One look at the cover of Jet [ tickets ]'s latest album "Shine On" makes it easy to see that there's something different about the Australian rock band. While its debut, "Get Born," was bright white with sketches forming the backdrop to a band photo, "Shine On" is hazy and black, which hints at what's inside, according to guitarist Cam Muncey.

"This was the record we had to make," Muncey said via phone from London. "It's a bit darker, a bit more serious than the other one. There was a lot of stuff that happened. The songs that came from that period were darker because it was a bit of a darker period. You look at the record cover and it's pretty much dark. That's a period we went through. The next record will be different. The songs you have to write are the ones that explain how you feel at that time. It was a bit of a strange time."

Among the events: John Cester, father of singer Nic Cester and drummer Chris Cester, died, while Muncey, by his own admission, went a bit wayward.

"People had just sort of gone down the wrong track of it," Muncey said with a pause. "They had to sort of put themselves back in a place ... Forgetting the things that I cared about and more focusing on things that aren't important. With the death of the boys' father, as well, that spun everyone off into a different orbit. It was a bit weird. It was sort of like trying to come back together and make a record. Trying to pull it back together. It took awhile. And the songs are really dark. By the end of it, we were really very happy. It was sort of like a healing. Sort of like an exorcism."

Recording "Shine On" and writing songs like the title track, a tribute to John Cester, was cathartic, but also hard work, Muncey said.

"These things don't always come easy. It was quite difficult, especially after we've gone through things like that. We were all in L.A., too, for eight months, away from people [we care about like] girlfriends, family and that. You start to get into your own head a little bit. It was quite tough being out there in the L.A. desert. We came out of it quite well. We proved to ourselves that we could do it."

It took a team effort to get the songs for the new album written; the Cesters and Muncey share songwriting credits. (Bassist/pianist Mark Wilson.) The band wrote 35 songs for "Shine On," recorded 22 and put 15 on the album.

"We have three different writers--me, Nic and Chris--so the songwriting process changes all the time. One song, Chris might have the melody and the lyrics and we sort of write the guitar parts for it. Other times, a song may have been written on the piano. Or Nic has just the guitar line and no melody. It changes," Muncey said.

Producer Dave Sardy (Oasis, Johnny Cash, Nine Inch Nails), who oversaw "Get Born," returned for "Shine On."

"Dave can be a pretty hard taskmaster. You can be like, 'I think I've got it. I think this is brilliant.' And he's like, 'I don't know about that.' And we're like, 'Aww, really?' We'd go out and talk to the other guys and it would sound fine. It's a weird thing with producers. You have relationships. There's a trust there but you have to go with the band['s feeling] and do what you believe is right. Eight months is a long period of time to be away. Sometimes tempers got flared. In the end, though, it was like sweet relief.

"But we've done it and we're very happy with what we've done after putting all that effort in. It was like an exorcism and sometimes painful."

Now that the recording of "Shine On" is behind the group, Jet is focusing on touring the United States through May 11. Fans can expect the band to play most of the rocking hits off of both albums, including "Cold Hard Bitch," "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" and "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is." The Virgins will open. The itinerary is included below.

"Yeah, it's going to be good. It's going to be a pretty grueling tour. It's going to be one of those crazy tours where you just work your butt off and it goes like that," Muncey said, snapping his fingers. "I'm looking forward to it, because it's usually the best."