Power trio Third Best Friend are taking a break from the studio to debut some of their brand new material on stage at The Espy. At stake is a chance to get to the Emergenza Festival Australia finals and win a trip to a big open air in Germany. But, we think this powerhouse can handle the pressure. Before the upcoming gig this Friday, June 20th for round one of the festival, Third Best Friend sits down to talk to us about what they’ve got in store for fans at The Espy.

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAME THIRD BEST FRIEND?
Our bass player received a birthday card when he was just six years old. Inside it read "Dear Jeremy, Happy Birthday, you are my third best friend. From Oscar". Such honesty! Not quite good enough to be first or second best friend! Many years later we remembered the card and the message and decided it would make the perfect name for our original band.

WHO PLAYS WHAT IN THE BAND AND WHAT'S YOUR LIVE SET UP LIKE?
We're a classic trio with guitar, bass and drums. Darren Trott looks after lead vocals and guitars, Jeremy Trott provides additional vocals and bass and Petrus Humme is our powerhouse drummer. As a trio it allows plenty of space for each musician and gives us plenty of control over the dynamics of each song.

IF YOU COULD DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND IN THREE WORDS, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
Melodic. Powerful. Honest.

WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR MAJOR MUSICAL INFLUENCES?
There's a wide variety of influences including Foo Fighters, Foreigner and The Jam through to Australian influences such as Pollyanna, Matt Finish, Baby Animals, You Am I, Spy V Spy and Shihad.

WHERE HAVE YOU PLAYED BEFORE AND WHAT WOULD BE A DREAM GIG FOR YOU?
We've played Melbourne's Cherry Bar a couple of times and we made an appearance in Sydney last year. It would be incredible to play Madison Square Garden, however we'd settle for a set at Melbourne's iconic Palais Theatre.

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO MOST ABOUT YOUR SHOW AT THE ESPY?
Over the past few months we've been focusing on the recording of our debut album, so this will be our first opportunity to play some tracks from it. We're taking the opportunity to professionally video our performance, which will form the basis of a future video clip. The Espy is such a classic rock and roll venue—we're really pleased to be making the most of the opportunity.

WITH OTHER BATTLE OF THE BANDS COMPETITIONS AROUND, WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE EMERGENZA?
Emergenza's global reach and proactive assistance was important to us. There's a proven history of getting the job done in supporting original bands and it's well organized.

For more details on the show at The Espy, June 20th, click here.