THE PENDULUM
STYLE
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14. 2010// PAGE 15
Semi-Charmed Life
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An interview with Brad i-iorgreaves of Third Eye Blind
■
BRIAN ALLENBY | SUIT Pho(osn|lMr
Julia Sayers
Reporter
What’s the origin of the band's name?
There’s not really any particular
meaning behind it. There was a lot
of mysticism and self help stuff that
was becoming incredibly cool in the
Bay Area when we were starting out,
so it was just kind of like a punk
rock statement. We don’t really
believe in that though.
So you’ve been in the band since the
beginning?
Yeah, like 1994. 1993 was like
Stephan (Jenkins) in San Francisco
trying to find musicians.
So what’s the deal with songwriting?
Is it mainly Stephan or do you help
out?
Yeah, well, Stephan is definitely
the majority songwriter. It’s all
his lyrics, all his melodies and he
writes even some of the music too.
But there’s also a certain amount of
collaboration that goes on among
the musicians to come up with riffs
and stuff... Like the other day,
the guitar player and I were just
jamming on this cultish riff and
Stephan immediately got a lyric in
his head and a basic melody idea
and it’s gonna be a song now. It’s
really spontaneous and delicate, the
way songwriting works, it can’t be
forced. If we could force it, we’d have
records out more than every five
years.
You guys don’t tour that often do
you?
We do. We’ve just more recently
branched out into different areas.
We’re actually self-managed now.
We’re just an indie band on our own
label. It took a while for us to get rid
of the different control the record
companies and our ex-manager had
over what we would do. But now
that we have, we’re going to Europe
in May for the first time in 10 years,
and we’re doing the stuff we felt
like we should be doing but couldn’t
understand why we weren’t doing it.
And part of that means coming to
Elon.
We should steal you a brick.
Yeah! Let’s throw it through the
front windshield of the bus. No
one do that. Remember when that
drummer egged everyone on to
throw bricks at their bus? Idiot.
If you were not in Third Eye Blind,
what would you be doing?
I might be in the CIA.
So when you were younger, did you
want to be a CIA agent?
Not really, I always wanted to be
a musician, but I read a lot. I like
knowing what goes on behind the
scenes. 1 was a history meyor in
college.
Where did you go to school?
University of California Berkeley.
So I’m really smart. Just kidding, I
actually got denied and the band
director got me in. If I didn’t play
music I wouldn’t have been aisle to
go there.
So you’ve always wanted to be a
musician?
Yeah, college was actually
my hobby. I was already playing
professionally so to speak, before 1
went to college. I wasn’t playing in
Third Eye Blind yet. This was bands
Drvimmer Brad
Hargreaves of
Thirid Eye Blind
interviewed
in the WSOE
studios with
reporter and
DJ Julia Sayers
before going to
perform at the
April 9 Spring
Show.
before that. Far less glamorous.
Like 50-bucks-and-dinner kind of
gigs. There was a wedding in there,
probably. That’s actually how 1 paid
my way through college.
So what is your best memory of l>eing
in the band?
It’s hard to pick out specific
things. It’s a dream. It’s just the
greatest, greatest job for someone
who loves music. It’s been really
hard in some ways but then also just
the easiest job in the world. People
have to go and do the hardest things
every day for hours and hours, but
our job is to be good for an hour and
a half a day. I mean it takes more
than that to be good for that hour
and a half, but at the same time, it’s
not the most difficult thing in the
world. If you added up the hours I
put in, maybe it would rival someone
having a regular job. I was practicing
four or five hours a day since like
seventh grade so 1 was really on
it from an early age. Now, it's the
greatest. I love playing every night.
Days off are boring to me. If I'm
on the road sleeping on a bus, I’m
gonna play.
r.
Delta Sigma Theta and Phi Beta Sigma step their way to victory
Brittany Washington
Reporter
McKinnon Hall was packed
Friday, April 9 with hundreds of
people who came out to see the
other Elon University Spring Show,
but instead of live music, teams of
fraternities and sororities battled
for step-dancing supremacy.
