Speaker 1: 0:43

Welcome back to another Super Awesome Mix. My name is Matt Siddholm, alongside my co-host and co-founder of Super Awesome Mix, Samer Abu-Sabi Samer. How are we doing this week?

Speaker 2: 0:52

Doing real well. How are you doing, Matt?

Speaker 1: 0:56

Doing great, doing great. I'm very excited for the mix this week. You know we're doing three episodes this December and this is the first of them to finish out the year strong and you know I was really excited about this one. This is an intro mix and this is one of your favorite favorite bands maybe your favorite band, um, but but who are we going to talk about today, sammer?

Speaker 2: 1:22

we are going to talk about third eye blind today and, yeah, you know, I was wondering, not wondering, I was thinking on whether or not they are my all-time favorite band. They're certainly like a top 10. Um, and if you are a longtime listener, all the way from the beginning, third Eye Blind was actually on my Desert Island mix. In fact, one of the songs that we will talk about it was on that mix, the episode that started it all. So, yeah, third Eye Blind has definitely been a large part of my life and I imagine, if you are a millennial aged or older, it's also been a part of yours, because they are one of the like quintessential 90s bands I believe that came out of like 90s music. So, and they have survived the test of time, they're still going, matt, they're still going.

Speaker 1: 2:09

Yeah, for sure, and I know, for me, like they kind of emerged when I was in college, but I mean, they were massive and everybody knew of them, but you know, they weren't just a one hit wonder even then, right, right, and so they've never, I think, been thought of that way. But you're right, like they still continue to make music and I think we have certainly promoted them quite a bit on this show because you're because of your love of the band, but I don't know if everybody has kept up with their more recent stuff. So I think it's going to be really cool for um 90s music fans to kind of kind of see the evolution of this band. So, um, all right, so this is your mix. I'm going to introduce every track. I'm not going to say by third eye blind after every track, because well, they're all by third eye blind, so I will just introduce the name. So we will start off with track one. It is Narcolepsy.

Speaker 2: 3:00

Yes, so Narcolepsy off of the album Third Eye Blind, which is their debut album 1997. The band actually formed in 93 from San Francisco, california. They signed their first record deal in 96. Then it was primarily Stephen Jenkins and Kevin Cadigan and the band has like rotated a number of band members through the years, but Stephen Jenkins is certainly one that is a through line. The entire way through he's the lead vocal, so his voice has always been kind of the iconic sound, in my opinion, of Third Eye Blind and a lot of the subject matter of what he sings about also is like another through line. I feel like this guy, you know he deals with a lot of relationship problems and just like a lot of a lot of struggles that I think many of us can relate to.

Speaker 2: 3:48

And this first song, narcolepsy, is the one that was on my Desert Island mix. It's my all time, one of my all time favorite songs, certainly to make it on the mixtape, which I would still put it on that mixtape if I remade that episode. This would still be on there. So you know, just a great, great debut album. It was really difficult for me to basically not just have all 12 songs be that album because there are so many good tracks off of it. I think it's probably one of the best debut albums of a band, maybe ever, in terms of just like capturing a sound and just being really good the whole way through, the entire way.

Speaker 2: 4:22

You know, narcolepsy here is like the subject matter is actually about something known as sleep paralysis, where you, your mind, wakes up but your body doesn't, and people report, basically seeing like demons, you know, and just really scary stuff. Basically because you're in that like mix between kind of being awake and being asleep. It's something that I suffered from for a time period in my life and I can safely say it is terrifying. I mention all of that because what Cadigan wrote about the song is that he's, you know he's explaining what it's about and then he says this line Stephen grew up in Palo Alto.

Speaker 2: 4:57

None of us were deeply disturbed, so the album is not necessarily autobiographical. So I love the kind of the reality here of just them being like look, he grew up in Palo Alto, right, like that's like an affluent neighborhood in America. So you know we're not hitting really hard topics here and I only mention that because throughout all of these songs it is again just kind of relationship issues, like you know, very universal, nothing really deeper than that. Not that relationship problems aren't deep, but you know you're not talking about like growing up with like a deadbeat father or dealing with drugs or loss or violence or anything like that. It's for the most part just like oh no, she hurt me.

