red threat. In this brave new world, sometimes I find myself longing for enemies so simple."