"There's no chance of us giving in before we make it"

Over past seven years, if there’s one thing that Preston’s Treehouse 3 have learned to hate, it’s the commercialism and hypocrisy of the music industry. Talking to four fifths of Preston’s most recognised band, Listen Up hears first hand of the constant knock-backs and how now, more than ever, the band is determined to succeed.

The band’s history can be charted right back to 1996 when Pete Brown (bassist) and Mark Whiteside (Drummer) bumped, by pure chance, into Seamus Mcloughlin, a singer-songwriter from Preston whilst away in Edinburgh. From there on in, the band have hit the heights of major gigs, management deals and American tours, why then are they back for this years’ local Battle of The Bands.

“We don’t like going in for these band battle things,”
states Mark, “there is usually loads of backstabbing goes on. Previously it has been just youngsters doing covers, but now bands are writing their own songs and the Preston music scene is growing well so we thought we would give it a go.”

Untailored image

Treehouse 3 are hardly a typical, young, fashionable outfit. Pete can have the tendency to resemble a trucker ready to set off across Route 66 whilst, at the other end of the spectrum, Russ Hitchin, lead guitarist and most recent addition to the group is tall, clean cut and clearly the most youthful of the band. Despite this untailored image, the music of Treehouse 3 is tight, well received and the band still manages to draw consistent crowds wherever they play:

“The fan base is really strange,” offers Pete “but then our music is very accessible so we tend to attract anyone from kids to adults.”

Snow Patrol and Coldplay

“It’s weird because people still consider us a new band, we always get compared to Snow Patrol and Coldplay,” explains Seamus, the baby-faced front man, “although it feels like a new band since Russ joined a year ago, we sound much more modern now.”

Russ, a mobile phone salesman by day, is hailed by the other band members almost as a saviour, breathing new life into the group:
“The old guitarist was good,” says Pete, “but we got into a rut and Russ has helped inspire the rest of the band.”

Window of opportunity

As far as musicianship is concerned, TH3 have never taken it more seriously, and they are only too aware that their window of opportunity for the big time could soon begin to close. Therefore, getting the next album right is of paramount importance. Seamus explains:

“We thought we would be further by now, but the tide has
not always been in our favour. We’ve had our previous management close down, we were refused by the woman who started up Coldplay and have had a few bad experiences at gigs, but there has to be something there, because we are frequently drawing 150 strong audiences to shows.

“This time round, the recording and production is much more intricate. We’re working with Spike Drake, who has produced Busted and Headway. We are concentrating on every little detail from the lead melody, to how the bass differs from first to second verse."

'No risks'

As previously reported, recording for the new album is now underway and Treehouse 3 should soon be ready again to take on the music industry the hard way.

“It’s so hard to get noticed as everything’s so commercial, radio stations take no risks, stations like Radio 1 claim to be into the whole unsigned thing, but only play good music out of peak hours.” seethes drummer Mark. “In the end tough, you can slag it off all you want, you just have to concentrate on yourself.

“If you want success, you have to work for it. Our band wants to be successful, and there is very little chance of us giving in before we make it.”

Written by Dan Jeoffroy

Photography: Dan Jeoffroy