Seven Mary Three, launched into stardom in the mid-’90s with several top 10 hits, will perform in Columbus Monday night.
The show will begin at 8 at The Gravel Pit in Columbus.
Seven Mary Three is one of many bands that in the mid-’90s found mega-success with hit singles and has remained popular through continual touring.
They played in Starkville in 1996 at the height of their popularity, but has since played in Mississippi only a few times.
The band is stopping in Columbus as part of their tour of the Southeast. They are promoting their fifth studio album, The Hi-Lo, due out sometime in the near future.
Giti Khalsa, the band’s drummer, said he is looking forward to returning to the Deep South, adding that he can’t wait to eat crawfish ettouffe.
“I was actually born in Oxford,” Khalsa said. “We made our second album in New Orleans, so we’re big fans of this part of the country.”
Khalsa said they have developed a fan following in the 10 years they have been together. He said the group has three kinds of fans: those who come to concerts to hear “Cumbersome” and a few other hits, the die-hard fans who love everything the band does and the fans, though fewer than in the other groups, who are “the equivalent to the guy who always yells out, ‘Play ‘Freebird,” at concerts.”
“The most inspiring thing is when you have people showing up to hear your new stuff,” Khalsa said.
Junior Julia Mintz is one of those fans who knows Seven Mary Three’s hits but doesn’t own any of their albums. Mintz said she hasn’t heard much from the band lately and was surprised when she learned they will play in Columbus.
Mintz was only 13 when the band had their first hit, but she said she still gets excited when she hears it.
“Hearing ‘Cumbersome’ always gets my energy flowing and gets me pumped up,” she said.
The band is balancing touring with recording their fifth album. They have already released an EP with songs from the upcoming The Hi-Lo.
Khalsa said nothing specific inspired their latest effort; the group just decided to get together and record an album.
“I think the inspiration comes from inside,” he said. “I don’t think we feel like the work is done. The most exciting part is to continue to be surprised by how excited I am. That in itself provides a lot of inspiration.”
Khalsa did not say what the new album would sound like, but said that all of the band members are listening to different things. In its bio, the group claims influences from broad musical genres such as Americana, ska, electronica and emo.
He said lately he has been listening to a lot of Led Zeppelin and Black Leather Motorcycle Club and downloading songs from Apple’s iTunes service.
Khalsa said he is looking forward to playing in Columbus and asked if there are any fun things to do there. He said he and his band mates might just have a party in their tour bus.
Rick Welch, owner of Rick’s Caf in Starkville, said the band will probably draw a large crowd from Columbus and Amory.
He said he would be interested in attending the concert to observe its production.
He acknowledged that Seven Mary Three is an influential band. “It seems like every band that comes in here covers ‘Cumbersome,'” he said.
Welch said the band has contacted him about playing at his bar in February but he does not know if he will have them.
Khalsa said he and his band mates are from Florida and Virginia, but now live along the East Coast.
The band members met at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, and in 1992, while still teenagers, formed Seven Mary Three.
They got the name from the ’70s police series “CHiPs.” In the series, Larry Wilcox’s character Jon Baker uses the radio handle “Seven Mary Three.”