Speaker 1: 5:46

Yeah, yeah, you know, generally the nightmares are like they ran out of cocktail sauce at the raw bar. You know that's a tough night in Palo Alto. I feel like yeah.

Speaker 2: 5:57

I mean, you don't come back from that one easily you don't, you don't know.

Speaker 1: 6:01

I mean, and that's where, that's where you really got to question the country club management. But that's for another day that we'll push back on that. But yeah, you're right, this album, uh, this debut album, it's up there. I I kind of put three albums in this category. There was cracked rear view by hootie and the blowfish, jagged Little Pill by Atlantis Morissette and then Third Eye Blind. And I just remember in late high school, early college, all those albums came out for me and it felt like half the album, like they just kept coming out with singles.

Speaker 1: 6:31

And the singles were just on the radio all the time and so, yeah, I mean, you probably heard. You know, if you go back and listen to this album, you've probably heard all the songs in some way shape or form. Um, so, yeah, I imagine it was pretty difficult. You did not. I mean not to kind of little spoiler alert here on the rest of the mix, but you didn't pick semi-charm life, which is by far their, like, most massive hit. Was there a particular reason you? You kind of steered away from that one?

Speaker 2: 6:56

Yeah, I didn't include them on purpose because, exactly what you said, it's their most popular song by far. I think this album in general actually was certified platinum six times. Overall They've sold 12 million records, I think, something like that over their lifetime. I mean, this is a very successful band by a lot of measures, right, but Semi-Charmed Life was certainly the one that got the most radio play, continues to get a lot of radio plays. Probably the most recognizable song of theirs, um, which is why I didn't put it on here, because you've heard it already. I try to go a little bit deeper than that, although obviously not much deeper um, with some of these, but um, I didn't want to include that one because, again, you know only 12 slots, 12 slots and you've heard it. I'm certain you've heard it.

Speaker 1: 7:40

Yes, for sure, people have heard it, and they've also heard this next one. Track two is how's it going to be?

Speaker 2: 7:46

Yeah, exactly Another, another big one that continues, I would say, to get a lot of play and is very familiar. But again, you know, this one's about a relationship I mean, you're going to hear me say that a lot and this one is, in particular, about kind of looking at someone, as he said. Looking at someone and realizing like, yes, you're in a relationship today, but you're you kind of you see the writing on the wall, one day you're just going to be acquaintances and you know, I think, again, it's very relatable. Sometimes you're in those relationships and you're just like this, this, just this just doesn't have legs, like this isn't going to go the whole way.

Speaker 2: 8:15

Um, and I just really, for me, like I love this song because it's those opening chords are just iconic, like they immediately pull you back to the 90s, for me, like they're just a time capsule and just those opening notes. So, um, really want to include this one because it was a favorite of mine off of this album and one that I come back to time and time again. So, just another great song off of this incredible debut album.

Speaker 1: 8:39

It is, and I think it captures something that is pretty universal, because I think most people have been dating someone and it's like you're talking every day but part of you knows like this isn't really going anywhere, but that person is such a part of your life for that time and I think it's just an interesting exploration here of that time when they are not part of your life and that question of how's it going to be. So it's unique in that sense because I really can't think of another song that kind of delves into that, at least one that's as popular, as popular as this one. So, and I don't know if everyone captures that meaning necessarily when they listen to this, because it is just kind of a catchy song yes you said, the opening chords kind of suck you in, but it's uh, I I think lyrically it's really well done.

Speaker 1: 9:31

Um, all right, track three. This is the last track off the debut album. You picked motorcycle drive-by yeah.

Speaker 2: 9:38

So this was, you know, going back to when this was around, um, napster was like a very popular way to get music and so I, you know, and I was like young, I didn't really have dollars to go and buy an album. So I heard a lot of those other third eye blind songs from the radio and a combination of napster, but I never heard this one for like a long time in my life. So this came to me later, when I was like college age, because someone who had the album played it. I was like, oh my god, I love this song. Like it's again just, you know, super moody.

Speaker 2: 10:07

It's just has this kind of like mellow sound, is more about breakups and but the thing that really stuck with me all through the years is I've loved the line that he sings.

Speaker 2: 10:17

I've never been so alone and I've never been so alive.

