Who is Three Chord Mafia? For that matter, what is Three Chord Mafia? For many of you
first reading this, it is a justifiable question. Three Chord Mafia is the brain child of Bad Stain
Records founder, Chase Stain.
While Stain was performing in his former band, Dirty Laundry, he came up with notion of
creating an album, completely set around an influential novel he read as a child. Dirty
Laundry dismembered before he could obtain his goal, and Stain eventually brought the idea
to his current band, Numbers On Napkins. Over the years, Stain had incorporated his pet
project to include a full theatrical stage show, that also would interpret the novel for viewers
of the bands live performance.
Numbers On Napkins was less than thrilled about Stain's idea. Frustrated, Stain
eventually decided that if none of his bands wanted to partake in his dream, he would set off
to create a super group of musicians to perform the album. Eventually Stain realized that he
didn't even need to be a part of the project, but perhaps could act the role of the Producer for
the band.
Stain set off to find the perfect pieces to complete his puzzle. On January 19th, 2006, Stain
embarked on his difficult task, shortly after creating the official website for the band.
Throughout the entire process, Stain has documented each event in the Diary section of this
website. He has gone through nearly forty members before choosing the perfect line up,
and collectively the band has written over a dozen songs .
Many questions are still left unanswered about the bands history. The band members
names have been kept secret, because of Stain's belief that the project is not about fame or
money, just the pure love of music.
After conversing with several members of the band, they came up with the notion of writing
the music through various experimental techniques. The first technique took place in
February of 2006 with members fasting for 10 days, in the hopes that writing music during
that period would satisfy their hunger. The first experiment was not as successful as had
hoped, but helped to lay the foundation of the album.
The second technique was conducted throughout the month of April of 2006 in an
apartment in Phoenix, AZ. Members locked themselves in a single 400 square foot room
and wrote for 30 days. Members would occasionally take bathroom brakes and the band
would eat 3 meals daily as a family. Every meal, every day, for the entire 30 days consisted
of Chinese food from a nearby restaurant that would deliver their meals to them. Some
members found it hard to stay the entire duration, due to day jobs and other bands that they
perform in. Unfortunately, members would sometimes come and go. Although every
member did sleep in the same room with no blankets or pillows.
The third technique took place on May 16th and 17th, 2006 in Kingman, AZ. Members
drove to a desolate area and camped for the next 48 hours. Most of the band experimented
with mind altering drugs while writing. The session proved to be the most helpful thus far,
although many of the songs recordings did not do justice. So TCM took a short break to
clear their minds.
In early December of 2006, TCM chose to try their next experimental writing session about
15 miles north of Flagstaff, AZ. The band hiked deep into the forest and camped out with the
wildlife in the snow covered woods over the next 4 days. Again, members chose to use mild
altering drugs to help enhance the experience. The project was a success and the band
then traveled into their studio to lay down pre-production tracks for their album.
It is still unclear how long the process will take to finish their masterpiece. Experimental
writing sessions still continue, and progress is still being made. At the current time, Three
Chord Mafia consists of over twenty members from various bands that reside in the state of
Arizona. The identities of the members still remain a closely guarded secret.
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