Pride Tiger Heart 3 Inches Of Blood

05/20/09 1:14pm

by Bob Froese (CHARTattack)

Initially I thought this would be a breeze, seeing as Sunny [Dhak], Matt [Wood] and myself from Pride Tiger were once in 3 Inches Of Blood and Mike [Payette] has been tight with the boys since the band's inception. But when it came down to putting pen to paper I realized there are way too many stories for a 500-word article.

It's amazing to me, thinking back to the start of 3 Inches Of Blood and how far they've progressed. From playing punk house shows to Ozzfest. From silk-screening our own five-song demos, to Roadrunner Records and international success. The band have had numerous member changes and somehow they've come out with their tightest record in Fire Up The Blades and their strongest lineup in Cam [Pipes], Jamie [Hooper], Justin [Hagberg], Shane Clark, Nick [Cates] and Alexei [Rodriguez].

The four of us consider Cam [Pipes] and Hoops [Jamie Hooper] to be two of our closest friends.

Sunny and I grew up with Hoops in a small town in northern B.C. We've skateboarded and been in bands for as long as I can remember. I have no doubt in my mind that we will be brothers ‘til the day we die. We've known Justin [Hagberg] and Shane [Clark] for years, too. They're respected musicians and good friends from the Vancouver and Victoria scenes. I have yet to really bro-down with the Blood's newest members, Alexei [Rodriguez] and Nick [Cates], but I will say the band couldn't have chosen a more handsome rhythm section. I still consider the U.K. tour we did with The Darkness when I was in 3IOB to be the best time of my life. Amazing. That one could be another article on its own.

The trials these guys have pushed through are mind-blowing and would have collapsed nearly any other band. They deserve everything they have and much more. We owe them a lot. They gave us their trailer and Matt still owes them $400 from a mirror he smashed in Austria.

Without 3 Inches Of Blood, our band Pride Tiger would not exist.

Four things Hoops needs to bring back to the 3IOB stage show:

• Back in the early days Hoops carved a giant wooden sword and made it into a microphone.

• Fire-breathing, which he would do off of the wooden sword mic. He almost killed some Edmontonians and nearly lit up the venue.

• We used to have this giant plastic pumpkin head kicking around our house. Hoops turned it into a headpiece. Pointless, but hilarious. There are pics of that show somewhere.

• Last but not least, they need to bring back the homemade coffin that we used to escort Hoops onstage in. I still have those pics.

—Bob Froese of Pride Tiger

The following feature is from the July 2007 issue of Chart Magazine. To purchase the issue, go to the CHARTattack Shop.