Speaker 2: 10:20

And I love that because I do think again like there's that arc in a relationship breakup where you kind of realize like you're alone but you kind of have that spark of hope like it's going to be okay and you probably still have some bad days ahead of you and you're probably still again just going to feel alone and crummy.

Speaker 2: 10:39

But there is like a part of you that's just like wow, yeah, like I've got a lot of opportunity ahead of me, like I feel alive, like it turns this like part of you on. And you see that in a lot of people who go through like bad breakups, like all of a sudden they're like backpacking through South America or, you know, like getting four tattoos. Like you, just something turns on right in you that makes you go and do these things. So I think that this song is just like a beautiful capture of that and, again, I just have always loved that line and the way that he sings it and the story being told here, because I do think, again, it's like a really nice story start to finish that we can all kind of plug into.

Speaker 1: 11:18

Yeah, I had kind of forgotten about this song and I'm with you Like I love, I love this song, this, this might have been my favorite one on the whole, the whole mix, but yeah, it's a great one.

Speaker 1: 11:29

The other thing that stood out to me is that it sounds and you see, this with bands a lot is, you see, the evolution of, like their first album is clearly songs that they had to write when they were limited with production value, right, and this is something that, like, if you picked up the guitar and you learned a few chords, you might be able to play the guitar on this one, right, you might be able to sing along. But I think the difference maker, like, so it's kind of like what makes a band like, go big versus not, and I think you touched on it at the top of the mix. But it's like Stephen Jenkins's voice, right, like that's the differentiator, because there's nothing real special about the guitar chords here, right, but it's like then his voice comes in and just everything he could do with his voice and the emotion and it's like, ok, that's that's why they became a big band.

Speaker 2: 12:46

Yeah, yeah. I think that that is a perfect summation of that.

Speaker 1: 12:51

So all right, Track four. You get into their second album here, and this was a pretty popular one too. This is never let you go.

Speaker 2: 12:58

Yeah. So second album 1999 is the year and we all know how much I love music from the year 1999. This is no exception. The album is called Blue and, yeah, I mean this is one of those ones that I think again kind of intros you to the idea of Third Eye Blind, that they do this really well, which is a very peppy song about a very sad thing, or like some kind of darker subject matter, right and semi-charmed life did that, did that very well too right, like that is a song that everyone is like, you know, do, do, do. Like everyone thinks it's like at first glance like super happy, like fun song, but then you're like, oh right, like this is about, like drug addiction, basically, you know well, even the title like semi-charmed light.

Speaker 1: 13:42

I'm sure so many people could describe their own life as like semi-charmed life. I'm sure so many people could describe their own life as like semi-charmed right, I don't have a charmed life, but semi-charmed right and it's like no, there's a darker meaning, right?

Speaker 2: 13:52

exactly, and so even the title here right, like to go to that, like never let you go. You might be like, oh, like that's like a really cute love song, but then but it's not. It's like him not being able to get over a relationship, right, like that girl is like a sunburn I would like to save, um, and like sunburns are uncomfortable, like no one wants to save a sunburn. But you know, it's this feeling of like oh, that breakup was awful, like she was not great, she's like a sunburn, but I still like can't let this person go. And again, super relatable. You know, we've all had those relationships where every like logically, you know that that person was bad for you, but yet you're still holding on and you can't let go. So I think that this does that very well. Again, I'm kind of being like at first blush you might be like oh, you know, nice love song, but then you're like no right, this is a breakup song about a bad breakup, um, and, and he delivers it in this kind of peppy and fun way.

Speaker 1: 14:46

And and one thing I've always loved about this song is just the spoken word part at the end you know, I remember the stupid things the mood rings, the bracelets and the beads like when he gets in all that. Yeah, they were almost like when I started listening through this. You know they were. I think they were the first kind of rock band to do this and you see it now with like an imagine, dragons, where it's like this sort of singing and rapping sort of yeah, that he does, because it's like he's got this amazing voice and he can.

