3-5 Doors Down

I cannot imagine a music band, which is more American than 3 Doors Down. Of course, there are number of other cool authentic American rock musicians, this country is very fruitful in this field. How else can it be, if both iconic electric guitars - telecaster and les paul - were created in US and still exist in their original form for 60+ years... Why 3 doors? Because of Kryptonite I think.

This band was formed by 3 people - Brad, Matt, and Todd - in Mississippi around 1994. They became known very soon because of the Kryptonite song. This song blew minds the same way as Superman's story did. I guess, the Superman story is one of the embodiments of the American Dream. The one who look and behaves as very ordinary can save the world. The one who started from the very bottom without anything can become very successful. There is always somebody strong, powerful, and wise around to save you and the whole world. This is something I'm having a hard time understanding, but it is definitely a piece of a cultural context around the Superman movie.

The main song of 3 Doors Down is about Superman, in detail up to the moment when he caught the girl, falling from the skies. The whole sound of it, with an intro in acoustic guitar, a bit brutal and smoked up voice, a lot of energy and desire to sing along, quite expected rhythmic part. The electric guitar sound can be heard in the beginning as increasing tension, something like a trembling air beneath the power lines. It happens when the guitarist stands close to the sounding cabinet and puts the guitar right in front of it. At this moment the amplified sound affects the guitar strings, causing more sound, which again affects the guitar strings. Interference it is called. This tension rises until you start to hear rock riffs and feel a certain relief because of that. And you sing along, simply cannot resist.

But why? It is quite a simple song, to be honest. This is what I've been thinking about the whole weekend while listening to this and other songs of the band. Weirdly, I don't remember many of them. But my Spotify thinks now this is my favorite band. Paradox. Though, I like Away from the Sun song. And Loser song, which reminds me of Radiohead Creep. Here I started to dig in and found an interview with the band's guitarist Chris, who joined 2 years later. Tough childhood, parents divorced. Mom worked 2 jobs and Chris was growing up by himself mostly, which caused some problems for him. We listen about bullying and abuse at schools now and how everyone wants to prevent it. Which is pretty important. But current abuse in schools cannot be compared to what happened to Chris back then. He mentioned horrible stuff, which affected him a lot. Since 13 he lived with his father, but even though lacked life guidance. He was not able to go to college, and since his father was in the army, he was put into navy service for 12 years. This part was not too bad, since he got some real-life skills.

Interestingly, he was always into music and around instruments. His older brother was playing classical music. More precisely, Chris didn't like that music but was fascinated by instruments. So, when he ended up with the navy, having the skill to play guitar, he heard a Kryptonite song. The band just started, they were looking for one more guitarist, and Chris contacted them successfully. I don't know his full story, but I feel this move was the best thing he ever did.

I don't know the story of the other band members, but people are usually united by similar traumas, so I believe they were through similar problems in childhood, which brought this music together when they grew up.

When I listen to it, even Kryptonite, to me it's all about the need for a good parent, who can hear you and guide you. It's all about having family as it should be, and not in the streets. I might be wrong, and there are plenty of other topics in their songs, but I believe the main theme is about the father, both as a human being and as super superpower. Probably, there are other people in US dealing with the same.

Let's finish on a funny note - what does the band name mean? They just started and had a very first tour outside of home town (didn't have a name yet??) and while 3 band founders walked through the city they saw an old signboard, part of which fell. What's left was - doors down. Since they were 3 guys, they thought it might be cool to have 3 Doors Down as a band name. And people will guess the sacred meaning of doors in their lives.