It’s a little more than two weeks into Seven Mary Three’s first American tour, but already guitarist Jason Pollock is showing signs that the band’s overnight success is taking its toll.
He sounds strangely world-weary when he describes how the group’s hit single, Cumbersome, from its major-label debut American Standard, turned this unassuming, grass-roots Orlando quartet into the latest alternative discovery to achieve gold-record status. The group is scheduled to perform Thursday at Pompano Beach Amphitheatre.
“It’s a lot more work now, having to keep up with the tempo of a tour and publicity,” he said by telephone from Tucson. “But there haven’t been too many changes yet in our personal lives. I expect a lot more …”
The biggest change, of course, came last year, when Orlando radio station WJRR started pushing a version of Cumbersome that sounded a bit like Live, from the band’s self-produced release, Churn. It was a good omen: WJRR is the same outlet that broke another up-and-coming band, Collective Soul.
But like most success stories, the tale of Seven Mary Three begins quite a bit earlier. In 1992, Pollock met vocalist Jason Ross while both attended the College of William and Mary.
“One day Jason suggested we get together and jam because we had both started playing guitar,” recalled Pollock, 23. “I heard him sing and knew right away that we’d be working together for a long time.”
From there, the songwriting duo enlisted drummer Giti Khalsa and began playing mostly acoustic shows throughout the Southeast. It was after Ross’ high school friend Casey Daniel came on as bassist that the band moved to Orlando, adopting a harder-edged electric approach.
But despite the additional members, Seven Mary Three remained the brainchild of the Jasons.
“Jason and I, this is our vision,” Pollock said. “Not all of this is due to luck. It just happens that people are saying that it’s all happening because of both he and I. We do have a huge say in what goes on, but in the end we’re all good friends.”
Much to their chagrin, Seven Mary Three has been labeled with that most vague of rock terms, “alternative.”
“Unfortunately, people forget that the basis of alternative is just simple, good rock ‘n’ roll,” Pollock commented. “If we get compared to Live, fine, that’s great … To be honest, when someone comes up and says, ‘Hey, you guys are a great rock band,’ that’s all that matters.”
But the battle over whether the group is alternative isn’t the only identity crisis it’s suffered. There’s also the matter of its name, an obscure moniker that some have determined to be a religious reference (the Seven is for the Seven Deadly Sins, Mary for the Virgin Mary, and Three to represent the Trinity).
That’s just a bit too highfalutin for these guys.
“The truth is we got it from an episode of CHiPS,” Pollock said. “We had all grown so tired of trying to come up with a cool name, and we were just sitting around watching TV, when the show came on and the blond guy said, ‘Seven Mary three, seven Mary three, we got an accident at such and such.’ We just looked at each other and said, ‘That’s it.”‘
— Seven Mary Three is booked Thursday at Pompano Beach Amphitheatre, 1801 NE Sixth St. Verve Pipe and Gus are scheduled opening acts. Show time is 8 p.m. Tickets $16. Call Ticketmaster, 1-407-966-3309, 1-954-523-3309, 1-305-358-5885.
