Who’s still a vegetarian? Probably 3OH!3 — and trust me, we’ve got zero beef with them (pun 1000% intended). That line has been living rent-free in our brains since the early 2000s, back when eyeliner was heavy, jeans were skinny, and Myspace top 8 drama was the real Hunger Games. And somehow… we’re still not over it. Fast forward to now: the boys have dropped their new all-caps, because of course, track ‘SLUSHIE,’ which hits harder than a brain freeze in July, and they’re out here touring with pop-punk legends Simple Plan, Bowling For Soup, and LOLO for their Bigger Than You Think Tour.
Bigger than we could think? Honestly… getting to interview them. Yep, we did it. Bucket list: ✅. And we got the tea on everything from influencing pop culture to the adorable sound their kids make that’s sneaking into a future track. You’re welcome.
Epic Soundtrack
Let’s play f*ck, marry, kill between the big 3: ‘STARSTRUKK,’ ‘DONTTRUSTME,’ & ‘My First Kiss.’
I’d marry all three of them. Make honest songs out of them.
‘DONTTRUSTME’ is basically the soundtrack of chaotic early-2000s TV—The Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, you name it. Was there a moment where you saw it used and thought, “Yep, we’re officially part of pop culture history?”
Haha – honestly, I don’t really feel that now. That’s very flattering and may indeed be true, but I think we live pretty grounded and normal lives away from our music, so it keeps us pretty insulated from getting any sort of big ego. At the end of the day, we’re just two dudes who love playing shows and putting smiles on people’s faces.
From the glitchy sparkle of ‘STARSTRUKK’ to the playground claps in ‘My First Kiss,’ your production is full of unexpected sonic curveballs. Do you have a favorite weird little sound tucked into your discography?
At the top of my mind, there’s a forthcoming song where I’ve tucked in some vocal samples from my 2-year-old daughter, Nico. Sean was nice enough to let me get away with it, and maybe in another 17 years, my daughter and I will listen to it and get a nice kick out of it!
Band’s Origins
Not many bands have their own symbol, but your 303 logo is stamped across pretty much every era. What’s the story behind designing it sixteen years ago, and what does it mean to you now?
That 303 hand-sign was floating in the Colorado aether when we started making music together, in the mid/early 2000s. We started throwing it up with our friends at shows and in social situations as a salvo and as a testament to the love we had and still have for the place we’re from. Back in 2006, I had a camera that had this cool effect that transformed everything into a two-tone black and white chromatic slate, and I had a buddy of mine named Andrew Kimmell take a picture of me doing the hand sign up against a white wall in my apartment that I shared with my buddy Pat Grossi (artist known as “Active Child”).
You guys have been in the biz for a long time now. What’s one thing you’ve carried right from the start? Whether it be a ritual before going on stage, advice you’ve been given, or any good luck charms you have… We’d love to know some of the 3OH!3 wisdom and what has helped you get this far!
Don’t eat a big meal less than 3 hours before the show, don’t drink IPAs before the show, don’t shit on the bus. Do put everything you have, physically, mentally, and emotionally, into your shows. Do make sure everyone in the venue leaves with a big smile on their face. Do make every venue feel like it’s a basement party in Boulder, Colorado, in 2005.
Touring
You’ve been touring for so long now, and with that comes fans who have been to multiple different tours. When you’re planning a new run, what goes into planning the production/setlist both for fans who are seeing you for the first time and for fans who have been to multiple shows?
A huge amount of time goes into planning a tour, especially as we haven’t done a fully routed, long bus tour since 2018. We’ve been working on the production, musical direction, etc., for the better part of a year, and we’re hoping it’s a nice collection of our songs, presented in a way that’s fun, inclusive, and energetic. We have no problem playing our old material, as we really don’t have an ego in that we don’t expect people to want to hear all our new sh*t, so all of our shows are a kind of “greatest hits” setlist. We’ll play some new stuff on this tour, and we’ll lean heavily into our big songs.
This tour is so nostalgic for a lot of fans! What’s it been like reconnecting with longtime listeners while also introducing your music to new ones?
Honestly, we’ve been so fortunate to be able to steadily play shows over the last 17+ years. It feels like we’ve been able to maintain a really great connection with people who’ve been listening to our music for a long time, and we’ve been able to play lots of shows that expose us to new fans (colleges and universities, one-off festivals, etc). So I suppose this tour is a continuation of that, and we’re thankful for Simple Plan bringing us out to help rock the party!
We know you’re superstars yourselves, but you’re also touring with some fellow big names like Simple Plan and Bowling For Soup! How did you get involved in this tour, and do you ever find yourselves getting starstrukk traveling alongside other musical icons (pun intended)?
Our friends in Simple Plan were nice enough to reach out and ask if we’d come along for their big headlining tour, and we were delighted to say yes. We’re buddies with the BFS crew and the Lolo crew, too – the music scene that we’ve had the good fortune to be involved in is really close-knit, and all the people we’ve toured with have been nice, interesting, and good people.
As you prepare to go back on the road, we have to know: do you have any trusty go-to (or could we say h*e-to) before show rituals you could spill?
I think it’s definitely changed since we started touring at age 24, that’s for sure! I think we go slightly less hard on the pre-party before the shows, but I’d hope we still bring the same energy during the show. Touring is a lot of downtime, punctuated by periods of intense activity, so it’s piecewise, but it’s nice to be on the road and just hanging and bullshitting with your friends a whole hell of a lot. It’s also great to meet different people in different situations all over the country and all over the world. I still have to pinch myself sometimes that we get to do this for a living and that people actually come out and watch us do our thing.
How do you each like to spend your days off while on tour? What’s the key to recharging your energy for all the shows?
I think it is indeed a matter of recharging sometimes. I like immersing myself in wherever we are and getting the feeling of that town, city, place. It’s really good to get out of your own head when you’re on tour, I find. You can just watch people go about their lives, the vast majority of whom have no idea or no care what you do. I think that helps me reset a bit and realize that what we do isn’t brain surgery. It is important, and we want to make sure to put on a great show and convey our sense of collectivism and fun to everyone, but we’re really just having fun up there.
You will be returning to Colorado to perform at The Junkyard in Denver. How does performing in your home state compare to others?
It’s incredible. We’re so fortunate and thankful to be from Colorado and have the amazing support of the music scene out there. Colorado is an incredible place for music – every touring artist knows it and raves about it, for good reason. The venues are amazing, the people are the best, and the state is wonderful. Whether it’s at the “3OH!3-Day” (aka March 3rd 3/03 every year) shows we throw, or shows like this one coming up, we’re always most excited to play shows in our home state.
If you could time-travel and crash any past 3OH!3 tour as your current selves, which one would it be and why?
I’d go back to the Myspace Tour that we did in 2008 and tell myself to ditch that Myspace stock they gave us right after the tour ends.
Finally, inspired by your lyric “my heart tells a story like a black box,” what story do you hope these shows tell?
The genesis of our project as 3OH!3 came from our university experience as students at the University of Colorado in Boulder. We used to have the best times listening to music, going to shows, dancing, freestyling, jamming, smiling, and laughing with each other and at each other. I think all of our shows are based on that ideal of collectivity and inclusion and FUN. We’ve never lost sight of that, and I don’t think we ever will as long as we keep playing.
The Bigger Than You Think Tour wraps up on September 6 in Irving, TX — and if you’re as cool as we know you are, you’ve already got that date circled in glitter pen. But if not? Honey… fix it. Grab yourself a ticket, live your best pop-punk fantasy, and then come brag about it on our socials (Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook).
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