While it’s not easy to imagine metalheads and jam band aficionados grooving side by side, there are plenty similarities to musically unite the two fanbases, a fact that the Lowcountry prog-jam band Three Easy Pieces knows all too well.
Guitarist Rhett Tanner and drummer Robert Moring, formerly of the death metal group Hellcast, plus bassist Scotti DeRouen are the trio behind Three Easy Pieces, which pivots between the two divergent musical approaches with a natural ease.
“Robert and I have always just been seasoned musicians,” said Tanner of the shift, noting that Hellcast had begun moving into more of a hardcore direction and less toward the technically complex death metal style that the two preferred. “We always loved improvisation and progressive music, so we decided to just take a completely different direction.”
Moring knew DeRouen from their shared time at the University of South Carolina-Beaufort, so the three got together for a jam session and quickly found a blend of styles that showed flashes of metal pyrotechnics, but also a love for funk, jazz fusion and bluesy, funky classic rock.
“We all had a really good understanding of music and everything just kind of vibed well,” said Tanner. “We just stuck with it and have been working at it ever since.”
The group quickly found a receptive audience in the local jam scene thanks to both the group’s adept musicianship and exploratory spirit.
“It’s always a different experience with that improvisational element,” Tanner said. “We have a general idea of the chord structures and melodies, but we try to keep a very open ceiling and try to let the music organically do its thing.”
DeRouen added, “I think that’s the fun part about being a three piece — everyone has to take care of their end of the music. It makes it a lot of fun knowing that every time you’re playing, you’re a part of something unique.”
The band dropped a three-song self-titled EP last fall that was mostly live-tracked at West Ashley’s 100 Watt Studios, showcasing their adept ability to fuse different sounds and styles. And, the band plays at My Father’s Mustache in Mount Pleasant on April 21.
Three Easy Pieces is already looking ahead to a September recording date at Asheville’s Landslide Studio with Andrew Schatzberg and Jeffrey Sipe, the latter of whom has toured and recorded with some of the biggest names in the jam band world, including Warren Haynes (Gov’t Mule), Bela Fleck, Phil Lesh, Trey Anastasio and Jimmy Herring (Widespread Panic).
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