Well, they almost got here . . . 3 Doors Down
A trio of guys from Escatawpa, Miss. -- Brad Arnold, Todd Harrell and Matt Roberts -- started playing together in the early 1990s. They became 3 Doors Down -- a name they got from a broken sign they saw when they were roaming around Foley, Ala., on an early tour.
Soon after, Chris Henderson, also from Escatawpa, brought his guitar skills to the group. Their current fiercely talented drummer, Greg Upchurch, is the ltest in a series hired to free Brad Arnold, originally the drummer as well as lead singer, from his traps and put him in front of the band.
Their humble origins and loyalty to their hometown, to which they still have ties, are unexpected in Supergroup-land, which is where their sales put them: 18 million albums sold, six No. 1 singles, their new album debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard charts and moving 150,000 copies the first week. Whether you're a fan or not, they are the real thing: musicians first, committed to each other and to the body of work they've produced.
Naming the album
The new album, their fourth, is self-titled, an unusual choice this far down the road. Why did they call it
"3 Doors Down"?
Guitarist Chris Henderson said in an interview this week, "We just felt it was a good cross-section of what this band was about. We had put our heart and soul into each of these records and named them other crap, so it was time."
The new album is diverse: The songs represent the whole range of their history together, from the stripped-down, almost-blues simplicity of Truck evoking their first album "The Better Life " to lyrical ballads reminiscent of "17 Days."
The band doesn't seem subject to the usual battles of personality. Henderson's been playing and touring with
3 Doors Down for 10 years: " It was so long ago. It was the only band in town, so it was the obvious thing to do. I've known these guys all my life. If were not friends by now we never were and we never will be."
Not just an average band
Now Henderson is 38, and the other guys are around that age as well, with families. But does a rock band ever grow up?
"Oh yeah, " Henderson said. "We were never that band anyways; we never got accused of being just punks. Its always about the music for us. ... But of course that's one of the coolest things about being in a rock band, right? That you don't have to grow up."
But the band has been pretty grown up for a few years: In 2002 they started the Better Life Foundation, which benefits causes in their home region.
"It's our foundation, we do pretty much everything," Henderson said. "We take a dollar from every ticket sold, that goes to the foundation. All year we collect stuff from other bands we tour with to sell at the auction, and then we do the concert. And every dollar we raise there goes right to the charities. It benefits women's and childrens' charities, you know, the ones that fall through the cracks."
Henderson recounts the story of how it started: "We did a show for another charity, and we saw how much money we raised but then we saw how the organizers lined their pockets ... so we decided to do our own. And then Hurricane Katrina happened; we geared it to that for two years, like we bought a fire truck and safety equipment for the city of Waveland, La. They lost all theirs in the hurricane ... lots of things."
Last year the Foundation raised $200,000 at the annual concert in Biloxi, Miss.
Writing the songs
So how does a hard-touring band like 3 Doors Down get any songwriting done? They take time off for it.
"We had a whole year off and we went to write, " Henderson said. "We rented a house [in Nashville] and wrote the record in that house, and then rented another [in Orlando, Fla.] and recorded it. We lived together and recorded the album in this house. It took seven months for the whole process."
It's a process they're all in on, though Arnold is the guy who writes the words. How does a song get written?
"All different ways, no real rhyme or reason to it. It starts with music sometimes, sometimes lyrics, sometimes a tune, sometimes a rhythm. And they never end up the same as when they start. "
What's ahead for the band?
Henderson says, " We'll tour. We'll tour til there's no more singles to release, we'll do Europe and America, and then we'll stop and write a new album. That's kind of what you do in this business, you just keep truckin' along."
Posted by: ann klefstad on 7/30/2008 at 2:54 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
How to get your film out there: Ali Selim on mnartists.org
The arts website mnartists.org has an article by Ali Selim, the acclaimed director of "Sweet Land," on how you as a filmmaker can get your film seen. It's stellar, and comes with a host of links to useful sites for filmmakers. See it here. 
Posted by: ann klefstad on 7/01/2008 at 9:04 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Call for poems: Deadline July 11
The Lake Superior Writers group is doing another book in collaboration with the Northern Printmakers Alliance (they have done a couple previous ones). The title of this one will be "Trail Guide." How can you participate? Check out the prints on the website of Lake Superior Writers under the "Contest" heading (there are many, and they're really lovely and diverse--only a few are represented here).
Write a poem in response to one or more of the prints. Or if you have one that suits, use that. Then join Lake Superior Writers (how? check the website).
Posted by: ann klefstad on 6/23/2008 at 12:13 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Sneak Peek! and a call for talent
The Duluth Playhouse has released a list of productions for next season: "Don't Dress for Dinner" by Marc Camoletti; "It's a Wonderful Life" by James W. Rodgers; "Steel Magnolias" by Robert Harling; "The Full Monty" by Terrance McNally/David Yazbek; "Doubt, A Parable" by John Patrick Shanley; "Beauty and the Beast" by Wolverton/Menken/Ashman/Rice.
Sound like fun? They also need directors and set, sound, lighting, and costume designers for these shows.
Contact Christine Seitz at 733-7551.
Posted by: ann klefstad on 6/19/2008 at 5:01 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
MnSpin: a contest for musicians: deadline July 7
glorious monster
mnartists.org sponsors MnSpin, a quarterly music contest for Minnesota musicians. Winning tracks from each round of the contest are selected by a different panel of judges from within the music industry, and each week a three-song playlist from the winning submissions will be featured on the mnartists.org and Summit Brewery websites. Quarterly live music showcases will take place at area venues and a compilation CD of music from the yearlong contest is planned. 
ben connolly
The current three winners--Round Two victors-- are all TC-area players: Glorious Monster, Ben Connelly, and Josiah Wordsworth. These diverse folks put out sounds ranging from electronica to grunge. But hey--they're all from the Twin Cities, and they're all guys. How about Duluth women do something about this? 
josiah wordsworth
For the current round--round 3--the judges are all women: Andrea Myers, music editor at "City Pages", Pushkar Ohja, music director at Radio K, Melisa Riviere, a hip-hop producer and talent manager who's studying for her PhD in anthropology at the U of M, and Rachel Joyce, aka DJ Nite Nurse on KFAI radio and assistant director of public relations for the Walker Art Center.
So get yer music to these women by July 7: any and all types of music accepted; only three tracks per musician will be accepted for review. Tracks can be uploaded onto your artist page on mnartists.org (and this will get you to make that page, right?) and then you send a URL of the page by email to mnspin@mnartists.org You must be a member of mnartists to submit your work; it's easy to join. Go to mnartists.org and click on "join." For assistance with registration or uploading tracks, email info@walkerart.org or call 612-375-7611.
Posted by: ann klefstad on 6/17/2008 at 5:21 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
