Third Eye Blind Biography

Third Eye Blind (frequently abbreviated 3eb) is an alternative rock band formed in the early 1990s in San Francisco. The original members were Stephan Jenkins (singer, song writer, electric guitar), Kevin Cadogan (guitar), Brad Hargreaves (drums), and Arion Salazar (bass guitar). The band's line-up changed shortly after the release of their second album Blue — at which point guitarist Kevin Cadogan was released from the band under circumstances that still elicit controversy among fans. More recently, bassist Arion Salazar has not been playing with the band and his future with Third Eye Blind is unclear [1]. Third Eye Blind's current line-up is Stephan Jenkins (vocals, electric guitar), Leo Kremer (bass guitar), Brad Hargreaves (drums), and Tony Fredianelli (electric guitar). For a time the band also featured future Smash Mouth drummer Michael Urbano.

Third Eye Blind recorded their first demo in 1993. In 1996, the band landed an opening gig for Oasis (band). The legend goes that Third Eye Blind was warned that the crowd might throw food at them. As it turned out, however, they were asked out for an encore even after Oasis had already played, bringing Liam Gallagher to tears and sparking the friendly rivalry that would form between the two bands. The band was paid double what they were promised for the gig. Afterwards, the band found themselves in a bidding war among record labels, in which they settled on Elektra because they believed it offered the most artistic freedom. Stephan Jenkins' outspoken behavior after signing the deal earned him the title of "the biggest mouth in music" by many critics. Stephan has spoken out many times against several different artists, including a heated feud with Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty.

An EP, "Symphony of Decay", has also been completed. The band reportedly has a contractual obligation to deliver the EP and has leaked several tracks to fans. The leaked tracks are a full-accompaniment version of "My Time in Exile," the stripped down song that played on the menu of the DVD included with their third album, as well as two very different and instrumental songs, "Knife in the Water" and "Animal." Also included on this EP is the full version of an instrumental song from "Blue", titled "Slow Motion." This has been available online since "Blue" was released because of its inclusion on international versions of "Blue". "Carnival Barker," a seven-minute instrumental, which is also a track off of the EP, was released on the band's MySpace page.

A common misconception is that the name of the band is a euphemism for penis. However, Stephan Jenkins indicated during a radio station interview that the band's name came from the metaphysical idea of a mind's eye, a topic of a book he had read. The other group members liked it and chose it as the band's name. In the past, Stephan has also joked about a Ouija board and vodka being the sources of the name. In Finnish, "Third Eye" means "asshole", although it is not necessarily offensive. In some Finnish jokes, it is considered "the blind eye".

Third Eye Blind played a halftime show and a post-game concert in Las Vegas at ArenaBowl 20. They did this without Arion Salazar, their bassist. He was absent due to personal reasons.

The lyrics for the song "Slow Motion" from Blue originally were: "Slow motion in the ghetto", and were later changed to "slow motion see me let go".

Third Eye Blind's song "Horror Show" was featured on the 1999 movie, Varsity Blues and the song was also featured on the film's soundtrack.

Lead singer Stephan Jenkins lives with his girlfriend, pop-music singer Vanessa Carlton in San Francisco.

The album Out of the Vein was originally going to be called Crystal Baller, named after a track on the album.