Exclusive: 3 Issue Update on New Album

After separating from and then re-upping with Metal Blade, who released 2005's 'Wake Pig,' 2007's 'The End is Begun' and 2009's 'Revisions,' Woodstock, N.Y.'s 3 have offered Noisecreep an exclusive update on their next album and the tumult that defined the last year -- which saw them looking at offers from other labels, only to return to their longtime home.

"Sure, we had an interesting roller coaster ride in 2009. But it wasn't a total loss, because in 'Revisions,' we made a great album that would otherwise not exist," singer/guitarist Joey Eppard, the brother of former Coheed and Cambria drummer Josh Eppard, told Noisecreep. "It was an important record for us, because it let people know we are a progressive band that is not afraid of writing melodic music with potent arrangements."

With 'Revisions,' 3 were able to take their old songs and give them second chances and a new look. Eppard said, "It was also a chance for me to finally do justice to some great songs from our past. Somehow, the whole process has freed us in a creative sense. The record we're making now is very different. We're taking our music to new levels every day. That is all we really can do and want to do."

The band is also toying with the idea of releasing songs from the new album like episodes, like a television series, if you will. "We were bouncing around the idea of releasing our album one song at a time and I had thought of releasing them with video as episodes," Eppard said. "The songs themselves are already telling a compelling story complete with musical cliffhangers. The idea of adding a visual element to enhance this concept is exciting. I was imagining something akin to a musical 'Lost.' We have a lot of great ideas, but we'll have to see what these seeds grow into. This is not the only innovative idea we're kicking around right now either."

Eppard is further embracing innovation by allowing 3 fans a chance to partake in the record themselves. In their latest video for 'Rabid Animals,' which was originally from 2000 and redone for 'Revisions,' 3 put out a call to fans to submit their own videos as well as participate in real-time direction and brainstorming with the band during the shoot. For the new album, Eppard and 3 are going a step further.

"I want to invite fans to actually sing with me on one of the new songs," Eppard said. "I'm going to make a chorus available for download and accept tracks from fans singing along from their computers, their iPhones, their studios. I'll mix them all together to create a massive chorus. The best part is that people all over the world will actually have the opportunity to be part of this record."

Eppard will also do solo gigs in April.