Speaker 1: 15:15

He can do this very quickly and it almost sounds like like a rap, like if, if you put it in the hands of just a pure r&b rap group, like they might be able to pull it off, but like if, if you put it in the hands of just a pure r&b rap group, like they might be able to pull it off, but like he kind of does this in song. So, um, yeah, that kind of stuck out to me just because my kids love imagine dragons so much, so I listen to a lot of that now. But, um, yeah, this this was a great one and and this was, you know, coming off of that first album. I remember this being highly anticipated, when it was like, oh my God, we're getting new Third Eye Blind, you know, like this.

Speaker 2: 15:45

I can imagine.

Speaker 1: 15:46

Yeah, yeah, all right, track five this is Wounded.

Speaker 2: 15:52

Right. So still off the same album. This is a song that I heard many, many, many years later. I mean it probably was in the last five or 10 years that I heard it for the first time. Same I mean it probably was in the last five or 10 years that I heard it for the first time. Same reasoning you know I was only listening to music that was kind of on the radio and being talked about, so this one slipped my radar. But I really really like this song.

Speaker 2: 16:11

This one is a darker topic, you know. It's about a friend of his that was unfortunately sexually assaulted and just kind of like how that changed this person, like it would change anyone. You know this lack of being able to trust someone because you were hurt so deeply and, you know, gone through something very traumatic, and so this song like tackles that and just the sense of like someone being wounded and keeping them at an arm's distance and you want to help and you want to. You know like you yourself are not trying to do anything awful, but you understand that this person is very guarded because of that. So I just really really liked the song.

Speaker 2: 16:49

Again. I think it kind of shows that they have the ability to kind of go a little bit darker or just go darker with their subject matter and still deliver like a great song that is relatable to unfortunately relatable to many people in the audience. So I've also always loved the chorus and just kind of the fast drum play that goes with it. Just think it's a great alt rock song, like start to finish. So yeah, wanted to include this on the mix.

Speaker 1: 17:15

And this one, I think, matches like the subject matter and the tone match up, whereas we were just talking about Never Let you Go kind of tricks you a little bit because it's kind of poppy. And then it's like well, now this is a little darker here. It's like it's a sad topic and it sounds sad, but it's also there's a little bit of triumph there at the end and there's this kind of like trying to pull out of this situation, like emotional situation, and I love the line now it's time for the bully to be scared of us. Yeah, like there's that line where it's like the, the music's kind of swelling a little bit at one point. So, um, yeah, this was this, was, this was really well done. And um, yeah, I mean obviously they they talk about a lot of dysfunction and um, but this time it's, it's less tricked up than than maybe some of the other songs yeah it, it's a great line.

Speaker 2: 18:03

I love that one too.

Speaker 1: 18:06

All right. Track six it is Blinded parentheses when I See you.

Speaker 2: 18:11

Yes, so fast forward now, 2003. And here's where now, like the tipping point, it kind of works out perfectly as track six. For the rest of it, he dated Charlize Theron and I basically think he's never gotten over that since 2003. Um, look, I mean, I don't blame him. Yeah, no judgment. There's no judgment on judgment.

Speaker 2: 18:35

I mean I, yeah, price write down a few songs, sure it would probably take me a while to get over that too, if I had dated charlie starin at some point in my life that would also be tough for your next relationship to get over.

Speaker 1: 18:53

It's like you're talking about exes, right? I mean, I dated this actress for a while oh, anybody. I've heard of, uh, charlie theron, what she was doing, that movie monster at the time.

Speaker 2: 19:08

So she kind of had the makeup on all the time like she didn't, she didn't look great, that's awesome oh man, so yeah, so he they dated for three years, um, and then break up, and this song is one of the early results of that breakup.

Speaker 2: 19:26

So you know, blinded when I see you, right, like this is, I think, that feeling of kind of like seeing someone that you know used to be with, and then now you're kind of like blinded, I guess, in a way of just like it's hard to see this person. But again, let me take you back to when I was listening to it 2003 was in high school. This song to me was just a super peppy fun song, because that's what it sounds like immediately from the, from the jump, and I used to blast it all the time. I never listened to the lyrics, never paid attention to it, and it wasn't until many years later I was like, oh, got it, okay, this is basically just like, oh, like I used to be important in your life and now I'm not, and now it's like really hard to see you, but I used to just bop to it all the time. So here we are here we are here we are.

Speaker 1: 20:14

No, you know what came to mind when I listened to this is Hootie and the Blowfish has a song called I Go Blind.

