3 Blocks East, made Triton Senior Lucas Connatser and Triton Alumni Sean Godbout, Andrew Pesaturo, and Jake Summit have released their debut album, entitled Pro Anima. The Triton Voice recently interviewed them about the experience and the album itself.

1. How did 3 Blocks East come to be?

SG: “3BE was an idea that Andrew and I️ played around with for a few years. When we first met each other, in chem with McBee, we talked about how we wanted to do an album, and all that stuff, but it didn’t seem possible with Andrew dedicated to Cold Spring Harbor, and we had no where to do it. However, one Andrew and I️ started playing with the Bistanders, we found Jake, and then Emma left, and we eventually ended up forming 3BE with Ben and Lucas. Ben left after the first show, and Jake jumped on board after. The rest is history…”

AP: “I was doing a lot of songwriting when I first met Sean. He expressed interest and we hit it off. He was the conduit I needed to get my songs off the ground, and then Jake and Lucas came around. The visions in my head took life as we collaborated to make them real”

JS: “Before 3BE, Andrew, Sean and I were in another band called the Bistanders. We just kinda dissolved after our bassist and I left for college. Then one day I got a text from Andrew asking if I wanted to play guitar in his and Sean’s band and I said absolutely”

LC: “Me and Andrew were talking one day probably in jazz band and he was talking about how him and sean had started a band and written some stuff and recorded some stuff and asked if I️ wanted to play bass for them and I️ said absolutely!”

2. Pro Anima has a very heavy Foo Fighters/Aerosmith vibe to it. Are they big influences on you guys? Any others?

SG: Yeah, those are probably our biggest influences. I’ve been a huge Aerosmith fan since I️ was kid. Joey Kramer has had a lot of influence in my playing. I️ would also say the Black Crowes, I️ have always loved that band, and I️ think Steve Gorman is one of the greatest drummers. He has so much swing and feel. That’s what it’s all about. I️’d put him next to Neil Peart any day.

AP: Totally. Dave Grohl is in my top 3 favorite songwriters of all time. Love the guy. The record has the Foos written all over it in my eyes. Don’t get me wrong. I also love the bad boys from Boston. They had influence as well. You can hear Joey Kramer all over Sean’s playing. I love Brad Whitford. I take a lot of my soloing technique from him. Besides that, Kiss, Soundgarden and the Stone Temple Pilots for me on this record. Generic influences are endless

JS: The Foo Fighters are probably my favorite band. I just always go back to them. I’ve also liked Aerosmith from a young age but that’s more Sean’s thing. I’d say my biggest influences are classic rock bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and the Beatles, and also just like the entirety of grunge and 90s alternative has heavily influenced me.

3. How did the songs on Pro Anima come together?

SG: The songs started as riffs by Andrew, and I’d write lyrics, and then we’d go into the studio and rehearse the songs and lay down tracks, with my Uncle John Jazz Abbott from Small Pond Studios, out of Georgetown, MA.

AP:We took a few songs that I had written on my own before we formed, tweaked them and the collaborated on the rest from scratch. When you make a record, it has to go somewhere. You have to evoke a feeling or tell a story with the collection of songs you choose to use together on a record. It all has to make sense. We always write with that in mind.

JS:  Andrew and Sean wrote all of them. By the time I had joined most of the album was recorded, it just took a long (time) to finish. I added more stuff towards the end in songs like “Wonder” and “Monkey”.

4. What’s each of your favorite songs from the album?

SG: It’s hard to pick one. I️ love the lyrics to “Sinner’s Creed”. I️ grin everytime I️ hear the song. Andrew and I️ were ticked off by all the political nonsense going on during the last presidential election, so that kind inspired those lyrics. If I️ had to pick one though, it would be “Slave”. That song means a lot to me because I️ think it describes me perfectly as who I️ am musically, and lyrically. The song is solid, and in the pocket, just like how I️ play. Also, the lyrics I️ wrote, were inspired by Ms. Riel, over a passionate subject for the both of us -drug/alcohol abuse- so that’s how that came about. I️ just think it’s a really powerful song.

AP: My favorite song is “Breathe”. Not one of the louder ones like you’d expect, I know. However, that song will always have a special place in my heart. I wrote it about a pretty hard point and place in my life that still occasionally comes back to haunt me. A lot of love and thought went in to that song. It’ll always be a reminder to me that you can make a something positive out of a negative situation, and I’ll always be beyond proud of that

JS: Oh definitely “Wonder”. It’s got the best riff, chorus, and feel to it out of all the others.

LC: My favorite song off of the album is probably “Answered Prayers”, I️ just think it has a nice meaning and it’s really fun to play and just mess around in that song

5. What does Pro Anima actually mean?

SG: Pro Anima translates to “for the soul”. That’s what this project is all about.

6. The title track has a completely different sound to it than the rest of the album, both musically and lyrically. Where did it come from?

SG: So Andrew came up with the name Pro Anima for the album. I️ really wanted to do something with that. I️ couldn’t quite put my finger on it… then I️ decided I️ wanted to kinda make a tribute to everything- our influences/Jazz, my uncle for putting out the record, and Joe Webb for helping engineer the project, so I️ wrote the lyrics to Pro Anima, kinda as a big thank you to everyone. I️ was riffing on my cowbell, and I️ told Andrew to get funky, and that’s where the music came from. It became a fun riff, and I️ got my girlfriend, Meghan Volpone, my brother Matthew Godbout, and his girlfriend, Michelle Martens, all to be part of the vocals. So I️ was really happy to get them all on the album. It’s a very different song, but it’s a lot of fun, and I️ think it’s a great homage to everything.

JS: I didn’t make it to the band practice where they wrote it so I just showed up and I was just as surprised as you were. It’s a fun one though.

LC: One day we were in the studio and Andrew said that there was a chord progression he had been thinking of for a new song (which was Pro Anima) and that we were gonna just mess around and play some stuff and make the song. He was like okay just play some funk jazz stuff and I️ was like okay and yeah that’s how that song started off music wise.

7. Any specific challenges you guys remember about the recording process?

SG: Getting everyone in the studio, was the biggest struggle with all our schedules, hence, why it took us almost two years to get the record out. But once we got in, and got the balls rolling, everything was coming out great.

JS:  People kept always showing up to practice late.

8. Are there any songs you were originally intending to put on the album that got cut?

SG: Yes actually. We cut three songs from the whole session. When we first started this project, we intended on Ben Eramo, being part of it, but the some plans changed, and he had to dedicate his time to his mainstay, Cold Spring Harbor. We put three songs on the back burner. One I️ co-wrote with Ben called, What We Could Have Had, who the lyrics I️ wrote about a certain somebody who did me no good, but we won’t name names. Another called Out In the Open, that Ben and Andrew wrote together. And lastly, a song called Mercy that Ben and I️ came up with as a tribute to Elton John. I️ hope those songs see the light of day someday, but who knows. That’s the mystery of it all.

9. What’re the plans for 3BE moving forward? Next show?

SG: As of right now we are planning on booking shows for 2018. We are going to play some shows with Cold Spring Harbor, and some shows on our own. Be on the lookout for dates sometime after the new year. We also plan to go back into the studio, as soon as it feels right. We are all writing. We never stop writing. We have enough material to probably release two more albums right now, so we plan to go back in soon. What we will do, we don’t know yet.