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Third
Day :
While Come Together reflects Third Day's cooperative environment,
the band humbly wishes the larger church could adopt a continuously
unified spirit, similar to the one demonstrated by the American
culture in the wake of September's terrorism. "We came
up with this 'come together' idea maybe a year-and-a-half
ago," guitarist Mark Lee reflects, "but after that,
to see the election last year, and see how divided this country
was afterward, I just think it's a really fitting title for
the time that we're in right now." Come Together also
fits the current period of Third Day's career.
The band's creative
ideals and commercial appeal have come together at the same
time, with the five-piece ensemble progressing from an underdog
in the Christian marketplace to a significant force. The band's
ceaseless work ethic and unwavering desire to make a difference
earned fierce recognition at the 2001 Dove Awards, where the
Atlanta-based act racked up five trophies, becoming the first
band in two decades to win both Artist of the Year and Group
of the Year. At the same time, after veering between modern
rock, pop, Southern rock and praise & worship music on
its previous albums, Third Day's diverse influences all combined
in a cohesive musical melting pot on this album. Part of the
album's artistic success derived from an unplanned development
in Third Day's career. The group released a partially live
project, Offerings-A Worship Album, in July 2000, and backed
it with a small concert tour. Its overt Christian message
gained huge, immediate support, propelling the band to its
first gold album. Instead of finishing Come Together for release
in the summer of 2001, they re-tooled their plans, to capitalize
on the excitement. "We did this frantic, quick booking
of a spring 2001 tour, which turned out to be our most successful
tour ever," drummer David Carr says, "so it held
everything back. But I think it was a good thing. It helped
us be able to sit on the music for a while and see what we
needed." Ultimately, they decided the album could be
improved by swapping out several songs, so they booked time
in one of Atlanta's landmark studios, Southern Tracks, and
cut three more: the bristling "Get On," the thoughtful
"Show Me Your Glory" and the soulful "I Got
You"-all of which made the final cut. The moments, and
the momentum, have built slowly but steadily for Third Day
since the group's evolution began a decade ago. Powell and
Lee first started working together in 1991, after meeting
in high school. By the beginning of 1993, Carr and Anderson
came on board, and in 1995, Brad Avery joined Lee as the band's
guitarists. Instead of aggressively chasing the big time,
Third Day atypically-and unwittingly-let the music industry
reach out to them. The group pitched itself for bookings only
three times during its developmental years, and each occasion
led to a series of regular appearances. When the band first
headed into a recording studio, it had no intention of making
a demo tape for a record company; the guys merely wanted cassettes
to sell at their concert. The praise songs of Third Day's
Offerings, intended as a side project for the group's most
ardent fans, solidified the group's presence. That album preceded
their momentous night at the Doves, a victory accompanied
by a heightened profile, which the band is only beginning
to feel. "I always thought there's the mainstream Christian
music scene, and here we are off over to the side doing our
own thing," Lee explains. "As soon as you win Artist
of the Year, it means you're right at the forefront of what's
going on in Christian music, so I think we realized then that
it's a cool thing. But it's also this responsibility, because
people are looking at us to see what we do next, and it can
really shape where Christian music goes, as far as reaching
more toward people that didn't grow up in the church. So I
think we have a responsibility to do some things that maybe
aren't the popular thing. Because we've been put in this position,
we should do some things to try to influence Christian music."
Third Day's approach to its music is a model in communication
and teamwork. Many bands, if not most, start out as a democracy,
only to implode when one or two members commandeer the group's
direction.
Third Day started
with a democratic mindset that has only increased over time.
The songwriting credits have become more evenly distributed
as the group has developed, and the individual players consistently
set aside personal aspirations for the betterment of the larger
unit. That ideal is exemplified by its two primary guitarists,
Lee and Avery, who blend so naturally that months after the
completion of Come Together, they weren't able to determine
who played which guitar parts. "Come together: that's
the essence of what being a band is about," Anderson
says. "It's the five of us, plus the huge support team
of 50-plus people. We go out and do our own things. We go
to our own houses; we have our own families; we have five
different personalities and five different denominational
backgrounds and perspectives on life. But when we come together
as a band, it's something special."
 _.:Third
Day Official Site
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