The band decided to work with Kevin Shirley after they have heard his production on Joe Bonamassa's song "Ballad of John Henry". Before they met him, they've prepared about 12-13 songs.
Recording of the album began on October 3, 2011. and by the next day band recorded first song for the album, "Doghouse". By the end of the first week band recorded two more songs. Between October 24 and October 27 band recorded overdubs and guitar solos and band officially finished with recording of album on October 27, 2011. On November 7, 2011., Anton Fig entered recording studio to record percussions on several songs on the album, while Joe Bonamassa recorded slide guitar on song "Bag of Bones". Band members weren't present in the studio at this time. On November 13, Shirley finished the rough mixes of some of the songs on the album. After that, band decided to go in studio in early December to do some additional recording so the album can be ready for Shirley to mix it in early January 2012.
Tempest plays rhythm guitar on "Not Supposed to Sing the Blues" and in intro and breakdown on "Doghouse". He also plays twelve-string guitar on "Bag of Bones". During the recording session, band recorded four or five takes of each song. Later, Shirley listened all the recorded takes and suggested the best one to the band. After that, in this exact take, he put rhythm guitar from another take to get acoustic impression like there are two rhythm guitars playing simultaneously. Band used old analog recording equipement from sixties and seventies and recorded on a computer using Pro Tools. In January, Shirley started to mix album in his home studio and finished mixing by February 2012.
On July 12, 2011, Europe confirmed that Kevin Shirley would produce the album. "I've been a big fan of Europe's work for many years," said Shirley, "The band is influential and highly underrated. I can't wait to make the upcoming album their most explosive to date." The recording sessions started on October 3, 2011.
The album title was announced on January 24, 2012. Drummer Ian Haugland said, "It's not [called 'Bag of Bones'] because we all have lost tons of weight or found a new interest in archeology or dogs... It's just because it sounds fuckin' cool!"
Vocalist Joey Tempest stated, "With Bag of Bones we've made a hardcore classic rock record with the blues knocking on the door," and added, "This almost feels like a 'prequel' to our very first album, with a 2012 punch."
In addition to being released as a CD and digital download, the album was also released as an LP. Tempest said, "With the new 'Bag Of Bones' cover, there is so much detail on it. It became a bit boring there for a while; everybody was thinking, 'CDs are small, so let's just make something simple.' But we have computers, so we can blow up the cover to use for posters and vinyl, so it's still worth going that extra mile to make great covers. And we're really happy we did that."
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