Speaker 2: 20:21

Are you familiar with?

Speaker 1: 20:21

that song has a song called I Go Blind, are you?

Speaker 2: 20:22

familiar with that song. I'm sure I've heard it. But I'm not familiar with the title. I'm sure you've heard it it still gets radio play.

Speaker 1: 20:27

It's like the kindergarten version of this song, right, like it's a real. There's like five lyrics in it and it just kind of is real redundant, but people love it, right. And this is like the grown-up version of that song. It's like kind of a similar message, right. But when you get into the storytelling and everything here, it's like okay, this is what that song could have been if they had actually like kind of kept writing it and didn't want to just get into the top 10.

Speaker 2: 20:54

So anyway, that's awesome yeah.

Speaker 1: 20:56

I really liked this one and I love the storytelling in the song. It's really, it's really well done and, again, the cadence at which he's able to do things is so impressive. Yeah, agreed, he's such a fast speaker and if you're not, I get why you wouldn't pick up on the lyrics, because it's at such a pace that you may not hear it.

Speaker 2: 21:16

Yeah, he's really good at kind of masking it in that regard.

Speaker 1: 21:21

All right, track seven. This is the Tao of St paul all right.

Speaker 2: 21:25

So here's where there's, like now, major gaps and when they started to release music so that last album was off the album out of the vein again in 2003. Now six years went by before they released their next one. So it's 2009 and this is ursa major and, yeah, like I remember being really excited you know you mentioned about the 99, like the second album, I was really excited about this one because I, at this point, had just exhausted all those previous three albums that they released and I really wanted some new Third Eye Blind, so I was super excited to get this one and you know there's just so many tracks I love on this album. I picked this one because of the outro and this is now again. You know there's just so many tracks I love on this album. I picked this one because of the outro and this is now again going to. You'll see this a lot Like.

Speaker 2: 22:08

I think they have really amazing outros to songs that just make you kind of want to turn it up, lose yourself to it and you know they take you out of a song just so elegantly. Saw several memes recently that kind of made fun of like songs, I think, maybe from the 50s or 60s, where they would just fade the song out like they didn't even finish singing the song right, like the song would literally just fade out um, and you would continue to hear keep going right, be like going through the chorus again and then it would just sort of fade and it would just fade out.

Speaker 2: 22:36

There was no end and it was like basically our producers back then just didn't have any better ideas of how to end a song. This is not that I think like these are really cool endings to these songs. So anyway, other tracks that I've loved on this album include Water Landing, bonfire, sharp Knife, like just really really good stuff. But I just love again that. Yeah, you know, he says here at the end like I'll learn to sing evermore rejoice, evermore rejoice, and it's got this like really kind of choir ending and I just really love that. I love the sense of you know, yes, I've been through some pain, but I'm going to learn to sing evermore rejoice and trying to find that joy again. So that's why I picked this album or this song off of this album.

Speaker 1: 23:23

Yeah, I love this pick because it was such a departure from kind of what you're used to hearing from them, right. So they kind of mentioned St Paul in the beginning and it's not like a it's nota religious song, right Like even though the title's there, but then they have this kind of choir to it and this sort of like gospel feel and this sort of like triumphantness to it. So it's really kind of interesting because I'm like what, what do you? And there's, there's also this guitar solo in there that I'm like, yeah, did they switch guitarists?

Speaker 1: 23:52

like why is this now showing up like so prominently? Um, it was really just I just kind of a standout. It stood out to me on this mix because I was like you know, you talk about inflection points in a band, sort of evolution, and I was like, wow, what a what a change. But but definitely a positive change that they're able to do something like this and not just say we're going to make the same song we made in 1996.

Speaker 2: 24:15

Right, yes, and I do believe that by this point Cadigan had left and so they. They do move around a lot of the um different musicians and stuff again with stephen jenkins being that through line. So I'm certain, as you said, like that has an impact on what they're able to do it, um, sonically. So, yeah, the guitar solos start to like make a make themselves a, a presence in a lot of these as we go through. So, really cool all right track.

