Q&A: 3OH!3 shares college party roots, musical journey as a band
Sean Foreman, of the duo 3OH!3, performs at Central Michigan University in McGuirk Arena March 29.
Fresh off of their 10th anniversary tour of the 2008 album, "WANT," Colorado natives Nathaniel "Nat" Motte and Sean Foreman strive to keep the college house party energy rocking through 3OH!3.
The duo formed in 2004 after meeting in a physics class at the University of Colorado Boulder. Foreman was pursuing an undergraduate degree in English and considering a career teaching in higher education. Motte was preparing his medical school applications.
After many recording sessions in basements, the two recognized their favorite post-class activity could vibrate into an entertainment career full of electronic booms, comedic rapping and Parental Advisory labels.
After signing in 2007 with Photo Finish Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records, the pair have created music featuring Katy Perry and Ke$ha and songs like "Don't Trust Me," "Starstrukk," "My First Kiss" and "Touchin' on My."
While their latest album "Night Sports" came out in 2016, Foreman said the two have devoted time to working on external projects and offered creative collaborations with other artists trying to channel party-centered, unapologetic energy.
Prior to taking the stage March 29 in McGuirk Arena, the two sat down with Central Michigan Life to talk about the band's musical journey and the college atmosphere that inspired it all.
What do you think of college shows and how do they align with your goals as artists?
Motte: Sean and I went to the University of Colorado Boulder, which is a big school and we had so much fun. That’s where we met and started making music. We took school seriously and managed to have a lot of fun in school as well. In appliance to our goals, it’s stressful being in school, especially this time of the year when the end of the semester is creeping up and stuff. It’s nice to be able to hopefully put a smile on people’s faces and hopefully take them away from there.
What is 3OH!3's genre?
Motte: It’s interesting, I think we set out when we first started making music to combine a lot of stuff. Electronic music for us was so influential. For me, inspiration came from bands like Daft Punk and rock bands that incorporated a lot of electronics into their sound, like Nine Inch Nails. We kind of grew up when techno really started to get big and popular. For us, combining all of those genres was something we did overtly and it’s kind of cool to see it was in 2007-09 that pop music really started including a lot of electronic music, and it was cool to be involved in that. Now it feels like people set out to make a song that’s in a certain genre and that kind of plays upon certain styles, but I think it’s all about meshing into one. As far as what we consider ourselves: I don’t really know. I guess we’re electronic rap pop-bad music.
Foreman: I saw on Google it was one of the frequently asked questions: "What genre is 3OH!3?" It said electro pop, crunkcore crap.
Do you like how your performances now are about nostalgia as opposed to introducing new music?
Motte: We’re coming off a 10th anniversary tour where we played our first album front-to-back. At all of our shows, we try to do the greatest hits of all of our stuff. We try to incorporate stuff from all of the records we’ve done. I think as an artist you want to make sure you play stuff (fans) want to hear. If they come to your show and they like older stuff, you’ve got to play it, and it’s fun for us.
Foreman: We always have a bet, or at least we should start having a bet, on how many songs we can get into our set before someone yells “DON’T TRUST ME." We know that’s a song that everyone wants to hear.
What do you value most in your musical career?
Foreman: For us, I think our centered value is that we are welcoming and pretty normal guys in a lot of ways. We welcome everyone to our shows to just have fun, we don’t have a certain aesthetic that you have to dress this way or whatever. We like a lot of different music and honestly we are very open minded to whoever likes coming to our shows and having a good time. Everyone is absolutely welcomed and those doors are open, we aren’t here to distance our scene and say this is how you got to look or be.
What has made your musical journey so special?
Foreman: We had those moments early on because honestly I think our paths were kind of centered simply on that this was fun for us. It was a hobby, it was something we did in college. I always loved music. I kind of wanted to be involved with it in some capacity and honestly if I had to make a living, I was thinking about being a professor or keeping involved in school. I don’t think we ever did the thing where you move to New York or Los Angeles and sort of have a “this is all or nothing” lifestyle. We were just dynamic people in the sense we all like a lot of different stuff and kept that open in our lives, and still do.
Motte: We knew nothing about the music industry, which was such a blessing to us because everything that happened just happened because it was a fun opportunity. It was like, “Oh! You guys can go to the studio and record, sick!” Or, "Oh! We’re going to release your album with a label, amazing!” It was really a cool step-wise thing for us and I think as Sean said, it was really a hobby that became a career.
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