3 Doors Down burst onto the rock scene with their huge anthem “Kryptonite” back in 2000. Through the years they’ve followed it up with many more memorable hits and ballads like “here without you”. We caught up with the Mississippi rockers singer Brad Arnold to talk about their newest album Us and the Night.
SCENEzine
Hey Brad, how’s 2016 going for you so far?
Brad Arnold
It’s going great man, staying busy and having some fun.
SCENEzine
Congrats on the new album Us and the Night, it sounds awesome. Is it relief to have some new music out considering it’s been 5 years since the last album?
Brad Arnold
Absolutely (laughs) man I tell you what 5 years just slips right on by. Everyone asks us why such a big gap in between records. Well we were touring a lot and really we just didn’t realise it had been so long. We’ve had a lot of things go on in the band with changes but ultimately it all wound up for the good. We spent a year working on this record and the whole time we were writing it I was like man we need to get this record done. To finally have it out there and sitting on the shelves is quite a relief.
SCENEzine
You released a cool video for “In the dark” can you tell us how you came up with the concept?
Brad Arnold
Well I can’t take credit for the concept of the video the director wrote it. We kind of leave the videos for the most part up to the director. We know what we want to say but it’s interesting to see how a director can take what you’ve written and put it into a visual format. When we read the script for the video everybody was like yeah!
RJ Mitte was cool enough to agree to be in the video so that added some notoriety and he did a great job. We’re not in the video but I kind of like that too. I like storytelling videos over band performance videos in my personal opinion. I think it gives the director more of a chance to tell a story in a short amount of time. So I ultimately didn’t see the video until it was done and they did a great job on it.
SCENEzine
When you wrote that song was it about a particular girl?
Brad Arnold
Not really. That song was written a bit different than we usually write. We usually sit around and write on acoustic guitars. The original structure of that song was written by Chet with garage band on his ipad. I heard it in the back of the bus one day and was like man that’s a good hook right there. Then he worked on making it into more of a song and I had it in my head for a little while and “she like’s to do it in the dark” was the first line I came up with. I came home and played it for my wife and it got to the line “she likes to do it in the dark” then she said oh yeah I like that you’ve got to write it (laughs) so I guess she inspired it somewhat.
SCENEzine
Our favourite song from the album is “fell from the moon” can you tell us a bit about the writing of that song?
Brad Arnold
That song is actually a song that I wrote on a piano not the piano your hearing just a skeleton of it because I can barely play piano. The song is about our old bass player not necessarily straight up about him but he inspired that with the things that he’s going through in his life. It’s just kind of talking about how we can be flying so high above the world and all of a sudden just come crashing down. It can happen. When that happened with Todd I had some song writing scheduled with some other guys here in town for some country songs. But I just couldn’t write another song until I got that one out, getting those feelings off my chest. That’s one of my favourite songs on the record too I really like that one.
SCENEzine
I noticed throughout the new album and your whole career there’s so many songs of positivity and hope. How do you feel knowing you can touch so many people lives through your lyrics?
Brad Arnold
Man that’s the greatest felling I could possibly get. It’s a blessing for all of us to play music and get to do what we love for a living. But more so than any award or amount of record sales or any success the greatest thing is to know that one of your songs can help somebody through a hard spot in their life. When somebody comes up and says that a song has helped them through this or that it means the world to us. It really, really does. That’s what music is all about We are proud and feel blessed and honoured to write songs people can identify with.
It’s good for us to be able to write them and get those feelings out of ourselves and to express ourselves in that way. To know that people can identify with what you’re feeling and get something out of it within their own life that’s the best feeling in the world.
SCENEzine
When 3 Doors Down hit the scene in 2000 if seemed like a great time for rock music with a lot of rock bands getting radio airplay. Fast forward to 2016 do you think it’s harder for new rock songs to break through?