Speaker 2: 24:40

Eight, it is say it yeah, so, um, fast forward again. Another six years goes by and this album comes out. This is called dopamine. So it's the year 2015 now, so not a lot of production, right? Um, in 2003 to 2015, only two albums came out for a band that had been doing albums pretty regularly, uh, before then. So, um, big surprise here.

Speaker 2: 25:01

Another spoiler this is a breakup song and you're just kind of like it's like an argument that he's having with someone, right? And again, I believe it's another song about his breakup with Charlize Theron, because there's even a line in here of going back with that actress, and that's the actress that he's talking about. You know, there's like a point where a female vocal takes over and she's singing. Like you know what's the matter with you, or the tunes you want to do, you won't let anyone near, is it the critics you fear, blast them off, cut off your ear and keep it all in your head. And you know, just like again this kind of spoken word part where I think he's having this debate with himself of like just you know, I kind of want to get over this, but he can't, and so he's having this argument with someone and just basically saying, just say it, just say it.

Speaker 2: 25:48

So anyway, I think, like, so it's a really, really powerful song. I love the outro, you know. Again just gets louder and more intense and just kind of that yelling of just like, just say it, say what you mean. Say what you mean. So really powerful song here.

Speaker 1: 26:04

I agree, and this is the point where I wrote down. No one's better writing about dysfunctional relationships than these guys.

Speaker 2: 26:12

Yes exactly.

Speaker 1: 26:13

It's really pretty impressive because it's not just even a pure breakup song. It's almost like just this, like they're in this dysfunctional relationship. So it's not even like it's it's. I didn't even get the sense that it was necessarily over. It was more just like they keep running into the same problems but they haven't quite broken up yet. And and this idea of saying it, whether it's like I need you to tell me what you're really thinking, or can you tell me like something I think sometimes you want to hear something about yourself, but someone won't say it to you Right Like that too.

Speaker 1: 26:45

So I don't know. I just thought this was a really powerful song and also kind of longer for them. This is like a six and a half minute song, yeah, and it's got a little bit of you know, you talk about outros. It's got this interesting sort of reprieve at the end that almost kind of goes into like an EDM song, right, yeah, kind of goes into like an EDM song, right, yeah, exactly, I always wondered about that and I couldn't really find much on it, but it definitely.

Speaker 2: 27:09

It's one of those moments where, like when you're listening to this on a CD way back in the day, where you think like the track is over, the album's over, and then all of a sudden it comes back like that, that does this to you in this track here, yeah, the old hidden track. It's like no, no, no, don't hit next yet. Right, right, just let it play out. Yeah, no, that was always fun. All right, builds and builds Again. I think this becomes like a motif for them for a lot of their like recent stuff. But you know, because he's just singing the lines over and over, there's something in you I believe in and I think it's really great to just kind of crank that part and lose yourself in it. But for me, why? I've always like kind of come back to this one. I love the line where he sings these three verses here. So I felt my fingers inching towards you. Oh, so slow. We've got room to grow. We've got room to grow.

Speaker 2: 28:08

Now I want to find out all the things your chaos brings, and I just think that's such a powerful line to kind of sum up this idea of basically inviting someone into your life in a relationship capacity, because we are kind of like little beings of chaos, right, and if you, you know, you believe in the sense of kind of you can control yourself, you can never control other people, when you invite anyone into your life, you're basically inviting a form of chaos into your life, because you cannot have order over things you can't control. And so I love this idea of kind of summing up a relationship of like I want to find out all the things your chaos brings, so like what will happen to my life when you're a part of it, and I think that that's just a really cool and interesting way to think about bringing anyone into your life in any capacity, right, not just a relationship, it could be a friendship or getting a pet, you know, like they are little chaos beings, so it's it's a really or children, or children.

Speaker 1: 29:03

Yes, Absolutely little chaos, constant chaos with children.

Speaker 2: 29:08

Yes, so I really love that and, again, I think it speaks to their power of writing powerful songs.

