"In order to know where you’re headed, you have to recognize where you’re from. So when it came time to begin working on their sixth full-length album, Us And The Night [Republic Records/Spinefarm Records], Grammy Award-nominated multiplatinum Mississippi rock band 3 Doors Down channeled a familiar feeling.
“We all missed the excitement of making our first album,” says singer Brad Arnold. “As you continue creating records, it can become sort of mechanical, and you start taking everything too seriously. However, for Us And The Night, we were all on the same page about just wanting to have a good time in the studio. That created a great vibe. I don’t think we’ve ever felt this unified as a band in our entire career. That’s why the album sounds like it does.”
In late 2014, 3 Doors Down—Brad Arnold [lead vocals], Chris Henderson [lead and rhythm guitar], Greg Upchurch [drums], Chet Roberts [lead and rhythm guitar], and Justin Biltonen [bass]— wrapped up a marathon of touring that included the cycles for 2011’s Time of My Life, which debuted at #3 on the Billboard Top 200 and #2 on Germany’s Media Control Charts.
The guys holed up in Chris’s own Rivergate Studios in Nashville, TN and dove into extremely collaborative sessions—which even saw Greg writing for the first time. As a result, the sonic palette started to expand with producer Matt Wallace [Maroon 5, Train, Faith No More] behind the board.
“This couldn’t be just another 3 Doors Down record,” adds Brad. “It needed to be an album that made people take a second look and listen.”
That’s exactly what the first single “In The Dark” does. With a raucous, raw, and rowdy riff, the track shows an unexpected and undeniable side of the band, culminating during the chorus, “She likes to do it in the dark.”
“We’ve never had a sexy, playful song,” smiles Brad. “There was definitely a place for it. It’s about seeing that girl across the room. I initially played the idea for my wife, and she smiled, ‘I like that.’ I knew we had to go for it!”
3 Doors Down first found their own voice in 1995. It’s only gotten louder over the past two decades. Everything kicked off with their 2000 debut, The Better Life. The album went six-times platinum and introduced the world to their now-classic “Kryptonite.” Their fan base continued to grow with 2002’s triple-platinum Away from the Sun—which yielded the smashes “When I’m Gone” and “Here Without You.” Both 2005’s platinum-certified Seventeen Days and 3 Doors Down [2008] bowed at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 followed by Time of My Life’s #3 debut in 2011. In between countless sold out shows, the guys notched three Grammy Award nods, scored two American Music Awards, and received a total of five BMI Pop Awards, including an award for Brad for BMI “Songwriter of the Year.”