Third Eye Blind
Third Eye Blind is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1993. After years of lineup changes in the early and mid-1990s, the songwriting duo of Stephan Jenkins and Kevin Cadogan signed the band's first major-label recording contract with Elektra Records in 1996. The band released their self-titled debut album in 1997, with the band largely consisting of Jenkins, Cadogan, Arion Salazar, and Brad Hargreaves. Shortly after the release of the band's second album in 1999, Blue, with the same line-up, Cadogan was released from the band under controversial circumstances.
The band continued, but with many line-up changes and long gaps between album releases for the next fifteen years. The band released Out of the Vein in 2003 and Ursa Major in 2009 with guitarist Tony Fredianelli, but parted ways with him shortly afterwards, leaving only Jenkins and Hargreaves as the remaining core members. The band's lineup stabilized again in the mid-2010s, adding Kryz Reid, Alex Kopp, and Alex LeCavalier. The new lineup led to increased output with less time between releases - Dopamine, and a string of EPs, We Are Drugs and Thanks for Everything. After Kopp was replaced by Colin Creev, the sixth and seventh studio albums Screamer and Our Bande Apart were released.
The band found commercial success in the late 1990s, with Third Eye Blind and Blue certified platinum six times and single platinum in the United States, respectively. Several songs were commercial successes as well, with "Semi-Charmed Life", "Jumper", and "How's It Going to Be", all reaching the Top 10 of the US Billboard Hot 100, and "Never Let You Go" reaching the Top 20. Third Eye Blind has sold around twelve million records worldwide.
History
Formation and early years: 1990–1996
The band's origins trace back to the early 1990s, with frontman Stephan Jenkins writing music, but struggling to hold together a consistent musical lineup. Originally, Jenkins started his music career as one half of an interracial rap duo "Puck and Natty" with musician Herman Anthony Chunn, who went by the stage name "Zen". The two managed to attract some attention from record labels - enough to get one of their few recorded songs "Just Wanna Be Your Friend" on a soundtrack for the television drama Beverly Hills, 90210. The two were in talks to being signed with Capitol Records, but Jenkins did not see eye to eye on the label's views on the musical direction or what music producer with which they would work, and negotiations fell through. The group broke up shortly afterwards, and while short-lived, it was in the group that Jenkins first developed connections in the industry, and wrote the first iteration of what would become Third Eye Blind's biggest hit, "Semi-Charmed Life".After the "Puck and Zen" experience, Jenkins moved in the direction of starting a rock band. Jenkins recounted that over the span of a few years, he would recruit members, only to have them drop out because of drug addiction or join other bands. Jenkins would write and workshop early material with musician Jason Slater for years before the band started up formally, and the two recorded the band's first demo together in 1993. Jenkins reconnected with music producer and sound engineer David Gleeson, a contact from his Puck and Natty days, to be able to record demos at professional studios like Skywalker Ranch. Gleeson assisted in the sessions, but eventually had a falling-out with Jenkins and stopped working with the band. George Earth also played guitar on some demos. Much of the contents of the first demo, such as the track "Hold Me Down", were scrapped and shelved entirely, but Jenkins continued to work on some material like "Semi-Charmed Life" or "Alright Caroline" that were eventually released. Around this time, guitarist Tony Fredianelli auditioned for the band, though according to Slater, Jenkins believed him to be "too heavy metal music| metal" for the band. Around the time frame of 1993 and 1994, Slater departed the band, while guitarist Kevin Cadogan and bassist Arion Salazar joined. The band cycled through a number of drummers including Adrian Burley, Steve Bowman, and Michael Urbano.
Salazar noted that the band struggled to make much progress prior to the arrival of Cadogan, and felt that the songs really started to develop when Cadogan's big guitar sound was added to Jenkins' more stripped-down demos. The two became songwriting partners, with Jenkins writing lyrics and Cadogan helping him brainstorm musical ideas; together, they worked on a second set of demos. The band toured locally during 1994 and early 1995, building up a following. However, in July 1995, the band hit a significant setback with a disastrous "Battle of the Bands" performance that would see the winner be offered a record deal. Urbano quit shortly before the show, Jenkins was sick and unable to perform well, and Cadogan blew out his guitar amp two songs into the show. They lost the contest, and with it, the potential record deal and the confidence of their management and studio team, who left the band right afterwards. On the verge of breaking up, the band instead regrouped and recruited two new key people: Drummer Brad Hargreaves and manager Eric Gotland, a long-time personal friend and confidant of Jenkins. Jenkins, Cadogan, Salazar, and Hargreaves would go on to be the core lineup for the band during the recording of its first two studio albums.
