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MP3 Three Percent - Inflation
7 MP3 Songs
ROCK: 70''s Rock, ROCK: Jam-band
Details:
Ricky Ginsburg Percussion/vocals
Todd Rourke Bass Guitar/ Vocals
Dan Dronseiko Guitar/Vocals
Brian Horan Drums/ Vocals
Growing up more or less around the corner from one another in the middle class Boston suburb of Chelmsford, Ricky Ginsburg, Todd Rourke, Dan Dronseiko, and Brian Horan had no reason to suspect that as childhood ended and decision time came calling they''d find themselves thrown together into the most creatively fulfilling and challenging pursuit of their lives.
Three Percent, a band that came together around Ricky, Todd, Dan, and Brian''s mutual respect for each other''s musicianship as well as a collective desire to aggressively reach out to people with their music, may have initially evolved out of Ricky and Dan''s experiences playing together in high school bands, when the two of them were into punk, metal, and the harder side of rock.
But by the time the duo had returned to Chelmsford after a year of college in the summer of ''97, their musical horizons had expanded exponentially, and by the fall of that year they''d hooked up with two like-minded players, bassist Todd Rourke and drummer Brian Horan.
And out of those initial jam sessions grew a chemistry that was based on placing no limits on where they might head musically.
"We all were influenced by the Beatles, the Dead, and Phish," Ginsburg points out, "And I think that''s what put us over the edge.
Some of the guys might shy away from openly admitting that we''re part of any jam-band scene, but what really inspired me personally was when I went to my first Phish show and my first Dead show and saw all these bands doing it on such a large scale without the help of MTV or radio play.
I think all of us went to a big show that influenced us and inspired us to form this band.
We didn''t want to mess around: we were into how many people can be moved by all this." Like all good bands, though, Three Percent started off small, building an organic following through countless club gigs in and around Boston.
They opened for bands like Gruvis Malt, Acoustic Junction, Ominous Seapods, and even played a Ralph Nader Convention event at the FleetCenter.
They released a three song demo in the fall of ''99 and followed that up with a 10-song full-length tilted Cobblestone Interstate in 2000.
Local radio shows like WBCN''s Boston Emissions, and college stations like Emerson''s WERS helped spread the word, while Three Percent continued to develop as a band with no borders a foursome equally capable of writing a Beatlesque hook and of embarking on fluid extended jams.
"We''re a rock band, but we also do a little bit of funk and bluegrass," Ginsburg explains.
"We even do a little bit of trance. We don''t incorporate electronic elements but we do incorporate house beats, and our guitarist is pretty expansive. The result is something like disco meets funk meets trance and house in the format of a rock song. It''s upbeat, goodtime, danceable music. I mean, the way we looked at is is that there are a lot of jam bands that try to be good song writers. But I think we were good songwriters to begin with, who just happened to want to be expansive and to incorporate a lot of styles."
With five years of hard, yet enjoyable work under their belts, building the kind of trust and determination it takes to make the leap to the next level, Three Percent headed back into the studio to record a followup to Cobblestone Interstate.
The result, Inflation, is a fully realized document of four unique players operating at the top of their game, a disc that captures all of the elements that have made Three Percent such a consistently exciting live band.
"Call Before You Leap," the disc''s second track, is a refined, hook-laden testament to Three Percent''s songwriting skills, with it''s defined verse/chorus/verse structure, sharp edged guitars, and affecting lyrics that reveal Bassist, Todd Rourke''s deep romantic streak: "I work hard everyday/ Just so I can play/Leave me alone and I''ll just keep singing the song everyday in my own fantasy." On the other hand, "I Wonder If We''re Still Alive" opens things up for a full seven minutes that focuses less on individual showboating solos then on locking into a shifting danceable groove.
And "Caterpillar," the disc''s closing number, breaks all the rules by playfully marrying a countrified bluegrassy feel to a trancey refrain that gives guitarist Dan Dronseiko a chance to display his Robert Fripp-like talent for generating unique textures with his instrument.
Inflation may be the culmination of something special that started in a practice space in Chelmsford back in ''97, but it''s certainly not the end of the road for Three Percent.
If anything, it''s just another step along the way to moving the mass audiences that this music is clearly capable of reaching out to.
And it''s further proof that when the right group of players find one another and continue to challenge each other along the way, there''s no way to put a limit on what they''re capable of achieving.
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