5 4B - The Michigan Daily -Wceeko, U. - Thursday, February 29, 1996 Alternative rockers Seven Mary Three have a 'handle' on success By Cofn Bartos Daily Arts Witer Itseems like the music industry's success stories are currently riding the wave ofgood old grassroots straightforward rock'n'roll. First came Hootie and the Blowfish, who turned their little bar band into a 14-million- recordseller. Nowgetready for Seven Mary Three, who, with a No. I single "Cumber- some" on the alternative charts, are starting to be noticed. Seven Mary Three includes Jason Ross, Jason Pollock,Casey Daniel and Giti Khalsa. Ross and Pollock started fooling around with the notion of forming a band in 1992, and the notion was realized when they met drummer Khalsa at the College of William and Mary. Ross' poems and short storiesfor English class quickly turned into songs as leadguitaristPollockprovidedmusical ideas. Ross invited his friend Daniel from the University ofFloridato play bass, and Seven Mary Three was born. The name "Seven Mary Three" comes from the TV show "Chips," a topic Khalsa waseagertotalkabout. "Seven Mary Three was the handle of(Chips char- SEVEN M1 acter) John Baker," Khalsasaid."Johnwas THREE WI always savingPonch's Where: St. Andr ass,youknow. Hewas When: Tonight always sort of the un- Tickets: Sold o derdog but he always came through in the end. ... Now (Ponch) is doing infomercials with Sally Struthers." In 1992 Seven Mary Three recorded and producedtheirown CD"Chum,"and toured on weekends when they weren't attending classes. Khalsa talked about the whole struggle of doing everything for themselves from the beginning. "I think it gave us a really good perspective on how important the grassroots level of things is. If you want toestablishyourselves as along-term project andas aband with integrity, it's very helpful. "For us, just recording an album on our own, withlimited means, was a very fulfill- ing experience, and traumatic at the same time. We just learned a lot about the record- ing process and how things get done, and how the industry works. Taking ("Chum") toMom and Pop stores... I think we learned the value of networking with a product," Khalsa said. "A lot of bands are a little intimidated by the record compani es,"he said. "New bands are constantly getting ripped off. Most ofthe time, when that happens,it's because they let themselves get ripped off. Going through that whole process for us was very much an education." "Chum" attracted a lot of attention and S AS TI rew ut Seven Mary Three eventually signed with Mammoth RY Records, distributed but not owned by H POE Atlantic Records. Khalsa said Mam- moth is perfect be- cause"we'vegotthe total indie label sup- port, we've got a group of people we're very close to, and we'vegotthebigmachinebehindus."Mam- moth released Seven Mary Three's new album "American Standard" in September 1995. Khalsa described the songs on "Ameri- can Standard" as "a document of our own lives and people we've known - people we'vereadabout."They listentoeverything from Miles Davis to Motley Cue, which accounts forthe wide variety ofsongs on the album. "We definitely lookup to Tom Petty and Neil Young... Pearl Jam," Khalsa said. "(Our music) is an impassioned, intense rock'n'roll sound.It's definitely got an edge to it, but at heart we're a rock'n'roll band." The firstsingle,"Cumbersome,"hasbeen all the over the radio and MTV in the past couple of months or so, to the amazement of the band "I think we're all a little surprised athow well thatsonghasdone,"Khalsasaid. "Wehadafeelingit woulddopretty well;we never expected it to become a No. 1 single. It's great that people are excited about the song and are playing the heck out of it. But ... we're ready to move on." - Khalsa explained, "'Cumbersome' is a great song, but none of us feel it's our best. We feel that there's stronger material on the record. 'Water's Edge' (the next single)i little more representative of what we about and what we're doing." When asked about the chance that "Water's Edge" might become as big as "Cumbersome," Khalsa did not shy away from the prospect of success. "It'd be great. We're definitely in the rock'n'roll business andwe're proud ofit... we have no qualms with it. I don't think any band can be pre- pared for that catapult. The most important thing to us is our music and having our fans enjoy our music." The band has drawn criticism for sound- ing like many of the bands already out onthe circuit today, such as Hootie and the Blow- fish and Stone Temple Pilots. Khalsa said they donotgetdiscouraged; just"roll withit. It's soearlythatmostofthetimethecriticism is based on people's impression of one song ('Cumbersome'),"Khalsaexplained."What sets us apart from a lot of bands today... is our work ethic and how that relates to our liveperformance. Wetrytorelatetoasm ny) people as we can." Seven Mary Three is now playing more intimate clubs. Ifthe time comes forthe band to play biggervenues, Khalsasaidthey'll be ready. "Ithink there are bands out there that are successful atkeepingalevel of intimacy, even with 30,000 people. Ifyou can connect with the guy who's in the nosebleed seats and make him feel like he's part ofthe show, thenyou'vedoneyourjob. I hope we can rise to the challenge." Seven Mary Three does love to play lit "We pretty much live for being on the road right now... it's definitely one ofour favor- ite aspects ofthewholething. It's something I think we've always enjoyed." The band continues on the second leg of what Khalsa refers to astheir"neverendingtour~'untiI the end of March, when they will travel to Europe to play into early summer. After a couple weeks off, Seven Mary Three was thinking of switching it up a li bit. "We're probably going to do some kin~ of shed tour where we play small amphithe- aters and things like that. It'll open the doors to the younger crowd," Khalsa said. "I re- memberasakidin the summertime wanting to go to concerts when I was little and I couldn't." Seven MaryThreeplaysaheartfelt,genu- ine brand ofrock'n'roll that has been lost in a lot of the distorted power chords that saturatemusictoday.Theirliveperformis is very tight and impassioned, and definitT one that any rock fan should not miss. - "Breaker, breaker, this is Seven Mary Three. We've got a band here hanging on a pole. I'm bringing them In for questioning." #001 VI expires: 4/30/96 " -""--- Study Abroad at the Japan Center for Michigan Universities located on the shore of lake Biwa in flikone, &hia Prefecture, Japan Summer Intensive Japanese (May 27 - August 5, 1996 ) .. . . .,.. Academic Year in Japanese Language and Culture (Japanese language and elective courses taught in English; Fall and/or Winter semesters ) YELLOW CAB 2050 Commerce U Ann Arbor, M148103 663-3355 Largest and newest fleet 4 can share the fare Service to metro airport Night Ride service " 663-3888 24 Hour Taxi Service COOL COW! All Natural Frozen Dessert Fat Free 9 Calories per Ounce Cholesterol Free Low Lactose Public Affairs In Japan NOW i et - ( 5 week specialized program beginning in June ) For more information contact your campus study abroad office or the JCM U Program Office MSU international Center / E. Lansing MI 48824-1035 Ph. (517) 353-1680/ Internet: JCMU@pilot.msu.edu .lfichigan State Lniversity is an Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action institution.