Through past connections of Slater and Gotland, Third Eye Blind started recording a third demo with producer and sound engineer Eric Valentine, with some additional funding from a partially interested RCA Records, from late 1995 to February 1996. Valentine noted that he had heard the demos the band had recorded prior to his arrival, but felt they were "not ready" and needed to be reworked or discarded. He later expressed more satisfaction with material he had worked on. RCA passed on the band after hearing the material, but the demos instead attracted the attention of Arista Records. Label founder Clive Davis invited the band to perform at a band showcase in New York City in March 1996. 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 Jenkins released live crickets from the piñata instead. Cadogan noted that the performance was ultimately unsuccessful, and Davis passed on signing the band; but the event built hype and attention for the band, and Salazar noted that the well-developed fourteen-song demo they had recorded with Valentine still had helped the band feel more prepared to deal with record labels. 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. In an unlikely scenario for an opening act, the band was invited back for an encore after playing their initial set and was paid double by the concert promoter. In addition, Jenkins' production of hip hop duo The Braids' cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" gained major-label attention. Afterwards, the band found themselves in a bidding war among record labels, and after another showcase in June 1996 in Los Angeles, the band signed a contract with Sylvia Rhone of Elektra Records because they believed that contract offered the most artistic freedom. The contract was later reported as the largest publishing deal ever for an unsigned artist at the time.
Debut album ''Third Eye Blind'': 1997–1998
While the band had finally accomplished their goal of getting signed, troubles persisted with the band. Jenkins and Valentine clashed; Valentine was hired as a sound engineer, but felt he was tasked with duties that a full-fledged music producer would do, without the pay that would normally come with the role. Valentine ended up getting a co-production credit, but people involved felt he did far more for the album than technically credited for. Valentine also criticized Jenkins's decision to buyout all of Zen's early contribution to album material. Jenkins contended that he heavily reworked any of Zen's contributions. Cadogan also became disillusioned throughout the recording sessions. His understanding was that his role in the band was of an equal partnership with Jenkins, but did not feel he was treated as such. Valentine reported that while Jenkins and Cadogan recorded good material together, they were constantly at odds with one another in the studio, with their relationship deteriorating over time as they finished the album. Additionally, unbeknownst to the rest of the band until years later, even though both Cadogan and Jenkins were signed to the deal from the record label, days prior to the signing, Jenkins secretly set up a Third Eye Blind Inc" as a corporation, and named himself the sole owner and shareholder, giving him complete control over all legal and financial matters in the band.Despite the issues, the band's debut album, Third Eye Blind, was finished and released in April 1997. As a new artist, the album did not particularly debut high in the US all-format Billboard 200 album's chart, and only ever peaked at number 25 on the chart, but consistently sold each week, staying on the chart for over a year straight. Sales approached one million in the US by the end of 1997. The album's sales were propelled by the success of their first single, the long-worked-upon and finalized version of "Semi-Charmed Life". It not only performed well on rock radio, topping the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart for eight weeks, but also found crossover success, peaking at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Four subsequent singles - "Graduate", "How's It Going to Be", "Losing a Whole Year", and "Jumper" - kept the album selling well into 1998. "How's It Going to Be" and "Jumper" similarly succeeded "Semi-Charmed Life" as crossover hits as well, peaking at number 9 and 5, respectively, on the all-format Billboard Hot 100 chart. The album would go on to be certified platinum six times by the RIAA, indicating over six million copies sold in the US. Meanwhile, Billboard named it the number one modern rock track of the year. The band toured extensively in support of the album, including opening for large acts such as U2 and The Rolling Stones in late 1997, before quickly graduating to headlining status afterwards throughout 1998. The band toured extensively throughout the year, including a three-month tour with Smash Mouth and a larger venue amphitheater tour mid-year, and a college tour with Eve 6. The touring was seen as a success, as the band continued to book increasingly higher profile shows but the touring was not without issues, including a 1997 show where Jenkins fell unconscious after falling off the side of a stage, Salazar missing some 1997 shows because he was hospitalized by a viral infection, and an incident at a festival in 1998 where Salazar and Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt got into a physical altercation.