The End is Begun... don’t take the title of Woodstock, N.Y.’s Three’s latest release as a pessimistic statement, but as a positive one. This album is not telling us that this is the end of music. It is telling us to think for ourselves. It is striving to put an END to mediocre and dull music - that you hear most of the time on radio - and to BEGIN reemerging a new chapter of music like Three. They are one of the most important bands on the progressive rock/metal scene today. The End is Begun is a blend of metal, folk, pop, funk and melody all mixed into one exciting release. You’ve never heard a band like this. Just check it out for yourself and you’ll get it.

Cheap Shot! had the pleasure to sit down with songwriter/vocalist/guitarist of Three, Joey Eppard, at the The Troc Balcony, as the band was midway through a mini-headlining tour of the east coast. We were lucky enough to be able to watch Joey do a quick sound check, since the venue let them in only an hour before the doors opened up. He already had his fingers moving; this man needs no pick, and he played a bit from Three’s “The World Is Born of Flame” and “The Game” from his solo release. This was a pleasure for Cheap Shot! writer Sean Monaghan, who was the one who sat down and talked with Joey at the vacant balcony above The Troc main stage. They spoke about the upcoming “Progressive Nation” tour, his solo releases, Steven Wilson possibly producing the next Three release, renting Unsolved Mysteries DVD sets and much more!

CS: What are your thoughts on this venue?

Joey: I actually will probably have a lot more to comment on that after the show. I mean, I’ve never been here before. It’s a small stage, so that’s always a challenge for a band like us, with so much gear. But you know, that’s part of the fun...part of paying the dues. So ,we’ll make it work up there, and hopefully I won’t break anything or hurt myself or others in the process.

CS: You are from Woodstock, N.Y. and Three had a hometown show there last week during the Thanksgiving holiday, how was your Thanksgiving at home and the hometown show?

Joey: It was great! It was actually really nice to be home for a minute. We spent a lot of time on the road this summer and fall, so having a moment at home was really nice. And it was nice to do the hometown show with all the friends and family. It’s kind of our support center - so it was a lot of fun.

Three's Joey Eppard (left) talking to Sean Monaghan

CS: Three will be joining Dream Theater, Opeth, and Between the Buried and Me for the upcoming “Progressive Nation” tour in the spring. Mike Portnoy [drummer of Dream Theater] has been big fan of your live show ever since he seen you guys in Philly at the Electric Factory, last year. What does this tour mean to Three and are you a fan of any of the bands you’ll be hitting the road with?

Joey: Absolutely man! I think they are all very influential bands. We feel like we have to have our "A" game on this tour. I think, every band that you tour with, you take a little something, you know, from that experience. That’s one of the main reasons why I’m looking forward to it. And, of course, to expand our fan base in front of some new people. Especially Mike...his whole thing is that he feels the people that they [Dream Theater] draw are going to appreciate what we do, and that’s why he’s been the driving force behind putting this thing together.

CS: How cool was it to shoot the “All That Remains” video in the remains of an old castle?

Joey: That’s something I’ve always dreamed about doing. Because I used to see this pretty random…you would take a train from Poughkeepsie down to New York and you’d see this castle in the middle of the Hudson River. Like, what’s a castle, you know, (laughs) doing in the middle of the Hudson River? But it’s a pretty cool story, and it just so happened that we asked the right questions at the right time, and we were able to get permission to take a pontoon boat with all our gear - that was practically sinking -out to this island. And it was actually a tougher load in than this gig is (laughs), and that’s saying a lot, but it was an awesome, amazing place.

CS: Three has been on tour with Porcupine Tree two times now across the U.S. in the past year. How important were those gigs for Three to build a bigger fan base? Are there any future collaboration between Steven Wilson and the band? Maybe Steven producing the next Three release?

Joey: We love Steven, and I feel like we became friends. We actually did two tours with him this year; first was in May, and the second in October. About midway through that second tour, he actually approached me and said that he loved the new record, and he would love for us to keep him in mind when we do the next record. So there’s a good chance of that. But, you know, it’s hard to say when we’re ready to make the next record, is he going to be out on tour or unavailable? That’s a possibility. But if he’s around, and we’re around, and the stars align, we would love to work together.

CS: That’s great, because he produced three great records with Opeth.

Joey: Yeah, he’s done great work with Opeth, and I think it’s benefited Porcupine Tree and Opeth. You sort of see a little bit of a cross-pollination between those bands – Porcupine Tree getting heavier, Opeth exploring a little more of a progressive thing.

CS: Percussionist/keyboardist Joe Stote has been with Three for a few years now. When exactly did he join the band?

Joey: Well I used to see him go play with Chris, our drummer; they used to have a band called Peacebomb, and I was a big fan. So they’ve been playing together for years, and Peacebomb kind of fell apart, and everyone sort of scattered for awhile. I was doing my thing with Three, and when I needed to kinda put the band back together, I went after the guys from Peacebomb, because they were a major influence for me. We, for a little while, had the bass player from Peacebomb, Joe Cuchelo, and we had Chris Gartmann. We were doing a hometown gig and Joe Stote happened to be around and I said “why don’t you grab some percussion stuff, man and you know see what happens?” We actually had a lot of fun. It felt really good, and we asked him to join the band right then and there and that was 2002-2003, in that range. Yeah, those guys have been playing together longer than I’ve been playing with them, so they have good chemistry.

CS: They have an impressive duet drum/percussion solo that they do during Three’s live show.

Joey: Yeah, they have a thing that they do, and I’m a fan of that, so to have them in my band is a lot of fun for me.

CS: Your 2002 solo release Been to the Future is well received and popular among fans of Three. Are there any plans for a future solo release or tour?

Joey: It’s hard to say when I’ll be able to put together a tour, as far as a solo thing, because we’re trying to break this band right now. So it’s, pretty much, we’re gonna tour non-stop. Anytime we’re not touring is precious time that you need to recuperate at home. It takes a lot out of you - all the traveling and stuff. It’s going to be a little while before I can do a solo tour. I do one -ff shows here and there and sometimes during the 3 shows I…(cell phone rings) ..lost my train of thought. Sometimes during the Three shows I’ll do some acoustic tracks and when we do a longer set I like to do that, it depends on the situation. But I do have a disc in the car right now with 20 some songs that are all in consideration for the next solo release, and I actually have a solo record that I did and it’s basically done. And then I have another record that I did with Jerry Marotta [studio drummer and member of Philly’s own Hall and Oates from 1979-81]. I have these three - really it’s more than three, more like four - albums of material that have to be finalized. I have to decide how I want to handle putting them out.

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