GoW-Interview 2

GroovePlanet/Earwig: There's A Charm

Thanks to GroovePlanet/Earwig for this interview.

By: Marlene Goldman

Though their self-titled debut has catapulted Third Eye Blind into the limelight, the San Francisco-based foursome still adheres to the do-it-yourself indie rock credo that got them where they are in the first place. The band built a following with their enigmatic live set, fervently playing the Bay Area club scene during the past few years. Despite the strong local following, it would have been a long shot to predict their surge to the top of the charts. But the band's penchant for hook-heavy rhythms -- thanks to bassist Arion Salazar and drummer Brad Hargreaves -- has pushed their album into Billboard's Top 10, and produced three radio hits, "Semi-Charmed Life," "Graduate," and the latest, "How's It Going to Be?" Stephan Jenkins' blunt lyrics -- everything from drug addiction to relationships -- and his soulful singing also plant a distinctive stamp on the band's songs.

Earwig nabbed guitarist Kevin Cadogan before a hometown gig to talk about Third Eye Blind's leap into the mainstream and the honor of opening for U2 and the Rolling Stones.

The Big Stage

Earwig: So you guys have been busy touring around with U2 and the Rolling Stones. Is this some kind of dream of yours?
Kevin Cadogan: I still don't believe it. Even when I'm on stage, I need more proof. Doing it is not enough proof that it's actually happening to me.
EW: Did you guys get to make friends with U2?
Cadogan: They've been really cool, and they've been hanging around. Bono came down to the dressing room and brought a case of Guinness and champagne and taught us how to make Black Velvets which is, I guess, the drink that U2 prefers. They're very nice, they've been very good to us. Somehow, I don't expect Mick [Jagger] to come down to our dressing room and sit on the floor with us like Bono did.
EW: Is it the same fan base you started building in San Francisco who are coming to your shows here now?
Cadogan: I don't know. If those people come, there were only about 30 people or so that were there in the beginning, so those people were on our list anyway. So we expect a new crowd. I'm not really sure. We haven't been home in seven months. We've played Hartford, Conn. more times than we've played San Francisco. It doesn't make any sense to me. I'm still trying to figure it out. But it's great to be doing a show here finally.

Pop Stars?

EW: How have you been dealing with your surge in popularity?
Cadogan: I'm finding it's quite easy to cope with this kind of thing happening to you. It's all right. It's cool.
EW: Better than the other way I suppose.
Cadogan: Yeah, I've seen the dark side. So this is a lot better life.
EW: I read in one interview, Steve doesn't like being called "pop."
Cadogan: No one has ever called me a "pop star," so I have yet to deal with that. I have been called a rock star by my friends sarcastically, little tossers they are. But pop star -- I've never been called a pop star. If our music is popular, that's great. Everyone is welcome to the party.

The Charmed Life

EW: It's ironic that your songs are so huge and the music catchy, but the lyrics are darker. "Semi-Charmed Life" has a catchy hook but the lyrics are about drug addiction.
Cadogan: I think the people at Wal-Mart maybe wish they had been more attentive to the lyrics perhaps. I don't know. I think people get it for the most part. The lyrics are hard to read on the album, especially "Semi-Charmed Life" -- you have to turn the cd cover over and over. Very confusing.
EW: I heard that when you guys played Conan O'Brien they wanted you to change the lyrics to "Semi-Charmed Life."
Cadogan: Typical TV stuff. They wanted to change the lyrics "She goes down on me". I suggested, what do you want, "she goes to town with me?" How about that? They were cool with she goes to town with me; I guess that passed.
EW: Did you sing that?
Cadogan: We went back to the original, being the punks that we are.
EW: Did you get in trouble?
Cadogan: Yeah, Conan came over and scolded us. He said, you guys are really bad. (laughs)

The Dark Side

EW: What is "Narcolepsy" about?
Cadogan: "Narcolepsy" comes from some weird, bizarre sleep-crazed things that were happening to me a couple of years ago. It was actually kind of funny. I was waking up but not really waking up, and I was stuck in this paralyzed state, and I was sort of drowning, I felt like I was dying really. So this happened twice in a month's period. So I'm sitting there and I'm freaking out. I'm calling sleep disorder clinics. I didn't know whether I had a tumor on my brain, and I'm watching Dr. Dean Edell ... and some guy actually called up with the same thing. He was having post-sleep paralysis or something. It has to do with your mind, sometimes it wakes up before your body. I don't know. I wasn't really paying too much attention. He said, this could be a symptom of narcolepsy. You should get it checked out. I don't have narcolepsy, but I was just trying to describe this to Steve [Jenkins] and playing this guitar lick that came to me after this nightmare, and this song just kind of came out of that experience. Some people confuse that with necrophilia; that's a big difference there. I'm twisted but not that twisted. I don't have necrophilia. Is necrophilia something you can have? It's a lifestyle I think.
EW: The music industry is pumping out so many bands these days. Do you worry you'll be a one-album wonder?
Cadogan: Before, it was one-hit wonder. Now we have two or three hits and it's, "Well, they're a one-album wonder. Well, they're a two-album wonder. I'm living in the moment now. None of that stuff concerns me. I don't care. I'm just trying to have a good time right now. That's my job.
EW: Have you guys been writing on the road?
Cadogan: Yeah. I'm writing a lot. Steve and I both write a lot on the road. It's all crap but we write. (Laughs) No, it's not crap, I'm being sarcastic.
EW: Will your new material be as dark as some of the stuff in this album?
Cadogan: I don't think this album is dark. It's not self-pitying in any way. We're telling stories, but there's something -- people are uplifted by it. We don't wallow in despair or anything. We're not a sad-core band at all.
EW: What would you be doing if the band dissolved?
Cadogan: Swallowing lots of Prozac probably.

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