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Third Eye Blind
Third Eye Blind performs at SUNY Geneseo on November 17, 2007
Background information
Origin	San Francisco, California, United States
Genre(s)	Alternative rock, powerpop
Years active	1993 – present
Label(s)	Warner, Elektra
Associated acts	Bully, Apocrypha, Kevin Cadogan, Year Long Disaster, Radio Angel, The Gossip Choir
Website	www.3eb.com
Members
Stephan Jenkins Tony Fredianelli Brad Hargreaves
Former members
Kevin Cadogan Arion Salazar Michael Urbano Jason Slater

Third Eye Blind (sometimes abbreviated 3eb) is an American alternative rock band formed in the early 1990s in San Francisco. The band's current line-up is Stephan Jenkins (vocals, guitar), Brad Hargreaves (drums, percussion), and Tony Fredianelli (guitar, vocals). Leo Kremer, a recent Berkeley graduate, had been filling in for original bassist Arion Salazar, but he will not take part in any recordings with the band.

After the massive success of their eponymous debut album in 1997, the band released one more album, 1999's Blue, before guitarist Kevin Cadogan was released under circumstances that still elicit controversy. More recently, bassist Arion Salazar has not been playing with the band, and his future as part of the quartet is unclear. It is reported on the band's Facebook page that he is able to return whenever he wishes; that there is an "open door policy" for him.

History

Beginnings (1993-1996)

Third Eye Blind recorded their first demo in 1993. The band gained major label attention after their second demo was released in 1995, including that of Clive Davis, who invited the band to perform a showcase for Arista Records in New York City.¹ During Third Eye Blind concerts at the time, it was customary for the band to have a piñata release candy above their mosh pits, yet at the showcase for the record executives, lead singer Stephan Jenkins]] released live crickets from the piñata instead.¹ With regard to the name of the band, Jenkins indicated during a radio interview that the name came from the metaphysical idea of a mind's eye, a topic of a book he had read. The other group members liked it and chose it as the official name. In the past, Stephan Jenkins has also joked about a Ouija board and vodka being the sources of the name. In April 1996, after Jenkins had challenged Epic Records executive Dave Massey in a meeting, the band landed an opening gig for Oasis at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium.¹ In an unlikely scenario for an opening act, the band was invited back for an encore after playing their initial set² and was paid double by the concert promoter.³ In addition, Stephan Jenkins' production of The Braids' cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" gained major-label attention.⁴ Afterwards, the band found themselves in a bidding war among record labels, and after a showcase in Los Angeles, signed with Sylvia Rhone of Elektra Records because they believed it offered the most artistic freedom.³ The contract was one of the largest ever given to an unreleased artist.^{citation needed}

Success (1997-2000)

Third Eye Blind's first album, Third Eye Blind, became an immediate success after its release in 1997. The album had 5 singles, "Semi-Charmed Life", "Graduate", "Losing a Whole Year", "Jumper", and "How's It Going to Be". "Semi-Charmed Life" hit as high as #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Modern Rock Tracks for 8 weeks. The band also played "How's it Going to Be" on Saturday Night Live. To date it has been the most successful Third Eye Blind CD, selling 6 million units worldwide. Smash Mouth drummer Michael Urbano also appeared on the album, playing drums on 4 songs. During this period they also opened a number of shows on U2's Popmart tour. Additionally, this album includes the track "Motorcycle Drive By" which despite receiving only limited radio play, has gained significant popularity especially amongst the band's close followers.

In 1999 the band released Blue. Although not received as well as Third Eye Blind, the album sold 150,000 copies the first month of release and 1.25 million total U.S. sales.⁵ Four singles were released from the album, "Anything", "Never Let You Go", "Deep Inside of You", and "10 Days Late". In early 2000, shortly after the release of the album, Kevin Cadogan was released from the band.

Hiatus (2001-2002)

After extensive and exhaustive touring around the world the band took a break. The band took a year off, only playing for charity events. They put on shows for the Tiger Woods Foundation and the Breathe Benefit Concert in Los Angeles after Jenkins' mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. During the hiatus the band also built a recording studio in anticipation of their next album.

