” I want something else to get me through this semi-charmed kind of life…” – I was sure that Third Eye Blind had written other songs so I downloaded their Best Of.
" I want something else to get me through this semi-charmed kind of life…" – I was sure that Third Eye Blind had written other songs so I downloaded their Best Of. Turns out they had, but none of the songs were quite so catchy. That "doo doo doo, doo do-do doo" refrain remains pretty much one of the most famous non-verbal vocal riffs of the ’90s, and Stephan Jenkins’ spoke to Beat about reforming the band after a long break, the astrological and mystical meanings behind his band and his albums and other enlightening things, proving he’s much more than just the man behind the catchy riff.
Speaking cheerfully down the phone from San Francisco, his home, Stephan Jenkins, the vocalist and main man of Third Eye Blind has had a pretty productive summer. "I went surfing, wrote 24 songs in Bali for the summer and we just recorded a bunch of demos about to record a new album," he muses casually. That’s a very productive summer holiday. "Certainly Bali does help things flow a little bit," he explains.
Third Eye Blind officially reformed in 2008, after a long but not entirely useless hiatus. "In ’07 we had a 10 year anniversary and we did a show and all of these people came, the show sold out really fast, and the audience was very young, like 15-25 year olds," Jenkins beams, proud of the ongoing fan attention that his band has received years after their big hit. "It was just such a positive thing… it just gave me this kind of confidence that people really got… the feeling that Third Eye Blind was interested in evoking."
What kind of feeling is that, exactly? Jenkins suddenly becomes very deep and meaningful. "God, I wouldn’t be able to even say that in words; I wouldn’t even try. But it’s like… (he struggles for words) Let’s see, how will I put this? There’s something kind of erotic but also immediate, something that I think provokes, and has kind of a rebellious quality. That’s my best try at it. The process of that is to foster connections with people that they find themselves and they find each other through it. That’s exactly what it is."
Sure. Jenkins is adorably, unashamedly proud of his band’s success, and has no trouble convincing me that Third Eye Blind are definitely more than just one song. He doesn’t bring the song up once and subtly pushes the point that after many years and many shows, his fan base are dedicated and obsessive, proving the broader success that Third Eye Blind have achieved.
"If we were to release that first album now I feel that it would be really relevant, and I’m really proud of feeling that way, whether that’s true or not," he claims," super-sure that his mid-’90s rock fits right in to the current musical climate. "I feel like Third Eye Blind is relevant now, and that’s a very real thing," he goes on.
"We just did a show for 12,000 people two nights ago in Baltimore and that audience were young, they’re kids, and they’re doing all the things that I was doing when I was 17. So I have no interest whatsoever in nostalgia, I’m interested in what’s happening now and I want to keep our music alive. I guess that’s why I didn’t go out to do a solo project because I want to keep Third Eye Blind’s music alive, and as long as it feels relevant to me I want to continue to share it with people.
"A lot of kids were two-year-olds when we put out our first record, which doesn’t make any sense," he muses, "but that we get to share that [with them] now is great. We put out a lot of new music, and we didn’t put out this album out in Australia but in the ‘States it made number one, which is the highest that we’ve ever had."
In testament to the deeply ’90s aesthetic that Jenkins and his music seem to embody, he explains that in his time off from the band he did some film scoring and also produced for another memorable, if not terribly overplayed ’90s star… "I produced a couple of albums for Vanessa Carlton… I produced two albums with her, and built the studio. And I did some touring… is that enough?" he laughs. But for Jenkins, writing is really the most important thing and obviously a huge part of his life. Over ten years, it’s interesting to see if someone’s writing process drastically changes. But when Jenkins talks about writing, he gets a bit worked up and a little scattered.
"I don’t know because I never understood my writing process," he murmurs. "I’m useless at it. I know I’m looking for a transcendent state. And then I want to create lyrics that are evocative that amplify that musical state. That’s essentially what I’m trying to do as a writer.
"But things change over time and I think the last album is more overtly political… usually toward more interior politics. I don’t know what it would be on this album. It’s just not an intellectual process for me at all," he finishes, leaving me a little confused, but aware of his passion, I suppose.
Another fact you might not know about Third Eye Blind: their albums Red Star, Ursa Minor and Ursa Major all relate to astronomy but don’t particularly represent Jenkins’ interest in the science of the sky – more astrology, the mythology of the sky. "I like the idea of the night sky and the way you gather around it and you use very specific things to talk to it; things that you can’t understand," he says mystically.
"So it (the love for the idea of astrology) was stories and narratives and accounting for things that you cant really account for. It’s all of those things that make me like looking at the night sky."
He’s a mystical fellow, I guess. You’ve probably got to be a bit mystical if you’ve magically transported yourself from the ’90s into 2011 without even noticing.
THIRD EYE BLIND play the massive SOUNDWAVE festival at Melbourne Showgrounds on Friday March 4 alongside Iron Maiden, Slayer, Queens Of The Stone Age, Stone Sour, Slash, Rob Zombie and heaps more. It’s sold out. However they also play a Sidewave with The Rocket Summer at The East Brunswick Club on Wednesday March 2 – tickets from 9388 9794, The Corner box office or eastbrunswickclub.com. Now, go buy Semi-Charmed Life on iTunes.
