MUSIC A Door to the Past

Rock band 3 Doors Down is revisiting their 2002 album Away From The Sun on a tour set to visit Ohio.

BY ALAN SCULLEY

As a 40-plus-minute conversation in mid-May with 3 Doors

Down singer Brad Arnold wound down, he pondered a question about whether, after 25 years of major success, his band has any goals left to pursue.

“You know, I don’t feel like there’s anything that we’re chasing, but honestly, I never really have,” Arnold said.

“I say it jokingly, but I’ve never really made plans. I guess I’m a rock kicker.

I just kind of walk through life kicking rocks as I go.”

Then came a thought that was more profound.

“I told my mama not long ago and I told my wife the same thing, and I don’t mean it as dark in any way. I mean it as the brightest thing I can mean it as,” Arnold began. “I told both of them, if something happens to me tomorrow and just, I’m gone, let me tell you, I have lived like three lifetimes. In 45 years, I have lived three lifetimes. I’ve gotten to do stuff that people can’t imagine. I have been so blessed that if I don’t get to live another day, I am so thankful for the life I’ve gotten to live. Everything from here on is a bonus. And I’ve been in bonus room for a while now.”

Yes, the band that soared to multi-platinum popularity behind a debut album called The Better Life has pretty much lived the best life a rock band could want.

Twenty-three years after “Kryptonite,” the lead single from The Better Life, became a signature hit, 3 Doors Down are in the victory lap stage of their career, touring comfortably and marking anniversaries of musical milestones from a career that has produced six studio albums (four of which went platinum or better) as well as 13 top 10 mainstream rock singles, five of which topped that chart.

This summer, the band members — Arnold, guitarist Chris Henderson, drummer Greg Upchurch, guitarist Chet Roberts and bassist Justin Biltonen — are following up a 2021 tour on which they celebrated the 20-year anniversary of The Better Life by playing that seven-times platinum album in its entirety. This summer, the second 3 Doors Down album, Away From The Sun, (itself a quadruple-platinum hit) is getting a similar live treatment to mark its two-decade anniversary.

Arnold said the band learned a few things about how to structure a set list from doing the anniversary tour for The Better Life and those discoveries are influencing how 3 Doors Down are presenting the songs from Away From The Sun this summer.

“What we found during The Better Life tour is if you just play the album tracklist (in order), you kind of can wind up with a few dead spots in there that maybe some people that aren’t maybe as diehard of fans or weren’t around for the record and don’t know those deeper cuts, you start seeing people get a little bored in the crowd,” he said. “So about halfway through that Better Life tour we said, ‘All right, we’re going to play this whole record, but let’s pick a couple spots and sprinkle a song they know in there.’ So I think we’ll probably start out playing as many songs consecutively off of the (Away From The Sun) record as we can. But most of that record’s singles are kind of toward the beginning of the record. So as we get into the deeper cuts, we’ll sprinkle some hits (from other albums) in there, too, to keep everybody singing along and (hearing) songs that they know. We want to play the whole record, but we want to bring about the best show possible as well.”

Arnold still considers Away From The Sun one of his favorite 3 Doors Down albums, and he expects this summer’s tour will bring back fond memories — just as playing The Better Life album did on that previous tour.

Not surprisingly, becoming a popular band with The Better Life album and getting to tour across the U.S. and in countries around the world was a lifechanging and eye-opening experience for the band, which started out in the small Mississippi town of Escatawpa and had never toured before recording that first album.

“It was a lot for us,” said Arnold, noting he had just turned 21 when touring began. “And we went so many places on that first record that I think on Away From The Sun, in some ways I think we felt like veterans. But it had changed us a lot, going out there like that. I was saying it to somebody the other day, that I am so incredibly thankful that I had a good family — and I still have a good family — but that I had a good family with a good mama and daddy and good brothers and sisters that didn’t want anything for me but to be alright.”

What became particularly significant as writing began for Away From The Sun were the stories the band members heard from fans while on tour about how certain songs related to experiences from their lives. These stories flavored the mood of the band members and the lyrics that Arnold and his bandmates wrote for the second album.

“You meet so many people and when you start hearing so many of these worldly experiences, especially when you’re not a worldly guy from a little bitty town and you don’t know nothing about anything and you start hearing these experiences, you learn that there’s a lot of dark in the world,” Arnold said. “I think that stayed in our minds with us and I think a lot of the lyrics, at least, got written in that darkness I’d seen in the world and a lot of the darkness I felt in me.”

