Here’s the beginning of the answer:

From Vanyaland‘s article Boston Brains: With Renewed Focus and a New Record in the Works, RIBS Return as a Duo

With Sunday’s Swervedriver show fast approaching, we asked them where the hell they’ve been for the past two years. Turns out, that Queens show was a turning point.

“When I joined RIBS, Keith told me his dream was to open for Queens of the Stone Age,” says Oquist. “When that finally happened, and I told that story to the security guard outside the venue, he said ‘sounds like it’s time for a new dream.’ Driving back, that sunk in a bit. It was time for a new dream. The next thing we release is going to set us on a course. We needed focus. We decided to spend all our time writing. Blake [Fusilier, bassist] set off to pursue a solo career; we decided not to resurface until we’d made some real progress. So this isn’t a reunion. We never left. This has been a period of redefinition and rediscovery. We’ve been grinding.”

Adds Freund: “Momentum can be a beautiful thing but it can also be dangerous. Sometimes your momentum can swallow you up. We made a conscious decision to let that go in order to take some time to reflect on what the future could sound like.”