A potential lawsuit, filed by Cadogan was closed with an out of court settlement in June 2002.⁶ Originally filed in 2000, Cadogan claimed that the group had witheld his production, recording, and songwriter royalties since his termination. In the suit, Cadogan also claimed that he and Jenkins had an oral agreement of split ownership of Third Eye Blind, but that Jenkins had established "3EB Touring, Inc." and "Third Eye Blind, Inc.", entities behind his back which divided the group's profits.⁷

Out of the Vein (2003)

In 2003 the band released Out of the Vein. Two singles were released from the album; "Blinded", and "Crystal Baller". Despite positive reviews the album was a commercial disappointment, selling only 500,000 copies worldwide. There was only one video created, which was for Blinded, and Elektra Records, which was being absorbed into Atlantic Records, did little to promote the album. Stephan Jenkins commented, "I worked really hard on Out of the Vein . . . Elektra was imploding as we were making it, so we didn't make a video and didn't do a marketing campaign, but as far as critics go, it was my best-reviewed album."

In April, 2003, the band embarked on the "Within Arms Reach" tour, targeting clubs and other smaller venues to promote their third album in a more intimate setting than in recent years. "The 'Within Arm's Reach Tour' means the audience and the band literally get within arm's reach of each other," Jenkins said.

An interesting fact about this album is that it came out right after the break up of Stephan Jenkins and actress Charlize Theron. During various concerts Jenkins has stated that the songs "Forget Myself" and "Palm Reader" are written for her and the lyrics reveal some interesting aspects of their relationship.

Ursa Major (2009)

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Third Eye Blind has announced a fourth studio album titled Ursa Major, which will be released in February 2009 (though the album has been anticipated since mid 2007, and previously named A Hideous Strength) with the first single being released in November 2008. ⁸ The album will be produced under the Sony label. Recent live performances have revealed a majority of the new tracks being worked on. Jenkins has revealed that this album will be "more political" than others they have done.⁹ Jenkins said the fourth album has taken so long to complete because he experienced difficulty finishing the lyrics.¹⁰ Recently, Jenkins expressed his feelings about how he does not like the idea of producing an "album" but instead he prefers releasing a few songs at a time. What this means for the release of the album still remains to be seen. It was reported that three new songs will be available on November 18, 2008. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10070638-93.html

Also announced recently ¹¹ is a fifth album titled Ursa Minor that will be released following the release of Ursa Major in the fall. Jenkins said that Ursa Minor will consist of tracks that did not make the cut for Ursa Major. Leo Kremer, who has been filling in for Arion Salazar during recent shows is going to be playing his last time with the band after they tour Japan this Summer. Ari Ingber, from band The Upwelling, co wrote "Break Like A Fever" with Jenkins, a new track from Ursa Major. John Evans (Vanessa Carlton) and Juan Alderette (The Mars Volta) will reportedly take over bass duties for the recording of this next album, according to Tony Fredianelli.¹²

The band claims that the first single off the new album will likely be either "Campfire," "Summertown," or "Break Like a Fever."

A number of previously unreleased recordings were made available on Facebook and MySpace, including "Persephone", "Carnival Barker" (an instrumental), and numerous instrumental sessions declined by Jenkins for inclusion on the fourth album.

For the 10th anniversary of the release of Third Eye Blind's debut album, the band performed at the Fillmore on March 13 and 14. The shows were filmed for broadcast on HDNet on December 2, as well as normal broadcast and release on DVD and as a live album tentatively to be released in early 2008, as announced by Jenkins on November 9, 2007, on DC101's "Elliot In The Morning".¹³

Between April and November 2007, Third Eye Blind toured extensively throughout the US, playing dozens of sold-out shows as a build-up for the release of their new album. They toured with 1990s acts such as Counting Crows, Live, and Collective Soul during the summer of 2007. They held a Fall 2007 tour in which they played nine shows, beginning on November 9, at the University of Maryland College Park (which sold out the presale and general sale in a matter of hours), and ending on November 18 at the University of Rhode Island Ryan Center. The band also toured in the winter of 2007, and has continued to play numerous shows throughout 2008. Several performances on the tour were recorded for possible use on a future live album (see below).

