Seven Mary Three (occasionally abbreviated to 7 Mary 3 or 7M3) is an American rock band. They released seven
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
s and one live album, and are best known for their hit
single "
Cumbersome".
Career
Formation
Seven Mary Three formed in 1992 when Jason Ross and Jason Pollock met while attending
The College of William & Mary in
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It had a population of 15,425 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern par ...
. Ross and Pollock split songwriting duties with Ross on lead vocals and rhythm guitar and Pollock on lead guitar and backing vocals. Bassist Casey Daniel and drummer Giti Khalsa joined the two, and the band began playing in coffeehouses and clubs.
Origin of group name
Guitarist Jason Pollock revealed in ''The Cavalier Daily'' that they came up with the name while watching the 1970s
TV series
A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...
''
CHiPs
''CHiPs'' is an American crime drama television series created by Rick Rosner and originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to May 1, 1983. After the final first-run telecast on NBC in May 1983, the series went into reruns on Sundays fr ...
''. '7 Mary 3' was the
call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...
for Officer Jon Baker, played by actor
Larry Wilcox. (7M3: police radio call sign; 7 designates the patrol beat, M for Mary designates that he is a motorcycle unit and 3 is his unit number.) Pollock noted, "There's no great significance or anything. We were just tired of trying to think of a cool name."
Mainstream success
In 1994 the band released the album ''
Churn'' independently. The album garnered the band airplay on WJRR 101.1 FM, a rock station in
Orlando, Florida
Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...
, for the future hit single "
Cumbersome".
Given this minor success, the band relocated to the Orlando area where they continued to expand their fan base.
This regional success soon caught the attention of major-label scouts.
In May 1995, Ross, Pollock, and Khalsa graduated from William & Mary and moved to Florida.
The band signed with Mammoth and re-recorded the songs on ''Churn'', plus two new ones, to create the commercially successful ''
American Standard'' in 1995.
Despite some critics accusing the band of mimicking
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge, grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, ...
and other
alternative rock
Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
acts, only seven months after its release, ''American Standard'' achieved
platinum status. This accomplishment can be attributed to the success of "Cumbersome," which was a Top 40 hit, as well as another single, "
Water's Edge", which fared well on the rock charts.
After touring throughout 1996, the band returned to the studio for a follow-up to ''American Standard''. During this time, Mammoth and Atlantic split, forcing Seven Mary Three to sign with
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
, releasing ''
RockCrown'' in 1997.
The album saw the band de-emphasize hard rock, focusing more on acoustic
folk rock
Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...
and a "traditional singer/songwriter" style. ''RockCrown'' did not match fan expectations, reaching No. 75 on the
''Billboard'' 200 and failing to match the success of its predecessor.
A second effort under Atlantic, ''
Orange Ave.'' debuted the following year and charted considerably lower; although, its single "Over Your Shoulder" performed moderately.
In 1999, Jason Pollock left the band after suffering from burnout and writer's block. Thomas Juliano was chosen as the band's new guitarist. In the summer of 2001, Seven Mary Three returned to Mammoth Records and producer Tom Morris. The resulting effort became ''
The Economy of Sound''. This fifth studio album included the single "
Wait", a track that served as the lead single from the ''
Crazy/Beautiful film soundtrack''.
After ''The Economy of Sound'', the group shifted once again to
DRT Entertainment and, in 2004, released ''
Dis/Location''. Their sixth studio album, it failed entirely to chart as did its only single. Four years later, a seventh album, ''
Day & Nightdriving'', was released under Bellum Records.
Giti Khalsa left the band in 2006 after recording the drum tracks for ''Day & Nightdriving'', and Mike Levesque joined the band on drums.
In December 2008, the group re-released their long out-of-print debut album ''Churn''. On February 9, 2010, Seven Mary Three released the live acoustic album ''Backbooth''.
Seven Mary Three broke up suddenly in December 2012, without any announcements or updates to their website or Facebook page. The following year, Jason Ross became the head of media and strategic partnerships for
The Bowery Presents
The Bowery Presents is the East Coast regional partner of AEG Live. It owns and operates multiple venues in New York City, Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts i ...
, one of New York's most powerful music production companies.
On December 15, 2021, Seven Mary Three's Facebook page was updated for the first time since 2012, with a link to a website called High Shelter, where Jason Ross addressed the hiatus, the current status of the band, and future plans.
On October 4, 2023, Seven Mary Three released the song "Settle Up" as a single for the re-issue of their 2004 album, ''
Dis/Location''.
Band members
* Jason Ross – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1992–2012, 2021-present)
* Jason Pollock – lead guitar, backing vocals (1992–1999)
* Casey Daniel – bass (1992–2012)
* Giti Khalsa – drums (1992–2006)
* Thomas Juliano – lead guitar, backing vocals (1999–2012)
* Mike Levesque – drums (2006–2012)
Note: Paul Smith of Megaphone contributed guitar tracks to Seven Mary Three's second and third studio albums (Rockcrown, and Orange Ave.), and toured as an additional guitarist with the band in support of both albums.
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Live albums
Singles
EPs
* ''B-Sides & Rarities'' (1997) Seven-cut promo EP issued by Atlantic Recording Corp. and Mammoth Records. PRCD 8339-2
* ''Weed, CA'' (2002)
* ''Welcome Race Fans'' (2003)
Compilation and soundtrack contributions
* "Cumbersome" & "Water's Edge" – ''Edgefest 96 Live CD (Dayton, Ohio) WXEGFM (https://www.discogs.com/release/2454087-Various-Edgefest-96
)''
* "Shelf Life" – ''
The Crow: City of Angels'' (1996 soundtrack)
* "Blackwing" – ''
MOM: Music for Our Mother Ocean'' (1996
Surfrider Foundation benefit album)
* "My, My" – ''Milk It for All It's Worth'' (1996 compilation)
* "My, My" – ''ESPN Presents X Games Volume 1: Music from the Edge'' (1996 compilation)
* "Blackwing" – ''
Hurricane Streets'' (1998 soundtrack)
* "Lucky" – ''Pepsi Pop Culture'' (1998 compilation)
* "Lucky" – ''101.5
KZON
KZON (103.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Gilbert, Arizona, and broadcasting to the Phoenix metropolitan area. It simulcasts an Rhythmic Hot AC radio format with co-owned KMVA 97.5 FM Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona, as "Hot 97.5 ...
The Zone Collectibles: Volume Six'' (1998 compilation)
* "Wait" – ''
Crazy/Beautiful'' (2001 soundtrack)
* "Cumbersome" – ''
Live in the X Lounge IV'' (2001 charity album)
* "Sleepwalking" – ''8 Ways to Rock: A Mammoth Records Thriller'' (compilation)
* "Laughing Out Loud" – ''Paste Magazine Issue 40 CD Sampler'' (2008 compilation)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seven Mary Three
Alternative rock groups from Virginia
College of William & Mary alumni
Musical groups from Florida
American post-grunge musical groups
Musical groups established in 1992
1992 establishments in Virginia
Mammoth Records artists
Atlantic Records artists
DRT Entertainment artists
Musical groups from Virginia