Speaker 1: 29:15

I agree. Yeah, this one, you know, it seems like this is maybe the beginnings of a relationship and maybe things haven't gone awry necessarily, in spite of the implication of like chaos. But yeah, I mean, I wrote down the same like lyrics that you did, like those are the ones that sit out. I love the idea of like we got room to grow, because I do think that's something people always seek. Is that room to grow, whether you're in a job, whether you're in a relationship, whether like whatever it is to grow, whether you're in a job, whether you're in a relationship, whether like whatever it is, it's that opportunity to grow that, I think, attracts people, versus that. Okay, I've, I've done everything I can here. You know, that's kind of when people walk away from things a lot of times is when it becomes a little bit too much of the same and there's no further challenges. So I thought that was that was a really good thing to hit on at the beginning of this song. This song is about a beginning of a relationship, so I think it was really well done. All right.

Speaker 1: 30:09

Track 10. This is Queen of Daydreams.

Speaker 2: 30:13

So now, yes, so now we enter in a much more productive stage of the band and, in fact, there's another album around this time that they released that I did not include, so I'm just going to include the ones where I really kind of listened to them over and over. So this is an EP albums 2016. It's called we Are Drugs. This is, like, not my favorite, like part of like what they've done. You know, I feel like it was a little different, which is fine, but I really like this song and at least played this one over and over again.

Speaker 2: 30:41

Um, because two, two reasons. Number one I love the line you connect me to the atmosphere and what he's singing about. There is just this idea of like, kind of being with someone and they're looking at the clouds and they're daydreaming and imagining what all these things could be, and I really love, again, like that. That poetry of like you connect me to the atmosphere is is a really, really cool line of kind of just feeling like. You know you're bringing me into like this land of daydreams and how special that can be. And then, of course, love the bridge at the end and the ending chorus where he's singing over and over in your heart now can you feel it, and it just has this energy to it that I think is really just, you know, draws you in, basically, basically, and taboo has a great guitar solo to kind of take you out. So just a real solid entry here, but not my favorite of their albums, but certainly my favorite song off of this ep yeah, again kind of sort of another evolution of them and their sound.

Speaker 1: 31:39

But this one it was really interesting because I started listening to this and the backbeat sounds like a sped up version of never let you go, and I don't know if that was intentional or not, but I'm like, if they're sampling their own music, this is actually kind of cool to kind of like build another song off the same beat that they had created like 20 years prior.

Speaker 1: 32:02

But that's what I think immediately captured about, captured me about this one was I was like, oh, is this sort of a reprieve of Never Let you Go? But yeah, really, really cool and kind of a different tone to it as well. It's not like a breakup song necessarily, right, but yeah, you're right, this is. This is very different, almost like an edm track, kind of basing off of. You know, we saw a little flavor of that earlier at the end of say it, and now it's like you get this track and it's like, okay, this is. This band is definitely kind of evolving, which is cool and yeah, and a departure from what I was saying earlier on people's first albums, where it's like it's clearly you guys had a guitar and a drum kit and you were trying to write a song Right. Now it's like we've got all this production stuff, we can do whatever we want.

Speaker 2: 32:46

Absolutely. Yeah, I'm reminded of like Foo Fighters. Like Dave Grohl, you know, released his first album by doing all the parts himself, right, like recording everything. And then you look at it and the band has like 50 people in it. You know like there's yeah, there's a lot going on track 11 this is screamer featuring alexis krauss yeah, so this is their sixth studio album, um, also named screamer.

Speaker 2: 33:13

It was released in 2019. Um, alexis krauss is actually the singer from sleigh bells. Um, sleigh bells is an amazing noise pop band. Basically, like, they just produce noise. It just sounds great. One of my favorites. I listen to them a lot when I work because it's kind of easy to tune it out and just kind of get into the rhythm of it. Sleighbells also had a recent release that was on one of our new music mixes, I think like last year or the year before. So it was really cool that they got to do this collaboration together.

Speaker 2: 33:44

I think her voice works really well with his here and it's kind of fun to introduce a female vocal into the band. You know, it'd be great if he does more of that, because I think it works really well. But, yeah, what I really like here is you know, the song is just basically about kind of letting yourself loose and not being afraid to be who you are and kind of go after what you want. And, you know, just be a screamer, be loud. You know, I love the line I used to hold my tongue and not be rude, but I outgrew that, dude. I think that's great, for better or for worse, we are, you know, I think, as a people, stopping no longer holding our tongue, which has its pros and its cons, but I think this really captures that element in our society um that we're seeing so great, great track well, and also just kind of that that also encapsulates kind of how people evolve as just individuals.

