About Me
Watch this. Now! The Third Degree video, Switchblades and Urethane.
1997-2001
Welcome.So you want to know a little about The Third Degree huh. Well let’s see……first off I am the worst with dates, so if you want dates, you might have to dig your records out and look at the back of em. So lets see……
I believe it all started back in 1996-97. The Suppression Swing had just ended and I was looking to do something new and different. My whole goal was to simplify everything, music, message, number of band members, etc. I remember thinking I wanted to start a band that was100% about fun. I didn’t care if we ever went on tour or released a record. I was tired of worrying about that shit. As far as I was concerned we would put out cassettes forever, let’s just have fun. Also growing up in the hardcore scene and getting older things just felt too serious, so I also wanted to simplify our message, LIVE LIFE. That’s it. The most important message of all. Still is to me.
I believe the first person I ever jammed with on drums was Dan Palmer from Death By Stereo if you can believe that. But it only lasted a practice or two. Soon after I recruited two old friends from Bastard Squad, Kevin Panter (drums) and Chris Lisk (bass). The early days we’re spent in Lisks mom’s attic writing songs. I do remember our first show was Jeff Grosso’s birthday party at the Hub.
The first demo was recorded at Moonsong studios in Corona. Two days, one record, one mix. After passing it around a little a good friend of ours Kevin Finn asked if he could release it, with the help of Indecision Records. So our first CD release on Finn/Indecision Records was born.
Lisk was replaced shortly after. Remember The Third Degrees message about having fun, well Lisk was having a little too much and canceling practices. So me and Kevin decided to replace him. Lisk being Lisk. The dude will never change. He’ll be in a walker wanting to break into Irvine pools. Gotta love em.
That’s when we brought in Reid. It took a little convincing to put down his guitar and pick up a bass, but Reid deffinitly brought something big to the band. He was the musician of the band. He is also in my opinion the best bass player in our circle.
Firing on all cylinders we headed into the studio to record our full length, Concrete Warriors. We did things on a budget, so back to Moonsong for two days. 10 songs in two days. We tracked the music the first day, we recorded vocals and mixed the second day. All the vocals were done in one take, with few over dubs. We were on a schedule. I’m not sure how it came about but a friend of ours was starting a record label, Livewire Records and was looking for bands. We made a deal that he spend some good money on getting the record mastered, and he could release it. It cost more to master this record than to record it.
From there we continued playing. For some reason we always ended up playing more shows in San Diego and the Ventura/Oxnard areas. They just excepted what we were doing a little better. We also made a few trips to Nor Cal with our friends Kill The Messenger. No one really cared, but we had fun.
Last but not least the Switchblades and Urethane EP. Once again our friend Oscar down in SD was looking to start a label. So he recruited us to go down and record at Double Time studios. We recorded two songs, The Toecutter and Switchblades and Urethane. For some reason or another Oscars plans changed and the label didn’t happen. A friend of a friend hooked us up with Slowgun Records. So a limited 7†was produced. Two songs on one side a spray-painted bug on the other. This was the last and best recording we did.
Things never really ended with The Third Degree, they just kinda dissolved. People went their separate ways and phones stopped ringing. We accomplished what we set out to do, have a good time. When I think back, I can’t help but smile. It was a good period in my life.
Thanks to the people who gave a shit.
Jason
I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4
