3RDegree Music

3RDegree began when founder/bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Robert James Pashman met with drummer Rob Durham in December of 1990 with a common love of the progressive rock bands they had grown up with & in hopes of picking up where Pashman’s last band had left off. A six month union with a guitarist didn’t pan out until new guitarist Pat Kliesch was added in the summer of 1991 & the band played its first show that November. Kliesch’s hard driving off-kilter riffs & juxtaposed melodic acoustic writing gelled with Pashman’s soaring hooks within strange meter: all this thrown in with the most capable Durham who reveled in the challenge of holding it all together. This would be the band’s mantra to the present day: create challenging music to play but always with a memorable, singable calling card. The first chapter would be THE WORLD IN WHICH WE LIVE-a 10 song collection which was played all over New Jersey & New York City in rock venues from 1992 through 1995 alongside the much more interesting & refined tracks that would be its epic follow-up.

But one piece of the puzzle would be imperative to getting the band more noticed than ever before: a world-class lead vocalist. George Dobbs, who would be added in the summer of ’95 would be that man. Also a keyboardist and bassist, the band’s live shows would be a much fuller affair & the studio album a much more polished & diverse one. HUMAN INTEREST STORY was released & well received in April of 1996, but frustration with the band’s inabilities to find its market niche & fan base in a pre-internet age would make a January 1997 CBGB’s performance its last.

In December of 2005, the three original members of the band met in a NYC bar with the idea of reforming. Demos were made of new & old songs left on the cutting room floor that the band had always thought were their strongest. Their singer would be found by July & the backing tracks for a new album recorded by October. April of 2007, would see the band playing their first live shows in over ten years at NJ Proghouse-a venue that would definitely have saved the band from its earlier demise. The event & previous night’s acoustic show would be captured in high definition & later released on DVD & double CD. The internet would also figure largely into 3RDegree redux finding new fans & even re-connecting with the original ones so that by summer 2008 when the band were ready with NARROW-CASTER-it wouldn’t fall on deaf ears at its Nearfest (Bethlehem, PA progressive rock festival) debut. The reviews of this CD would herald that it was nothing short of the band’s ”masterwork” & possibly even worth the wait! A new “Eco-Wallet” version was released December 2, 2008.

3RDegree have been writing & recording new material as of early 2009.