Photo by Daniel Gallagher.
By Bailey Lucero-Carter
All under age 23, the members of the band 3PM have released two albums, performed this summer at the Vans Warped Tour and played as an opening act for the popular alternative rock band All Time Low. The band will even be featured on the Rock and Roll Stage at Clarendon Day in Arlington this weekend.
But their recent success hasn’t dented the egos of these three friends, who formed their Baltimore-based pop punk group two years ago. Singer and bassist Brennan Stark, guitarist Scott Montgomery and drummer Brandon Millman laugh and joke as they speak about music and advice for new bands.
Why is your band called 3PM?
Montgomery: Well, we don’t really like to share that. … It’s a sacred secret. We can tell you that it’s an acronym. You can guess all you want, but I doubt you’ll get it.
How do you think you’ve grown since your beginnings?
Stark: When we started off, we all just kind of jammed together and clicked instantly. We were best friends and we’ve grown a lot since then, musically and personally.
Montgomery: And physically.
Stark: … [Our] personal lives in general contribute to our song writing and things like that, so our song writing has progressed as well. Our maturity with our music has increased a lot. Comparing our first album to our new album, you can definitely tell that we’re a little bit more experienced with songwriting and we’ve experienced a little more of the real world.
Of the songs you’ve written, do you have a favorite, or a song that’s closest to you?
Millman: Well, personally, it would be the same one as the album title, ‘Slow Me Down.’ … That song was actually from all three of us. It’s not an event from one of us. It’s actually not an event in particular. It’s just the feeling of what’s going on right now. We’re really busy all the time. We’re in school, we have our social lives and our love lives and whatever else is going on. Right now we’re all really struggling with balancing and getting [a chance] to breathe and that’s kind of what that song is about.
Do you have any advice for new bands that want to start getting big?
Millman: We have lots, actually. We could go on forever about advice for young bands. A few important points are, 1) treat it like a business, because it is. There’s time to have fun and there’s time to buckle down. We do things we don’t want to do all the time. It’s certainly no fun making e-mail lists for media, but you got to do what you got to do; 2) be on every kind of social media and master it, because you need it; and 3) don’t rely on it. You got to out there in the physical world and promote yourself.
Montgomery: Whether it’s going to a big Vans show and handing out stuff or going to a local show and making friends with the other bands. Their fans are very possible to be your fans, so you can cross-promote those shows and that’s the best way to get your name out. … It makes a huge difference getting out there in person.
Clarendon Day
Sept. 27
11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Free, rain or shine