That’s not to suggest that writing and recording Away From The Sun was at all a depressing experience for 3 Doors Down.

In fact, even though 3 Doors Down were trying to follow up a hugely successful debut album, Arnold said he and his bandmates didn’t feel much pressure in making Away From The Sun, thanks to having written the song “When I’m Gone” while on tour promoting The Better Life

“Between our management and label, they had already heard it, and they were like ‘Yeah, that’s most likely going to be the first single off of the second record because that’s a good song,” Arnold said. “(We began writing) that record not knowing, but feeling like we already had one hit. So it took the pressure off of it.”

“When I’m Gone” became another No. 1 single for 3 Doors Down, and Away From The Sun later spawned a second chart-topper in “Here Without You,” solidifying the group’s place at the forefront of the mainstream rock scene.

Arnold remembers the tour to promote Away From The Sun as a great experience as well. The band played arenas and other large venues, stayed in nice hotels and had grown more confident as a live band. But the memory that sticks most involves the fans.

“We recorded a live Away From The Sun show over in Houston, and I’m so glad we did that so I can go back and watch it and really re-remember the passion of those crowds back then,” Arnold said. “That was a good time in music, it really was. That’s my favorite thing to look back on.”

3 Doors Down play the Rose Music Center at The Heights at 8 p.m. July 7. Info: rosemusiccenter.com.

Sound Advice

Jungle Brothers

June 30 • Woodward Theater

In the late ‘80s, hip-hop was still in its nascent phase. Acts like Run-D.M.C., Beastie Boys and Public Enemy had mainstreamed the genre, but in 1987, Jungle Brothers — DJ Sammy B, Mike Gee and Afrika Baby Bam — came along and infused house and jazz elements, thus creating a different sound. (You can dance to their music.) The Brothers recruited like-minded groups De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest to form collective Native Tongues, a way to pay homage to their African roots. Later on, Black Sheep and rappers Queen Latifah and Monie Love joined the Tongues. In 1989, they collaborated with Tribe’s Q-Tip and Love on the feel-good bumping single “Doin’ Our Own Dang.”

In 1988, Jungle Brothers released their first album, Straight Out The Jungle, on indie label Warlock Records. The titular song sampled Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s 1982 seminal hip-hop hit “The Message.” “I’ll House You” not only became a club hit, but it also became the first non-Chicago house music single to become a hit. The Marvin Gaye-inspired “What’s Going On” integrated horns, beats and samples. “Black Is Black” injected social commentary with lyrics like “My light complexion has no meaning/If you think so you’re still dreaming.”

Their sophomore follow-up, 1989’s major label Done By the Forces of Nature, included the track “Beyond This World,” which sampled 1983’s now-classic “White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It).”

The trio remained prolific through the ’90s and 2000s — they call themselves “the longest running hip-hop group in the world” — and in 2020 released Keep It Jungle. Today, hip-hop is quite different from its roots. But Jungle Brothers set the template for the golden era of hip-hop and deserve to have more credit for doing so. July marks the 35th anniversary of Straight Out the Jungle, so expect to hear many nostalgic songs and tributes to a bygone era. “Jungle Life 4 Ever,” indeed.

Jungle Brothers plays Woodward Theater at 8 p.m. June 30. Sons of Silverton will open the show. Info: woodwardtheater.com. (Garin Pirnia)

Annie D

July 7 • Southgate House Revival

A high-energy set of stellar indie pop songs is what you’ll experience at the Southgate House Revival on Friday, July 7. Annie D (AKA Ann Driscoll), along with bandmates and local legends Chris Robinson on guitar and vocals, Patrick Zopff on bass, Erin Williams on keyboards and Zach Larabee on drums will perform her rocking and catchy original songs in a manner that is powerful, polished and genuinely entertaining.

Annie D began her musical journey at the age of 7 with guitar lessons, and soon after started writing her own songs. Not long after, Annie D also began playing the bass, piano and drums. Then, at age 11, she got a Fostex 4-track tape recorder, and with her well-honed multi-instrumental abilities, began making demos of original music. The upright double bass played a big role in Annie D’s musical development. She took formal double bass lessons from Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra bassist Debbie Taylor and jazz legend Michael Scharfe and landed a position in the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra, where she would perform throughout her high school years.

