With music being a huge part of all the band members lives, they all felt the call early and wanted to pursue their music further. Singer-drummer Brad Arnold, felt it particularly early in his life. As a child he would “set up pots and pans when I was little, just beat on stuff, whatever I could find.” Brad soon found himself not only pounding the skins, but singing for the band as well. “I always used to sing to myself when we were playing, “ he says. “I was always singing around the house. Then one day, I got a microphone, and nobody else would do it, but I did, and I enjoyed it.” Brad Arnold became the bands lyricist as well, coming up with songs in his high school algebra class.

		Having older siblings – four sisters and two brothers – gave Brad and Todd a valuable music grounding. Through his siblings, Brad developed a taste for commercial rock before graduating to a heavier face. “I kinda like everything,” says Brad. “Everything influences me, everything I hear.”

The band played its first gig at a friend’s party, playing a repetition of many songs. “We knew one by Bush, one by Metallica, and a couple of originals,” Brad says. “We played ‘em over and over again.” The repertoire grew in short order, however, and started playing out. One of the road trips to Faley, Alabama also netted them a name. “We came out of this building, and some of the letters had fallen off the front so it said ‘Doors Down,’” Brad remembers. “At the time there were just three of us so we said ‘3 Doors Down.’” Todd Harrell also explains, “We’ve got good lyrics; everything tells a story.” But ultimately, the bassist and senior member of 3 Doors Down feels the sound is what says the most about the group. “It’s a rock’n’roll band, straight up,” Todd Harrell says. “It’s not really alternative or metal or anything – it’s rock’n’roll.”