Blind Wants a Better Blend

Third Eye Blind: lead singer Stephan Jenkins, foreground, and, rear from left, Arion Salazar, Tony Fredianellis and Brad Hargraves. Spencer Weiner / L.A. Times

There are things that Stephan Jenkins doesn't want to talk about. The leader of Third Eye Blind is vague about his age. (He's 34.) And he does not elaborate on the recent departure of longtime band guitarist Kevin Cadogan. ("He's a really good guitarist.")

But Jenkins also has other things on his mind, issues that concern him, like the makeup of his audience. While fans have already turned such Third Eye Blind pop songs as "Semi-Charmed Life" and the new "Anything" into big radio hits, the singer-guitarist is worried about the people his band isn't yet reaching.

"I think the gamut of people who embrace Third Eye Blind is pretty wide," says Jenkins, whose band performs tonight and Friday at the Wiltern Theatre. "It's pretty white, too, which is kind of a drag to me. You don't see it that much in Europe. Here the radio is so separated."

It's an artificial separation, which he says was never clearer than at a recent show that featured both Third Eye Blind and the rapper Eve. It seems that both were well aware of one another's successes and had plenty to chat about.

Common Threads Among the Bands

"We didn't have any color lines between us," Jenkins remembers. "These are imposed by some marketing thing on the radio. That's where it happens. It's kind of depressing. The common thread that runs through all these rock bands that are really vital right now-- Limp Bizkit, Beck, Korn, us--is hip-hop."

Not that Jenkins is unhappy with the fans he's got now. He speaks proudly of what he describes as an intense following that cheers as loudly for obscure songs as for the hits. "The band that we probably take our cues from the most is the Clash. They never second guessed what they were doing, what they were laying. If the urge was genuine to do it then you do it." � STEPHAN JENKINS

Lead singer of Third Eye Blind

"It's something of a double life, because we have these songs that are very catchy and immediate, which is not my fault," he says. "And then there is this other side that is equally valid and equally vital with Third Eye Blind."

One of the more surprising moments on the new "Blue" album is a track called "The Red Summer Sun," which begins in a quiet, almost lilting fashion before exploding into something closer to a punk-rock AC/DC. Jenkins' normally rich tenor rises to a raw scream reminiscent of such metal shouters as Bon Scott or KISS' Paul Stanley.

"We have a desire to destroy things, I think, and you hear that on the first record as well. There's a sort of punk-rock inclination running through there. The band that we probably take our cues from the most is the Clash. They never second-guessed what they were doing, what they were playing. If the urge was genuine to do it then you do it. That's what we're about as well."

Jenkins was born in Southern California, and spent his toddler years in Santa Monica before his family moved to the Bay Area. It was there that he discovered pop music and formed his first band in the ninth grade. By adolescence his obsessions included the Police, Led Zeppelin, the Jungle Brothers, Sly Stone and the Clash.

Now that Third Eye Blind has found its own success, selling more than 4 million copies of its self-titled 1997 debut album, Jenkins finds himself a busy man, with unexpected opportunities. When the band's current tour ends in about 10 weeks, Jenkins will spend a few days in Los Angeles to shoot a bit part in a Mark Wahlberg film. He'll play a thug who gets beaten up by the hero.

But he says he's more surprised by how much his life remains just like it was when he was a struggling musician playing in clubs and garages. If he happens to run into the likes of Kirk Hammett of Metallica at a party (as he did recently), they still end up talking about feedback.

"What's really interesting is how things don't change," he says. "If you're a person that's grounded, you still have to deal with the realities of yourself."

By STEVE APPLEFORD, Special To The Times