Juniors Jasmine Spencer and
Justin Berger were the hosts for
the evening and began the show by
introducing Elon’s Finest hip-hop
dance team who dazzled the crowd
with their performance.
Freshman Deanna Fox and
sophomore Shakinah Simeona took
the stage and sang “Lift Every Voice
and Sing.” Spencer and Berger then
did a quick roll call recognizing Elon
students. Multicultural Weekend
and Diversity Conference students,
and the Pan Flellenic Council, Inter-
Fraternity Council and the National
Pan Hellenic Council attendees.
Spencer and Berger then
introduced the second performance
of the evening; Women of Smith.
These women, from Smith High
School in Greensboro, marched out
on stage to Rihanna’s “So Hard."
Dressed in bold yellow, green and
black, they also incorporated hip-
hop moves and received a big round
of applause from the audience as
they marched off-stage.
Following the Women of Smith
was the first and only sorority to
step, Elon's Delta Sigma Theta. They
had an introductory video titled
“Law and Order: DST.” Some of
the members were in a courtroom
setting explaining why their
sorority is the best. At the end of
the video, the ladies appeared on
stage and gave a small tribute to
each fraternity in the National Pan
Hellenic Council. They were later
joined on stage by three other Deltas:
Kim Johnson, the associate director
of admissions and the director of
multicultural recruitment at Elon,
and two Elon alumni, Alexia Clincy
and Danielle Simmons. A few
people in the crowd gave them a
standing ovation.
“The Deltas did really good;
they had a tot-- of energy,”
sophomore Chelsea Gund said.
After a brief intermission,
the men of Alpha Phi Alpha
performed. The curtains
were pulled open to reveal a
chalkboard with the words,
“Saved by the Bruhs.” The “Saved
by the Bell” theme song began
to play and the men started
running around before jumping
into their routine.
One of the crowd’s favorite
moves was when the brothers
formed a straight line, got low
to the ground and did a small
wave; forming a giant recoiling
snake. They did a step from
their chairs and wrapped up
the performance by strolling to
“Flex” by the Party Boys.
The men of Phi Beta Sigma
fraternity were introduced to the
audience with a video. They had
a “Far East” theme and took the
stage down in karate uniforms.
Their performance was very
entertaining and earned laughter
from the crowd. Senior Brandon
Helton claimed to be the strongest
brother, but could not break a block
of wood. The men received help
from junior Stephanie Robinson,
seniors Jenny Statler and Hayley
Knicely and sophomore Ali Welds.
They helped the men complete
their performance by doing a very
intricate step in chairs.
The last performance of the night
was from Gamma Eta Sigma, a high
school step team from Grimsley
High School in Greensboro. Their
theme was “Saw” and they came
out tied together in chains. A man’s
voice told them they had to play a
game and prove their stepping skills
in under 13 minutes. They were
released from the chains and went
to work. During their performance,
they were “knocked out by sleeping
Fraternity competitors Alpha Phi Omega performed their “Saved by the Bruhs’
gas” and a person dressed in a
pig mask dropped off three more
members of their group. They kept
the theme going as a person with
the infamous clown mask from the
“Saw" movies rode across the stage
on a tricycle.
The majority of the crowd gave
them a standing ovation as they
marched off-stage.
Spencer and Berger came out on
stage and announced the winners:
Delta Sigma Theta took the prize for
the sororities and Phi Beta Sigma
took first place for the fraternities.
“I really enjoyed the show,” said
sophomore Jessica Scales. “I'm glad
the Sigmas won. They were very
creative and I like how they involved
PHC."
The energy in McKinnon was
infectious. “All the organizations
represented themselves well and
they did a great job of keeping the
crowd hype,” freshman Jeffrey
Williams said.
MOU.Y CAREY | SUtf Ptioloanptw
routine at the Spring Step Show.
MOLLY CAREY | SUtf Phologrwhv
Fraternity members from Phi Beta Sigma perform a Far-East
inspired routine replete with karate outfits and kung-fu moves.
The Phi Beta Sigma team won the fraternity division of the step
show competition held Friday, April 9.