Towards the end of September 2008, Third Eye Blind released the song Non-Dairy Creamer to fans. It was released as six individual tracks (lead vocal, background vocal, drums and clap, bass, guitars, and violin) as a competition for fans to remix the song for Third Eye Blind¹⁴. The song, as recorded by the band, can be heard in its entirety by using computer software to mix the tracks together. (It's currently unknown if Non-Dairy Creamer in its current form will be the same song released on the album in 2009.) On October 16th, the same day that the Non-Dairy Creamer contest came to a close, the next song in the competition titled "Don't Believe a Word" was released; once again for the purpose of remixing the song. Ultimately, the band Third Eye Blind will pick their favorite submissions out of each individual contest and the grand prize winner will get the opportunity to perform live on stage with Third Eye Blind. The winner of each song will have their song released on an alternate mix album of contest winners, to be included as a companion digital album to the band's own release of Ursa Major. Contestants get to vote for their favorite submissions and the top 3 of each contest will receive an autographed copy of the album when it is released.¹⁵

Discography

Studio albums

• Third Eye Blind (April 8, 1997) US 6x Platinum
• Blue (November 23, 1999) US 2x Platinum
• Out of the Vein (May 13, 2003)
• Ursa Major (February 2009)

Live albums

• Blind Faith (Third Eye Blind album) (2008): A double live album has been announced by Jenkins on several occasions.

EPs

• Symphony of Decay: An EP titled Symphony of Decay has also been completed. The band reportedly has a contractual obligation to deliver the EP and has leaked several tracks to fans. The leaked tracks are a full-accompaniment version of "My Time in Exile," the stripped down song that played on the menu of the DVD included with their third album, as well as two very different and instrumental songs, "Knife in the Water" and "Animal." Also included on this EP is the full version of an instrumental song from "Blue", titled "Slow Motion." This has been available online since "Blue" was released because of its inclusion on international versions of "Blue". "Carnival Barker," a seven-minute instrumental, which is also a track off of the EP, was released on the band's MySpace page.

• Red Star is a digitally-released 3-Track EP that was released on November 18 2008. The 3-Tracks Include: "Non-Dairy Creamer", "Red Star", and a live version of "Why Can't You Be". The title comes from a song off the upcoming LP, and was voted on by fans on the band's Facebook page. Also released with the EP was a music video for Non-Dairy Creamer featuring Third Eye Blind's recent Japan tour.

DVDs

• Hiding Out: Included in the special edition of Out of the Vein, Hiding Out is a look behind the scenes with the band on how the album was made.

• Ten Years Down: Originally shown on HDNET, Ten Years Down is a 90-minute edited performance of the bands two night, sold out performance at The Filmore in San Francisco. Included are the bands radio hits such as "Semi-Charmed Life", "Jumper", "Never Let You Go" and more. The Symphony of Decay version of "Slow Motion" and one new song, "So Pretty" were performed as well. Release date TBA.

Singles

Popular Culture and Media

• Third Eye Blind's song "Horror Show" was featured on the 1999 movie Varsity Blues, and the song was also featured on the film's soundtrack. Despite this, the song was actually written with the film Scream 2 in mind, hence the song's name.
• "New Girl" and "Semi-Charmed Life" were featured on the soundtrack for the movie American Pie.
• "Eye Conqueror" was featured on the soundtrack for the movie A Knight's Tale.
• "London" and "Graduate" were featured in the film Can't Hardly Wait.
• "Never Let You Go" was featured in the films Clockstoppers and Coyote Ugly .
• "I Want You," "Losing a Whole Year (Remix - Strings Up Version)," and "The Background" were all featured in the film The Corruptor.
• "Horror Show" was originally an unreleased cover of The Velvet Underground's "Heroin". The band kept the music and wrote new lyrics for Varsity Blues.
• "Deep Inside of You" was featured in Me, Myself, and Irene.
• "Semi-Charmed Life" was featured in A Lot Like Love and Dirty Work.
• "Narcolepsy" was featured in Four Horsemen, Episode 3 of Season 1 of Jericho.
• "Never Let You Go" was featured in the film Say It Ain't So.
• "The Background" was used in the Faith, Hope & Trick episode of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.
• "Wounded" was used as the background music for an anti-drug commercial.

Awards

• 1997 - "Semi-Charmed Life" won the Billboard Music Award for Modern Rock Track of the Year.
• 1998 - Nominated for two American Music Awards for Favorite New Artist (Pop/Rock) and Favorite Artist (Alternative)

References

External links

• Official site
• Third Eye Blind Myspace Page
• Third Eye Blind Fan Site
• Third Eye Blind Media Archive
• [3]
• Third Eye Blind Album Review at UKEvents.net