Speaker 1: 34:37

You know, it's like when they were, you know, when he's 19, 20 years old, however old he is, when he's writing that first album, and it's like it is a little bit more like you feel acted upon by the world, right, yeah, and like here there's just I just love the energy of this track and kind of the the force behind it, which I think is pretty cool, because this is obviously he's gone through a lot. I mean, he's been a famous person for 30 years, right, it's probably like I don't care anymore about any of this. I'm just gonna do what I want. I'm going to make the music I want, I'm going to write the lyrics that I want to want. That, yeah, I mean. So I think it's a. It's a really good one and, again, I think just speaks to. I don't think 90s fans would listen to this and immediately think Third Eye Blind, but I think that's what's really cool about this band.

Speaker 2: 35:24

Absolutely yeah.

Speaker 1: 35:27

All right, last one, let's bring it home. This is track 12. It is the Dying Blood.

Speaker 2: 35:32

Yeah, so this one we've definitely talked about on the show as one of our new music mixes. It is a 2021 album release, so that was well into our podcast being live, which is great, and this is the album Our Band Apart. So, yeah, I think you know this is the one I remember we talked about how it's probably one of the earlier songs we like knew talking about that literally mentions the pandemic right, they say full year pandemic in it and I think that's really interesting and I'm sure that as we go forward, you know, we'll have more music that kind of recalls it or talks about it, because obviously it was a very impactful time on on the entire globe. It was a very unique experience in that regard. But, yeah, I think you know this kind of captures that strain that it put on all of us as people.

Speaker 2: 36:13

Okay, I love the lines here how to chit chat and I can't remember can you tell me how to be friends without being exhausted? And I I think that's a great line and summation of kind of how it felt, because it was, if you remember, like certainly peak pandemic. You're talking about bubbles and talking about, you know, like isolation periods and all that kind of stuff. It was really difficult to want to see your friends without planning, sometimes weeks ahead of like okay, you're going to isolate, I'm going to isolate, and we're going to meet in a park, we're going to do this and we're going to do that, and like, right, right right, I mean no, I got to go see my family the week after, so let's, let's do it two weeks before I get sick.

Speaker 2: 36:51

Yeah, it was exhausting and even just even just you know, having everything be on Zoom and FaceTime after a while was was also exhausting. I think we just craved being around people a lot after months of kind of being separated. So I think this song does a really good job of that and I like that he kind of pivoted on again, just kind of writing about what he's going through and what he's feeling. So I think Third Eye Blind has always been very good at that and in terms of just writing songs that can be easily relatable.

Speaker 1: 37:22

Yeah, for me, the line that stood out was well, I better get used to trusting some mistakes, which I thought was kind of cool too, because he makes reference to a pregnancy in there as well, and so maybe that's a you know, a happy mistake, if you will maybe that if that's what he's referring to there, I don't know.

Speaker 1: 37:39

But um, but yeah, no, I I think this is a. This is a really cool like way to wrap up the the mix, because this one does kind of hearken back to their early sound and so I think 90s music fans will kind of feel a little bit of comfort with with this type of song because it sounds a little bit more like them.

Speaker 1: 37:58

But I, I think it's been really cool. Like you put, you did a nice job with this mix, kind of taking us through songs that people clearly know, but also stuff that just shows how like them. But I, I think it's been really cool. Like you put, you did a nice job with this mix, kind of taking us through songs that people clearly know but also stuff that just shows how the band has has kind of changed um over time, but the big through line being stephen jenkins and and his vocals absolutely yeah well, there you have it, another super awesome mix for your collection, this time an introduction to the band third eye Blind, one of Samer's favorites.

Speaker 1: 38:26

So if you missed one I mean, hit us up at Super Awesome Mix, let them know. Please don't tell us we should have included Semi-Charmed Life. We understand that's a popular song, okay, but maybe something else out there that should have been included? Definitely, let us know on social media. Hey folks, we've got two new mixes left for you this year, okay, and it is our Best Of mix. So join us. The next two weeks we're going to bring you our Best Of. One week's going to be Sammer's Top 12. The next week's going to be my Top 12. And so we'll get to work on that. And for Sammer, this is Matt. We'll see you next time.