| “This went way beyond just girlfriends and family calling with requests. I have never experiences phones of this magnitude,” WCPR operations manager, Kenny Vest, told the Biloxi Sun Herald. This was it for the band. Matt Roberts knew that they were going to be big. The band’s debut album was produced by Paul Ebersold [Sister Hazel] and mixed by Toby Wright [Alice in Chains, Korn] for Republic/Universal Records. |
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The band of three became four about two years ago when Chris Henderson, who’d played in previous bands with Todd Harrell, was invited in to bolster the group’s sound. Now they are five, having added a drummer from nearby Hattiesburg so Brad Arnold could step out and from the band. Meanwhile, the songs kept coming, and in 1997, 3 Doors Down recorded some real demos. |
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The band pressed a CD to sell at gigs and shows, and the fans flocked to see them live, numbering more than 2,000 per show. That, coupled with the buzz generated by “Kryptonite”, brought major labels calling and sent the band to New York City, where it showcased at the legendary CBGB’s and was signed by Republic/Universal. |
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| “We like to rock,” The Band said, and that’s born throughout The Better Life, which kicks off with “Kryptonite” and moves through the ringing ebb and flow of “Loser”, then “Life of My Own”, “Duck and Run”, and “Be Like That” just about as deftly as it does the crunchy rock fury of “By My Side”, “Smack”, and “So I Need You.” All of these great songs feature the dynamic interplay of Matt Robert’s and Chris Henderson’s guitars atop the muscular rhythmic bed provided my Brad Arnold and Todd Harrell. |
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