3RDegree release remaster of 1996 album on 10T

3RDEGREE re-release their seminal 1996 CD HUMAN INTEREST STORY as a re-mastered digital download exclusively available immediately through 10T Records’ online store.  HUMAN INTEREST STORY will be available through all major mainstream online download outlets (iTunes, Amazon, etc.) on December 10, 2013.  This is the very first time the album has been available digitally anywhere except the band’s own website.

Before American progressive rock band 3RDegree came to the consciousness of the worldwide prog rock press with the 2008 album NARROW-CASTER and its follow-up release, 2012’s THE LONG DIVISION, the band knocked around the New York City area from 1990 to 1997 with little notice. They put out 2 albums during this timeframe, the second of which, 1996‘s HUMAN INTEREST STORY, was a particular milestone.

Having just added lead vocalist George Dobbs the summer before, the album’s April release was the culmination of 3 solid years of writing and recording to which Dobbs added his golden pipes in the 11th hour, taking over the spot from bassist/keyboardist Robert James Pashman. ”I was more than happy to relinquish the lead vocals in exchange for a better band and a less busy me!” says Pashman.

For listeners familiar with the band’s more recent albums, HUMAN INTEREST STORY does not sound a decade away from it’s follow-up. Patrick Kliesch explains, “Since Narrow-Caster consisted of many songs or ideas started in ’95-’97 but not finished, there’s a connection between the albums despite the 8 year break-up in the band”.

“Perhaps because of the band’s now more masked 90’s influences of Soundgarden, Jellyfish, and King’s X, Human is more guitar heavy, with keyboards in the background as more of a garnish than a main course” adds Dobbs.

“Never mind a second chance, HUMAN INTEREST STORY never got a first chance really. Marketing an album such as this in the mid-90’s was beyond frustrating!” notes now occasional drummer Rob Durham. Many songs from this 1996 collection have appeared in recent 3RDegree set lists. “There’s a bunch of songs that sit very nicely next to our newer material and are very much a part of us, so we keep playing them” says Pashman.

Songs like the title track with it’s memorable melody sailing on top of the start-stop rhythm section and its Jerry Springer-inspired subject matter (sister song to The Long Division’s “Televised” about reality shows), the heart-on-sleeve delivery of the vocal on the Todd Rundgren-inspired “Ladder,” and the snarky tone by Dobbs on the intense “Top Secret” (the NSA flavored ditty written the year Snowden was entering kindergarten). This song, from the point of view of a spy laughing at “the little people,” shows Dobbs doing something he would reprise on THE LONG DIVISION’s “Incoherent Ramblings,” delivered in the voice of a TV political strategist.

Additionally, anyone who purchases the new collection via digital download directly from 10TRecords.com will be emailed a code for an exclusive download of a new song from the band called “What It Means To Be Human” (no relation!).  This is 3RDegree’s first new music since the summer of 2012.

While a new album is forthcoming in 2014, 10T Records president Steve Carroll says, “Anyone thirsty for new 3RDegree who hasn’t delved into material from their 90’s incarnation is really missing something special. This material from the 20-something version of 3RDegree is no less interesting or polished!

All tracks from HUMAN INTEREST STORY are now available to preview in their entirety on the 3RDegree artist page at 10T Records.  Downloads are immediately available in MP3, M4A (Apple Lossless) and Hi Def 16-bit WAV formats.

After December 10^th, HUMAN INTEREST STORY will be available through all major mainstream digital download outlets.