In anticipation of their new album, set for release this summer, Third Eye Blind will be playing at the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion on May 22. The band’s recently released EP “Red Star” has had success since its November 2008 iTunes release, and has returned the band to its alternative roots for the new album “Ursa Major.”
“We were branded as a pop band, which is really not the case,” said Tony Fredianelli, the band’s guitarist, in an interview with btw. “Third Eye Blind has always been an alternative band. We had a lot of commercial success and so we were mis-branded, but that’s kind of been turned around now.”
Fredianelli said one of the ways Third Eye Blind is trying to return to their roots is by playing smaller, more intimate venues.
“We’ve working on really getting back to our core base touring a lot of colleges and universities,” said Fredianelli. “We’re trying to get back to our roots and disconnect ourselves with the big media machine that Electric [Records] created for us.”
However, fans of the traditional Third Eye Blind sound need not be concerned. Fredianelli said the new record is a blend of their old and new sounds.
“It’s kind of a mix of all the records together,” he said.
“Ursa Major” will be released this summer and will feature the band’s latest single, “Non Dairy Creamer,” as well as other songs they have debuted on the road. The album will be followed by another album, “Ursa Minor,” about nine months after the release of “Ursa Major,” Fredianelli said. As far as touring goes, Fredianelli said the band is trying to bring a lot of new music to the fans.
“If you come to the show you are going to get some old stuff, but you’re going to get a lot of new stuff so you can kind of dig where we’re going to,” Fredianelli said. “The main deal of the whole tour is to kind of prepare everybody, even ourselves, for the record that is to come and the touring that is to come.”
Fredianelli said the band is excited to be playing new music and getting back into the business as a producing band, rather than playing the same music that they have been for years.
“We’re taking a bite back of the apple and coming back into consciousness of people and society in general. We’ve been hibernating like a bear and he’s coming out from winter ready to rock,” Fredianelli said.
Another way Third Eye Blind is reaching out to what Fredianelli calls their “true fan base” of college kids, is by creating a Web site, thirdeyeblind.com, to serve as a social networking site.
“We’re all pretty stoked and involved in it,” Fredianelli said. “It’s like most of your social networking sites, you’ve got your chat rooms, you have your merchandise sections and blogging. I think our fans have really been enjoying that they have a place to go.”
Fredianelli said he is amazed at how the band’s fan base has remained the same throughout their many years on the music scene. When they first started out with the 1997 release of their self-titled album, their fan-base was people between 16 and 24 years old, and he said that remains true today.
While the band is returning to their alternative roots, Fredianelli is returning to his roots as a solo artist. He plans to release a solo album after the two Third Eye Blind records come out.
“It’s going to be a proper record with guests and some other bands that I know. It’s going to be a half instrumental and half singing record,” he said. “We’re a little before that time, right now I’m just focused on Third Eye Blind.”
Molly Gray can be reached at [email protected].
