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Alternative rockers Seven Mary Three have a 'handle' on success

By Colin Bartos
Daily Arts Writer

It seems like the music industry's success stories are currently riding the wave of good old grassroots straightforward rock'n'roll. First came Hootie and the Blowfish, who turned their little bar band into a 14-million-record seller. Now get ready for Seven Mary Three, who, with a No. 1 single "Cumbersome" on the alternative charts, are starting to be noticed.

Seven Mary Three includes Jason Ross, Jason Pollock, Casey Daniel and Giti Khalsa. Ross and Pollock started fooling around with the notion of forming a band in 1992, and the notion was realized when they met drummer Khalsa at the College of William and Mary. Ross' poems and short stories for English class quickly turned into songs as lead guitarist Pollock provided musical ideas. Ross invited his friend Daniel from the University of Florida to play bass, and Seven Mary Three was born.

The name "Seven Mary Three" comes from the TV show "Chips," a topic Khalsa was eager to talk about. "Seven Mary Three was the handle of (Chips character) John Baker," Khalsa said. "John was always saving Ponch's ass, you know. He was always sort of the underdog but he always came through in the end. ... Now (Ponch) is doing infomercials with Sally Struthers."

In 1992 Seven Mary Three recorded and produced their own CD "Churn," and toured on weekends when they weren't attending classes. Khalsa talked about the whole struggle of doing everything for themselves from the beginning. "I think it gave us a really good perspective on how important the grassroots level of things is. If you want to establish yourselves as a long-term project and as a band with integrity, it's very helpful.

"For us, just recording an album on our own, with limited means, was a very fulfilling experience, and traumatic at the same time. We just learned a lot about the recording process and how things get done, and how the industry works. Taking ("Churn") to Mom and Pop stores ... I think we learned the value of networking with a product," Khalsa said.

"A lot of bands are a little intimidated by the record companies," he said. "New bands are constantly getting ripped off. Most of the time, when that happens, it's because they let themselves get ripped off. Going through that whole process for us was very much an education."

"Churn" attracted a lot of attention and Seven Mary Three eventually signed with Mammoth Records, distributed but not owned by Atlantic Records. Khalsa said Mammoth is perfect because "we've got the total indie label support, we've got a group of people we're very close to, and we've got the big machine behind us." Mammoth released Seven Mary Three's new album "American Standard" in September 1995.

Khalsa described the songs on "American Standard" as "a document of our own lives and people we've known -- people we've read about." They listen to everything from Miles Davis to Motley Crue, which accounts for the wide variety of songs on the album. "We definitely look up to Tom Petty and Neil Young ... Pearl Jam," Khalsa said. "(Our music) is an impassioned, intense rock'n'roll sound. It's definitely got an edge to it, but at heart we're a rock'n'roll band."

The first single, "Cumbersome," has been all the over the radio and MTV in the past couple of months or so, to the amazement of the band. "I think we're all a little surprised at how well that song has done," Khalsa said. "We had a feeling it would do pretty well; we never expected it to become a No. 1 single. It's great that people are excited about the song and are playing the heck out of it. But ... we're ready to move on."

Khalsa explained, "`Cumbersome' is a great song, but none of us feel it's our best. We feel that there's stronger material on the record. `Water's Edge' (the next single) is a little more representative of what we're about and what we're doing."

When asked about the chance that "Water's Edge" might become as big as "Cumbersome," Khalsa did not shy away from the prospect of success. "It'd be great. We're definitely in the rock'n'roll business and we're proud of it ... we have no qualms with it. I don't think any band can be prepared for that catapult. The most important thing to us is our music and having our fans enjoy our music."

The band has drawn criticism for sounding like many of the bands already out on the circuit today, such as Hootie and the Blowfish and Stone Temple Pilots. Khalsa said they do not get discouraged; just "roll with it. It's so early that most of the time the criticism is based on people's impression of one song (`Cumbersome')," Khalsa explained. "What sets us apart from a lot of bands today ... is our work ethic and how that relates to our live performance. We try to relate to as many people as we can."

Seven Mary Three is now playing more intimate clubs. If the time comes for the band to play bigger venues, Khalsa said they'll be ready. "I think there are bands out there that are successful at keeping a level of intimacy, even with 30,000 people. If you can connect with the guy who's in the nosebleed seats and make him feel like he's part of the show, then you've done your job. I hope we can rise to the challenge."

Seven Mary Three does love to play live. "We pretty much live for being on the road right now ... it's definitely one of our favorite aspects of the whole thing. It's something I think we've always enjoyed." The band continues on the second leg of what Khalsa refers to as their "never ending tour" until the end of March, when they will travel to Europe to play into early summer.

After a couple weeks off, Seven Mary Three was thinking of switching it up a little bit. "We're probably going to do some kind of shed tour where we play small amphitheaters and things like that. It'll open the doors to the younger crowd," Khalsa said. "I remember as a kid in the summertime wanting to go to concerts when I was little and I couldn't."