What brought 3 in a Tree from a small college town in Southern Minnesota, to playing in front of 20,000 fans (see video) at a sold out Excel Center in St. Paul Minnesota? Persistence, friendship, and 9 years of gigging while pursuing a musical vision that has never wavered.

Originally “3 in a tree” made up 3/4 of the band “The Void”. They played around the Midwest for about 5 years, logging time at numerous festival gigs including Peoples Fair and Harvestfest. Eventually long rehearsals in the basement of an office building in Mankato led Scott, Casey and Pete to branch off into a band then known as Tapestry. The 3 piece thrived on constant gigging, forging a unique sound around the Minnesota scene before deciding a change of geography was necessary to get a fresh start.

The 3 friends soon reorganized as the band “Skydog” in Dallas. Moving into a house and converting their living room into a rehearsal space to crank out music whenever they felt like it. This period was extremely important for the band to grow as musicians, and the majority of music from their new album “Dang” came from these sessions.

Skydog soon became part of the Dallas label Big G records, then a division of Atlantic. The group logged many hours at Luminous Studios (http://www.luminoussound.com/) in Addison TX, releasing a couple of songs on a compilation CD for the record company, and later a 3 song demo recorded in the hill country of Austin, TX. Soon after its release, they were invited to play a showcase for Jason Flom (President of artist development for Atlantic), and the guys were just getting started.

The next 2 years were spent in Texas living as working musicians, only to find out the president of their record company was embezzling money from investors, and blowing it on his own “habits”. The label quickly crumbled, and within a month the band was exhausted and back to square one. Soon after in 2000, Skydog decided to move back to MN for a fresh start (again).

After a reenergizing hiatus, “3 In a Tree” immediately set out to finish the album they were never allowed to release. Although the studio time in TX was educational, it was cursed by big budgets and R&B producers, which led to overproduction and finally a product that the band didn’t like. Looking for a local studio that offered the freedom they required, the guys met up with Stardoc studios in Mankato and immediately began cranking out more music that could fit on one disc

Many of the tracks on the album run well over 10 minutes in length, and in a live setting improvisation dominates. After everything the band has been through, they are firmly set in the direction they would like to go musically. The 3 piece is fearless in taking chances live, and strives to make every show a unique experience. The album “Dang” was recorded in a traditional way, with a minimum on production, and every aspect of it was meant to be easily reproduced in a live setting. Lots of first takes were kept to preserve the energy of the band, and to keep the record feeling “live”.

In January of 2006 the band brought home the title in XM Radio's “Rock the X Contest”. Earning an opening slot for Bon Jovi at St. Paul’s sold out Xcel Energy Arena in front of a 20,000 strong hometown crowd. After an intense week of rehearsals leading up to the show, the band cruised through a 30 minute set, with the sold out crowd showing enthusiastic support. The national and local media attention that followed the performance was positive, helping the band rally support for Part II of the contest, opening for Bon Jovi at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, as well as securing a demo deal. The contest winner will be decided by the fans and the voting is currently in process on Bon Jovi’s website. The winner is to be announced in mid-April.