Red Mosquito

Every now and then I dust off their first two records and remember being a sophomore in high school. Just from a production standpoint, the band is extremely tight. They're playing like assassins, which might be a byproduct of coming up through a scene as treacherous as LA.

It sucks that Stephen Jenkins was basically a backstabbing psycho who was almost 100% out of touch with what he could and couldn't do as a vocalist. The second record has him making some just bizarre choices, but the rest of the band is still locked in. And then they all found out about his contractual shenanigans and it was over.

Did anybody stick with them? Did Jenkins make any more music under the Third Eye Blind name that's worth mentioning?

Random anecdote: I saw them headline Z Fest in Lexington in 1997 (sharing the bill with Better Than Ezra, Godsmack, and a plethora of others I can't remember). But one girl who rode with us had a 9pm curfew so we had to leave after like 3 songs. Major bummer because that was a long day in the sun to miss the only band I wanted to see.

Random other thing: When Eddie Vedder makes fun of someone else's cover of Baba O'Riley in the MSG DVD (it tastes like a popsicle that's been in someone's ass [which, how could he possibly identify that flavor but ok]), I think he's talking about Third Eye Blind. So that's funny.

Doesn’t Ed specifically say he’s making fun of Good Charlotte? Am I thinking of a different show?

And yes, there are certified bangers on both of 3EB’s first two albums. Bunch of crap too, but I’ve thought about buying their LPs often, but like everything else ‘90s it’s too expensive.

It's definitely Good Charlotte. If memory serves, PJ had just invited a member of the Buzzcocks onstage to play "Sonic Reducer," which inspired a rant about "real punk rock" vs. the aforementioned rectal-popsicle punk rock.

Eddie had a few weird outbursts on that 2003 tour -- the mosquito bites girl, the popsicle comment, many long rants about freedom of speech, including one about the various uses of the word 'fuck.' I think that Bush mask thing in Denver put him on edge from day one.

Yeah, Ed was really weird in 2003.

I actually saw them live in London once

totally unplanned

small club show

was surprised that I knew so many of their songs

their t-shirt guy at the back said they play the same setlist every show

and even the lead singer’s in between song dialogue was the same every show

96583UP wrote:and even the lead singer’s in between song dialogue was the same every show

A lot of bands seem to do this. A few tours back Josh Homme had a moment seemingly every show where he singled out an audience member and tough-guy'd them.

Kinda cringey tbh.

Homme is cringey in general.

I just realized that I always picture trag as the singer from this band.

Got my dick sucked for the first time to Semi-Charmed Life. They're alright by me.

96583UP wrote:I actually saw them live in London once

totally unplanned

small club show

was surprised that I knew so many of their songs

their t-shirt guy at the back said they play the same setlist every show

and even the lead singer’s in between song dialogue was the same every show

Somehow everything about this encapsulates what I think of Stephen Jenkins. Right down to his own merch guy throwing him under the bus.

I watched that Rick Beato interview with that Jenkins fella and found it compelling enough to listen to their first record and wife and I were actually really digging most of it a lot last night. Some amazing stuff on there. I'll put them up there with Weezer as far as like, some amazing songs but also pretty weird and lame at the same time. Guilty pleasure category.

I'm a little confused about his voice. Does he have a lisp? What do you call what he does, with the sounds he makes?

tree_ wrote:I'm a little confused about his voice. Does he have a lisp? What do you call what he does, with the sounds he makes?

On the second record he tries to go into Robert Plant territory with alarming results. Red Summer Sun is a pretty blistering mess to my ears.

lvc wrote:

tree_ wrote:I'm a little confused about his voice. Does he have a lisp? What do you call what he does, with the sounds he makes?

On the second record he tries to go into Robert Plant territory with alarming results. Red Summer Sun is a pretty blistering mess to my ears.

I just gave this a try. I liked the first bit, and then oh shit does he ever ruin it, oh man

Saw them try to perform on TV once and his voice was awful.

BurtReynolds wrote:Saw them try to perform on TV once and his voice was awful.

if you were trying to perform while standing atop a TV you would probably sound awful too

Ok

lvc wrote:

tree_ wrote:I'm a little confused about his voice. Does he have a lisp? What do you call what he does, with the sounds he makes?

On the second record he tries to go into Robert Plant territory with alarming results. Red Summer Sun is a pretty blistering mess to my ears.

Whoa, I just listened to this. It reminded me of

tree_ wrote:

lvc wrote:

tree_ wrote:I'm a little confused about his voice. Does he have a lisp? What do you call what he does, with the sounds he makes?

On the second record he tries to go into Robert Plant territory with alarming results. Red Summer Sun is a pretty blistering mess to my ears.

I just gave this a try. I liked the first bit, and then oh shit does he ever ruin it, oh man

All of this checks out. You are correct.