Third Eye Blind and St. Lucia

Prior to forming Third Eye Blind, musician Stephen Jenkins had become popular around the San Francisco area following a series of solo shows. After deciding to expand his sound with a band, by 1995 the singer was joined by former-Fungo Mungo bassist Arion Salazar, former student of Joe Satriani Kevin Cadogan, and former-Counting Crows drummer Brad Hargreaves. In the wake of burgeoning late ’90’s post-grunge scene, Third Eye Blind's music drew greater influence from the classic rock/pop of the 1980s, with Jenkins gaining significant attention for producing The Braids’ cover of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

By this point the band had developed a devoted following across San Francisco for a series of well-received shows and a 14-track demo tape. Following a pined-over slot opening for Oasis in 1996, and a band showcase in Los Angeles, California, Third Eye Blind signed with Sylvia Rhone of Elektra Records.

The group’s debut full-length “Third Eye Blind” was issued in 1997 peaking at No. 25 on the Billboard 200. Aided by three Top 10 Singles, “Semi-Charmed Life”, “Jumper”, and “How’s It Going to Be”, the album earned strong reviews and has been certified 6x Platinum. As a result, Third Eye Blind became one of the most popular U.S. rock bands of the tail-end of the millennium, and opened a number of shows on U2’s PopMart Tour.

Third Blind Eye released their sophomore album “Blue” two years later in 1999. Despite failing to reach the success of its predecessor, “Blue” was deemed the band’s strongest release by fans and eventually sold over 1.25 million. The album spawned the singles “Anything”, “Never Let You Go”, and “10 Days Late”, however shortly after the album’s release, writer and guitarist Kevin Cadogan left the group. Following a worldwide tour, the band took a hiatus from recording and performing, and built a recording studio in anticipation of subsequent releases.

The full-length “Out of the Vein” arrived in 2003, however due to Elektra Records’ merger with Atlantic Records, the album received no promotion. Third Eye Blind were later dropped from Atlantic Records, and a serious case of writer’s block for Jenkins made any new material look unlikely. A compilation album entitled “A Collection” appeared in 2006, supported by extensive touring of past releases, along with the EP “Red Star” in 2008. The group’s long-awaited fourth full-length album “Ursa Major” finally arrived in 2009, topping the Billboard Rock, Alternative, and Digital Albums charts.

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Grobler’s first taste of music came when he performed and travelled internationally with the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir. Since leaving the choir Grobler attending music school in Liverpool, England before settling in New York, U.S.

St. Lucia’s initial attempts at making music were strongly influenced by the likes of Boyz II Men, Michael Jackson and Phil Collins, however experimented with alternative and rock music in his later years wanting to create something big and bombastic, but has since returned to his eighties pop roots, with a combination electronic and acoustic instruments.

In 2012 St. Lucia signed to the label Neon Gold Records home to such artists as Gotye and Ellie Goulding and often credited with the discovery of Vampire Weekend and Lana Del Ray. Once signed Neon Gold re-released St. Lucia’s self-titled EP, which he previously had released independently. The EP had unintentional themes of loss that Grobler only realised after its completion, the eventual six-track EP was narrowed down from about 50 songs.

Grobler’s first full-length LP entitled “When the Night” was released in October 2013 and St. Lucia described as “an artist who has sharpened his knives, payed homage to his genre’s past, and created songs that are uniquely and rapturously his own”. Where his previous attempts lacked cohesion, the full-length, guides the listener through an exotic mix of unabashed indie-pop and synth-pop to a cohesive whole.

St. Lucia’s live performances have included a number of fellow musicians from Nick Brown, Patricia Beranek Ross Clark, and support slots for Two Door Cinema Club. Grobler has also shown a rather apt hand at remixing, for the likes of Foster The People, Charli XCS and fellow label-mates Passion Pit.