Annie D has many musical influences. She was introduced to The Beatles by her parents and discovered Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots via her older brother. As time went on she developed an interest in a variety of artists. From Radiohead, Stevie Wonder, Fiona Apple and musical theater to Nine Inch Nails, The Knife and Beach House, Annie D over the years has drawn inspiration from just about every corner of the musical realm. But, Annie D has a voice all her own. Her music is singular, creative and instantly recognizable. This show is not to be missed.

Annie D, along with Daisychain and Jess Lamb & The Factory, plays the Southgate House Revival at 9 p.m. July 7. Info: southgatehouse.com. (Eric Bates)

Post Malone

July 9 • Riverbend Music Center

It’s safe to say that local Post Malone superfans shed a few tears when they heard the exciting news that he’s set to stop in Cincinnati for his tour, “If Y’all Weren’t Here, I’d be Crying.” It’s also safe to say that some eyes will water during the show at Riverbend Music Center on July 9.

Post Malone rose to stardom in 2016 with the release of his smash hit “White Iverson,” on which the singer-rapper croons comparisons between himself and hall-of-fame basketball player Allen Iverson. He immediately left a mark on the industry, owning his quirks and revealing his candidness before ever being accepted as an industry mainstay.

And the authenticity did him well — he’s since become an absolute machine. He’s released four albums and is approaching his fifth, titled AUSTIN, set to drop July 28, and has repeatedly demonstrated his musical versatility, blurring genre lines of pop, alternative and hip-hop with even a dash of country, thanks to his voice’s twangy shrills. Along the way, he has built an image in the music industry that is both vulnerable and relatable, endearing him to the masses with his music and heartfelt fan interactions.

The show will be a memorable one for those who managed to scoop up the hot tickets.

The vocalist tends to perform solo — a man and his microphone, occasionally bringing out a guitar for acoustic renditions of poignant songs, of which he has plenty. A catalogue as vast as Post Malone’s ensures that the mood won’t be sulky all night, however. He has plenty of kinetic hip-hop anthems showcasing agile flows and deliveries that float between emceeing and singing.

Post Malone’s bubbling, boyish energy will push the night along. He’s famous for letting loose on stage and permeating his present emotions through the venue. When it’s all said and done, the crowd will have witnessed — and maybe unfurled — a gamut of emotion and may need to gather some composure before calling it a night.

Post Malone plays Riverbend Music Center at 8 p.m. July 9. Info: riverbend.org.

(Killian Baarlaer)

The Association

July 14 • Ludlow Garage

The Association, a 1960s pop royalty group, is set to appear at Ludlow Garage in July.

Indicative of the sound of the sunnier side of the ‘60s FM radio dial, The Association released a string of hits that have stood the test of time and become oldies standards, earning Grammy and Golden Globe nominations along the way.

The band formed from get-togethers at legendary Los Angeles club The Troubadour in the early ‘60s before settling on what became the original lineup in 1965. They got a record deal in 1966 and their first hit came that year when founding (and still current) member Jules Alexander was hired to play on a demo session for songwriter Tandyn Almer that became the band’s breakthrough, the vibrant, punchy and endlessly catchy “Along Comes Mary.”

Their debut album, And Then…Along Comes the Association, released that same year, also featured the band’s first number one hit, “Cherish” which undoubtedly must have served as countless couples’ first dance. A second, less successful record was released a few months later titled Renaissance Insight Out, the group’s third album, features “Windy”, the effervescent and kinetic pop hit dripping with ‘60s-toned sunshine. With lines like, “Who’s bending down to give me a rainbow,” “smiling at everybody she sees” and talk of flying above the clouds, it’s no wonder the song connected in the summer of 1967, going to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and still carries a colorful, sunny appeal. The album also featured a variety of sounds and influences and, most notably, the delicately arranged and ethereal hit, “Never My Love,” which became the second-most played song on radio and television in the 20th century, according to Broadcast Music, Inc.

The band dissolved over the ‘70s before reforming in variations over time for select events and, later, touring in oldies package tours like the “Happy Together Tour” in the early ‘80s, that continues to this day. They were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Pop Music Hall of Fame in 2016.

The Association plays the Ludlow Garage at 8:30 p.m. July 14. Info: ludlowgaragecincinnati.com. (Brent Stroud)

Crossword

Across