Third Eye Blind – “Joke” (Chastity Belt Cover)

Third Eye Blind – “Joke” (Chastity Belt Cover)

Back in 1998, when Third Eye Blind were still absolutely running shit on modern-rock radio, frontman Stephan Jenkins bashed Sleater-Kinney. In an interview, he gave this baffling quote: “We’re not a media-created band like Sleater-Kinney. We’re really organic. We’ve been together five years. We have the most solid indie DIY pedigree on the block. Every member of our band played the Mabuhay at age 15. We’ve done Gilman. We’ve driven to New York in a van and played CBGBs.” Weird times!

At the time, maybe Jenkins was bitter about the lack of critical respect that his band was getting. Maybe he’s softened now that seemingly every millennial rock critic I know loves the shit out of Third Eye Blind these days. Or maybe Jenkins has just had a change of heart on the subject of bands of Pacific Northwest women making tangled, fuzzy punk rock.

Next month, Third Eye Blind will release the all-covers EP Thanks For Everything, which includes the band’s takes on songs from Bon Iver, Santigold, Queens Of The Stone Age, and Tim Buckley, among others. One of the songs they’ve remade is “Joke,” a wispy jam from the Seattle band Chastity Belt. Third Eye Blind’s cover is entirely faithful, and yet it still somehow makes the song sound like ’90s radio-rock. Check it out below:

On the subject of Chastity Belt, Jenkins says:

We saw Chastity Belt at a club in Berlin. The drummer had a broken shoulder. No matter, she had a quiet style anyway. In the studio, I came to grips with what a great singer Julia Shapiro is. She’s Nico of the Northwest, plus she does that cool shit on the guitar.

The Thanks For Everything EP is out 8/24 on Mega Collider.

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