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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.
If you are like me and hit middle school in the 00's, Third Eye Blind was probably your soundtrack to every road trip and every heartbreak. Most days, I can hardly get through all of “Out of the Vein” without breaking into a nostalgic episode—so you can imagine how I felt seeing them live during the summer of 2013, front row at Yankee Stadium. If you’ve ever heard a Third Eye Blind song, (and who has lived through the 90’s and hasn’t heard “Jumper”?) you know that Stephen Jenkins is a lyrical genius - and I guess the rest of their fans agree, because you could hardly hear the band over the crowd, who knew just about every word to every song. I swear the whole crowd went airborne with excitement during the chorus of “How’s It Going To Be,” another TEB classic.
Third Eye Blind falls into place somewhere between pop and post-grunge, and I’ve yet to see another band that combines the two genres so successfully. Splaying energy and passion onto the stage in the heart of the field at Yankee Stadium on a warm, intoxicated night, the band brought back teenage-hood for hundreds of fans, who, like me, will likely never forget the moment.
St. Lucia front man Jean-Philip brings so much energy to his sets, you're going to have a hard time resisting all urges to jump up and boogie down to his sweet, vocals accompanied by a live band whose talent is on par with their leader. Sweet pop-synth sounds, voices that sound better than their recorded albums, and dancing all night long.. you can't ask for much more than that.
I've seen them a few times and each time their presence has grown larger and larger! Most recently, an intimate pre-album release party where they blew the roof off of the venue and treated the audience to some amazing new songs.
It's obvious that they put a ton of care and heart into their music so you will truly get what you came for. Do yourself a favor and go see them!