A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll

Imagine that one day Woody Guthrie and the Vines were touring a nuclear power plant and somehow fell into a vat of various chemicals that fused them together in classic comic book style. What would emerge would be Three Day Threshold (well, without the mutations or unfortunate chemical burns). This local band has found a way to bring the sounds of the dirty south to CBGB (the famous New York punk haven) and make it work.

The band, which consists of John Ransom on bass, drummer Jack Morris, lead guitarist Sam Reid and Kier Byrnes who plays banjo, guitar and mandolin. The group got together through both typical and unusual means.

"I met John at a Morphine concert and we met Sam when we were auditioning a guitarist," Byrnes explained "We dragged him to an undisclosed location and made him play for us"

The group's name originated from a time the band members spent in Maine when they had some downtime around a show and rented a fishing boat and waders. The members had a contest to see who could remain in the waders the longest.

The winner was former band member Jason Warne who stayed in the heavy waders for two days and 16 hours. The group decided to round up to three days and took the name as a "homage to that crazy time." Warne still works with the band as its graphic designer.

The band sites its big influences as country music, traditional bluegrass, Irish music and punk. "I like to think of it as rootsy flavors with Boston attitude," Ransom said.

Despite the southern accent on their music the three band members interviewed for this article, hail from New England. Ransom is from Cambridge, Byrnes is from Salem, NH and Reid is from Alston, MA. They each came to appreciate bluegrass in a different way.

Reid grew up listening to country and blue grass music while Ransom was exposed to this style by his fellow band members. Byrnes was exposed to the music while driving cross-country when he hit the southern states.

According to Brynes, "Johnny Cash had a punk feel even though he was country. The roots of rock and roll has a lot of heart and soul that is there"

The group has been playing together seriously for about four years initially with mixed results. "It was very hard starting out because we were too rock for country and too country for rock and booking agents didn't know what to do with us," Reid said.

In addition, to having some problems setting up shows, even after the group began performing regularly they had some harrowing on stage experiences as well. "Once at a show in New Hampshire and we had an audience of the bartender and two dogs. But the dogs were dancing, like paw to paw," Ransom said.

The band also recalled a difficult show on Dec. 7, 2001 at a venue with an open bar. The concert hall opened at 6:00 p.m., but the band didn't go on until 11:30. The group didn't go into details about what exactly occurred but one gathers that it was not pleasant.

Most shows are good shows, however, and the band plays more than 50 shows a year in the area.

Byrnes recalled one particularly good show at Harper's Ferry. "We showed up with our gear but weren't on the bill, so we played anyway and won the crowd over," he said.

The group also played at the Freedom Rally, a benefit for the Green Party.

In the four years that the band has been together it has made significant progress, according to Brynes, and hopes to experience continued success. "Over the years we've been selling out venues," he said. "We hope to sell out our CD release party. It may be great or it may be a bust. That's the risk we always take."

The Three Day Threshold CD Release Party is Friday, Oct. 18, 2002 at The Paradise _ 7 p.m. pre-party, 10:30 p.m. show. See threedaythreshold.com for more details.