Brad Arnold
I think it is man. There doesn’t seem to be as much content on rock radio as there was when we came out. On one hand there’s competition and I hate to say competition because it’s not one. But there’s not as much of it out there so at the moment it doesn’t seem like rock music is as big as 2000. With that being said it seems like more bands that maybe hadn’t of put out a record in a while are putting out records. Some new bands are coming out that are doing good, rock seems to be making a comeback and I’m really thankful for that.
It’s like the old saying goes rock n roll will never die. It wont. It takes movements away from it people listen to different kinds of music but sooner or latter they all come back to rock n roll.
I’m hoping that’s happening right now.
SCENEzine
I can’t not ask the question. Is there any plans in the works to get back down to Australia someday?
Brad Arnold
Man I really, really hope so. We’ve been down there twice and I would love to come back. Hopefully we will get to come back on this record because it seems to be doing good down there.
We are getting some airplay down there and that’s the first time in quite a while we’ve gotten a lot of airplay down in Australia. Man I really, really hope that we get to come back down there.
SCENEzine
Do you have a favourite Australian memory?
Brad Arnold
I just enjoyed walking around everybody was friendly and treated us really good. It was just really neat. I’d like to take some ATV’s and go riding through the outback. I know that it’s probably something cliché for me to say but I’d just like to go ride for a couple of days. Just to go out and be in the middle of nowhere because that’s what I love to do.
I love to be outside in the wild and would love to see things like that. Sometimes we can’t because we only got to stay 3 or 4 days both times we were there. It’s just not enough time. Hopefully this time if we get to come we can not only play more shows but actually spend some free time there.
SCENEzine
3 Doors Down are currently playing some huge festivals in USA. What’s the feeling like playing alongside a lot heavier bands? Are you excited to hit the stage?
Brad Arnold
I am but it used to kind of intimidate me to play with heavy bands. I used to think oh my god we are playing with such heavy bands. We are a rock band and some of our songs are pretty rocking but not like metal. But what I’ve found is those guys that are out there head banging to Slipknot and Sevendust are the same guys that’ll be standing there singing “here without you” at the top of their lungs (laughs) it’s really cool.
SCENEzine
Your song ‘Kryptonite” was a massive hit worldwide. Did it actually take you long to write the lyrics?
Brad Arnold
Man you know what I wrote those lyrics in probably 15 minutes. I wrote those lyrics in high school algebra class when I was like 16 years old. I actually wrote that song almost 21 years ago.
We were playing a show not too long ago and there was all these kids down front singing that song loud. I just kind of laughed when we got done with the song and said I might be ageing myself here but it’s really cool to look down and see you singing while I know this song is older than all of yall (laughs).
SCENEzine
When you were younger were you a comic book fan? And have you seen the new Batman V Superman movie?
Brad Arnold
I wasn’t a huge comic book fan but I’d look at them from time to time when I was a kid. I was always a fan of Superman. I have seen the new Batman V Superman movie and I thought it was really good. You could see the beginnings of all the Justice League stuff coming from it. It was almost like it was a setup for things to come but I really enjoyed it I thought it was cool.
SCENEzine
Our personal favourite 3 Doors Down songs is “Be like that” does that hold a special place for you? And were you ok with it being used in American Pie 2?
Brad Arnold
Yeah I was ok with it. We had to change it a little bit because they didn’t want the mention of California because the movie takes place in middle America. So we had to change that first line but I was ok with it ultimately. I like that song too. That was another song that we wrote when I was a teenager. One thing that’s cool about that song is to see kids singing it back to you.
Not that they are looking to us to want to be like us but sometimes when they are singing that song you can see their dreams in their eyes. Because they have their own idea of what they want to be like. It’s just really cool to see that expression on their face when they are singing that song to you.
SCENEzine
Can you leave us with a last message for your Australian fans?
Brad Arnold
Thank you very much for everything. Thanks for all of the support over the years. We really truly hope we get to come down there and play for you guys this time.
In such case we really look forward to seeing you.
(interview by Christian Ross)