High fives for Three Thumbs Up

The live musical landscape is changing in Northern Michigan. Maybe ‘expanding’ is a better way to define it. For years the scene has been rooted in blues, top 40 and classic rock and pop tunes, and while that scene hasn’t disappeared, it has simply made room on the stage for bands playing progressive modern rock.
Bands like Three Thumbs Up from Traverse City, who for the past year have been packing area clubs with their blend of progressive modern rock and seldom-heard classic tunes. What started out three years ago as a fun mid-week get-together anchoring a popular open mic night at Streeters, has resulted in being in high demand with club owners and live music fans alike. This weekend they will be at Northern Lites in Traverse City and the last weekend in February they head to All Stars in Buckley.
The band is made up of longtime Northern Michigan music scenesters Dave Weber on bass, drummer DC Crawford (both guys are in the metal thrashing band Commonfaced), vocalist Aaron Anderson and the dual guitar attack of Jon Head and Matt Sharp. Three Thumbs Up (TTU as they are now being called by show regulars) attributes their success to “chemistry” and “giving the people what they want.”

WINNING COMBINATION
“We all have been in our share of bands, especially bands where the chemistry, has not been there. Once we solidified our current line-up we could feel the chemistry and people coming out to the shows sense it as well,” said Aaron Anderson. “We have caught a lot of people off guard with our approach. But the formula is pretty simple: keep butts in the bar and people on the dance floor and you have a winning combination.”
Three Thumbs Up is thriving at what some bar and club owners are describing as a “challenged” live music scene in Northern Michigan. With economic uncertainty and what some say is too much of the “same ol’, same ol,” live local music has been inconsistent, and TTU along with some other bands have been bringing new energy to the scene.
“Look, we all come from different musical backgrounds; we have metal guys, blues guys, classic rock guys and even a guy who once bounced around in spandex doing ‘80s stuff. We are musicians who love all types of music and I don’t want to piss off other bands, because there are so many talented people and a lot of great bands up here. But I think things have gotten a little sleepy on the live scene,” said DC Crawford. “What we are doing is mixing things up a little bit. You have to do that or things will remain stale. I think there is room for it all but maybe what people are saying right now is there has been a little bit too much of the same thing.”
Anderson agrees.
“What we are doing is helping to rejuvenate the scene,” said Anderson. “We are playing a lot of music other bands won’t touch but it is what the people want to hear. Nothing against ‘Mustang Sally’ but it has been beaten to death -- but you know what -- we could pull that out of our ass if we had to. It is all about giving the people what they want to hear.”

TOP OF WHAT’S HOT
Anderson and the others are quick to point out that while they can play just about anything, they are not suggesting by any means that this is an “invitation” for requests of worn-out classics. The TTU formula is a blend of progressive modern rock with a sampling of obscure classics that mixes showmanship and talented musicianship.
“We stay on top of what is hot -- the stuff being played on the modern rock stations. It appeals to the 21 to 35 year olds. But we play some classic stuff like ‘Fire’ by Hendrix and ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic’,” said Dave Weber. “It is great to look out on the dance floor and see 25-year-olds and 55-year-olds getting into this.”
As for the musicianship, Anderson “pipes” in that it seals the deal.
“We have seasoned guys on stage with a lot of talent, so it makes it look easy. In fact we don’t rehearse. I think we have rehearsed together about five times in three years. Jon gives us a CD with new songs and we listen to them and then agree which ones we are going to add to the sets,” said Anderson. “This is about entertainment, giving the people a good time. Granted, we are mixing it up musically -- the bottom line is the club owner doesn’t care what kind of music we are playing as long as the taps keep flowing and tabs keep growing.”
While Anderson is quick to credit the guys around him, his bandmates know firsthand that without him, TTU doesn’t work.
“The magic happens with all of us on stage,” said Jon Head. “A year ago Aaron left for some personal reasons and things were a lot different without him. After three months we e-mailed his wife and asked her to bring him out to a show. We brought him up on stage for a few songs and the magic was back.”
Anderson was grateful for that
moment.
“I had some personal issues to deal with but I paced on those weekends that I knew those guys were out playing. I was a wreck,” said Anderson. “I got some offers to join other bands but this was the band I wanted to be in, so I turned those offers down. That night I went to watch I was a nervous wreck, and then when I went on stage it was like I never left. As musicians you search for the right guys and the right formula and we feel that we have it in this group.”

MOVING ON
The band has their share of disagreements but according to Weber, it just strengthens them.
“We get in some heated arguments,” said Weber. “We speak our peace and move on. No hard feelings. We respect each other as musicians and as people. We do things together outside of performing.”
TTU’s next step is to write some original tunes to bring into the mix.
“We have a great thing going and I don’t want to mess with success,” said Anderson. “I have some lyrics and Matt has some tracks laid down so we are going to put together some originals, bring them to the rest of the guys and let them have their input and go from there. I don’t see us doing all originals because our bread and butter is what we are doing right now, but I do see us eventually throwing in some originals between what has been working.”
The others agree.
“I think with our eclectic musical backgrounds we should have some pretty interesting originals,” said Head. “But I agree the formula has been working. We have been so busy gigging, we don’t even have a promo pack. Everything has been based on word of mouth. In fact we only have a couple of weekends available between now and the end of the year. It will be nice though to have some originals because right now we don’t have music up on our MySpace site.
Weber says there is a reason for that.
“We won’t put other peoples’ songs that we are playing up on our site,” said Weber. “It is not fair to them. Those songs are copyrighted. We love playing them and putting our spin on them but they are not our songs.”
Some of those songs include “Snow” by the Chili Peppers, “Bat Country” by Avenged Sevenfold and “Take Me Out” by Franz Ferdinand. Another sign that their sound is in demand is they have been booked for two wedding receptions this summer, though Anderson has a warning for bachelorette parties.
“It seems that every bachelorette party that has come out to see us, the wedding hasn’t worked out,” laughs Anderson.
As for the name, they say it is definitely a guy thing.
“Let’s put it this way - three thumbs up is better than two,” said DC Crawford. “Think about it - if a guy has two thumbs up and that third thumb up as well, he must be smiling.”
Three Thumbs Up brings its fully “vertical” sound this weekend to Northern Lites near Chums Corners in Traverse City and then February 29 and March 1 at All Stars in Buckley. For a complete list of dates go to myspace.com/threethumbsrock, or to reach out to the band, call them at 231-590-5703. View On Our Website