The testament to life is evolution. Like life, art, must also adhere to this rule. Although evolution is key, one must always remain true to themselves.

Through personal upheavals, the growth of the internet and evolution of modern music, Third Eye Blind has taken that notion to sculpt themselves into the band that they are today. In addition, progressing beyond a 90s rock band into a prominent touring and songwriting group that still lives today.

Drummer, Brad Hargreaves, discusses their latest album, Dopamine, and shares why the release took so long, if they’ll put out another record and how Beyoncè stepped up the San Francisco group’s songwriting.

Beyond the Benign: What took the album so long?

Brad Hargreaves: I mean, it kind of took the same amount of time as our last album took. We just don’t work all the time. If you just took all the days it took to write this record, and put them all together, it’d be 6 or 8 months. Y’know, you work one day here and three days here and after awhile, What happened to those 6 years? It’s just natural evolution in the band in life. There’s a lot of things that we do. Opportunities that we have to go do things that are fun and different. It’s not just – you have to make time for everything in your life.

BtB: What can you tell me about the new album?

BH: I really like it. We really got back to just getting back in a room with each other, and just bouncing ideas off of each other, as opposed to just one guy forcing it through. I just felt a more collective involvement on this one. Our last record, Ursa Major was – our band was just really broken at that time. We were going through some upheaval personal wise and it was just a hard, hard record. On this one, the goal was to be like, alright, we got a group of guys we actually like to be around. Let’s get in a room and really develop a concept of ideas. I think it shows a growth between this and Ursa.

BtB: How is it different from other Third Eye Blind albums?

BH: It’s just a natural evolution taken into account. Our first record came out in ’97. So, there’s been a lot of music between then. And there’s been a lot of music that we like. There’s been a lot of bands that we like. It’s just the way pop has evolved. The way rock has evolved. [If] you love music the way we do, and you listen to other stuff, it seeps into what you’re doing. There’s more keyboards on this record. We’re making sounds that we haven’t used before, but they’re just as important transmitters of emotion as the previous sounds we used to do that with. I’m really happy with how we walked that line, bringing in new sounds, but also keeping it a guitar band and a singer-songwriter band at it’s heart.

BtB: How did Beyoncè’s song, “Mine” step up the songwriting process?

BH: That was really [Stephan]. He really got into that record. I think that record was a little edgier for Beyoncè’s music. I don’t know a ton about her music. Mostly her hit songs – which are a lot [laughs]. I think he had a friend that showed him that record and took him through it, and he just got it. When he said, “I’m doing of a cover of this song,” he sent her version. I almost didn’t hear a tune in it. It’s this sort of sonic collage. And it almost didn’t make sense to me. When [Stephan] played his version, I thought it was an original song. I didn’t even connect the two. Stephan, I think, just loved the lyrics and was able to really pick out the heart of the song and make it his own. I wish he did write it! I think he did an amazing job. It’s one of his best that I’ve ever heard.

BtB: He put his soul into it.

BH: Yeah! It’s just a good – for people that don’t know what production means, it’s like, you listen to those two songs and you realize that the song writer are the same on both songs. But, the manner at which you do it, they couldn’t be more different. I think it’s cool for people that don’t know about music. You listen to those two songs and realize it’s the same song, just different productions.

BtB: Are there any running themes on Dopamine musically?

BH: I think it’s sort of a classic Third Eye Blind album, in which it’s eclectic: There are songs that are pop. There are songs that are rock. Songs that are more singer-song writer. There are songs that are a little bit more electronic sounding. I think that’s in keeping with what we’ve done previously.

BtB: Has your approach to music changed at all?

BH: I would say the core of the approach is the same, which is how to help the emotion of whatever the song is be best captured by what we play. Whether it’s drums, guitars. The core is how can we get these songs – these really emotional songs that Stephan writes – to translate. It’s always been that standing point on all of our records. I think tools that we have and the abilities we’ve gained over the years – just by playing a lot of music, playing 3,000 concerts, whatever we’ve done, playing a lot of music and actively being involved for 20 years, gives you more tools to sort of help that music translate.

BtB: The music industry has changed exponentially. What has Third Eye Blind done to go with that evolution?

BH: All we’ve done is just do what we’ve always done, which is make some music and then go out and play it for people. Yeah, we used to make more money on the music side of it – for whatever thats worth – but we’re so fortunate to have so much success early on that it’s never been about trying to capitalize on the business side as much as going out there and trying to present our band authentically to people. They want it. They want us to come out there. It’s an honor. In terms of making records and distribution channels, I think it’s great. Honestly. We’re fortunate that we get to go out and play music and make money doing it and support ourselves. Really fortunate. All of those new channels, social media, playlists, downloads – it just makes it so you can have a more authentic presentation of your band’s true self. As opposed to through, some machine.

BtB: Is your heart still in it?

BH: Absolutely. It’s what we do. It’s our life’s work. We’re not going to go do something else. I mean, we might dabble in different things, but we’re not going to go suddenly become stock brokers or something, or spies [laughs]. This is what we do. And there’s time where we could’ve been more diligent about it. But, at the same time, it’s just the way it’s naturally evolved. It is what it is.

BtB: Is this the final record?

BH: It is the final record. I mean, I would say it’s the final record in terms of, y’know – we’re writing all of these songs, we’re going to put them onto one document. Submit that document and people will listen to it. What we want to evolve in, is – ok, we have a song. Oh, great song – we’re really inspired by it. Let’s go record it. Ok, let’s go put it out. Put it on Facebook. Put it on Twitter. Just get it out there, as opposed to obsessing over this idea that you have to have 12 songs. That’s a real ware down for Stephan, at this point. It’s daunting for him, y’know? We’re gonna do that. And we could have three or four ready and put it on an EP. Have 10 of them – could release another album. The format’s gonna be: Here’s a song, put it out. For me, that’ll be so much for exciting. People don’t put on an hour long record anymore. Not a lot of people do that. We live in a playlist culture now. I just want to get on that playlist, if I can’t have the whole album. If I can’t get you to listen to the whole album, I’m just happy to be on the playlist.

Dopamine‘s out June 16