3 DAYS GRACE

Three Days Grace is a Canadian rock band, formed under the name Groundswell in Norwood, Ontario, Canada in 1992. After a breakup in 1995, the band reformed in 1997 under its current name and with a line-up consisting of guitarist and lead vocalist Adam Gontier, drummer and backing vocalist Neil Sanderson, and bassist Brad Walst. In 2003, Barry Stock was recruited as the band's lead guitarist. After signing to Jive Records, Three Days Grace released two studio albums, Three Days Grace in 2003 and One-X in 2006, both of which have been certified platinum and double platinum in the US and Canada, respectively. In 2007, the band was declared number one rock artist of the year by Billboard and was the number four artist in airplay in Canada that same year. The band's third album, Life Starts Now, was released on September 22, 2009.

HISTORY

Three Days Grace formed in 1992 under the name Groundswell in Norwood, Ontario, Canada. Groundswell's line-up consisted of five members: Adam Gontier (vocals, guitar), Neil Sanderson (backing vocals, drums), Brad Walst (bass), Phil Crowe (guitar), and Joe Grant (guitar), all of whom were attending high school when the band formed. In 1997, after being disbanded for two years, the band regrouped in Toronto as a trio consisting of Gontier, Sanderson, and Walst. They also changed their name to "Three Days Grace". According to Gontier, the name stands for the question: If you had three days to change something in your life, could you do it? Once in Toronto, the band became acquainted with local producer Gavin Brown. The band gave him several years of material that they had created since forming, and he "picked out what he called 'the golden nuggets'", according to Gontier.[3] Brown and the band polished the songs into a demo album which they gave to EMI Music Publishing Canada. The record label wanted to hear more material, and with Brown producing, the band created the song, "I Hate Everything About You", which attracted the interest of several record labels. The band was soon signed to Jive Records after being sought out by the company's president.

MUSIC STYLE

Three Days Grace's musical style has generally been described by critics as alternative metal and hard rockthroughout the band's career. Heather Phares of Allmusic, in a review of the band's debut album, compared them to rock bands Chevelle and Helmet.Dave Doray of IGN described Three Days Grace as "heavy and catchy, with chewy chunks of assurance and fury thrown in for added measure." Allmusic's Corey Apar said One-X brings an "accessible alt-metal attack of blunt lyrics and crunching rhythms" that retains the melodic sound of its predecessor "despite its lyrical darkness". The band has listed numerous influences in their music. Gontier has mentioned such bands as Sunny Day Real Estate, Kyuss, Nine Inch Nails, and Tool as influences for the band's music.According to Gontier, the lyrics for Three Days Grace songs have mostly been influenced by the Seattle music scene. He summarized about the band's influences in an interview, "Musically there's a lot of different influences, but lyrically it's hard to have different influences because you just write."

BAND MEMBERS

Adam Gontier – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (since 1997) Brad Walst – bass guitar, backing vocals (since 1997) Neil Sanderson – drums, keyboaThree Days Grace (2003) Barry Stock – lead guitar (since 2003)

ALBUM

Three Days Grace (2003) One-X (2006) Life Starts Now (2009)