To some people, Chris Henderson acknowledges, it’s all just a game. 3 Doors Down are not any of those people, the guitarist says. To this rockin’ band of musicians, unlike some others in the field, it’s a career that they always are trying to develop.
      "Bands come and go in this biz," Henderson says. "Some bands party all the way through and couldn’t care less about the fans or themselves. We, however, do this for the fans and ourselves, so we try to keep everything heading toward the next level. It is hard work out here and hard work never hurt anyone!"
      If you treat it like a career, nurture it and work at it, perhaps it will never go away, he reasons.
      So far, so very good for 3DD, whose impact continues to be felt long after they began recording demos in 1997. To date they have sold more than 12 million CDs worldwide, including two multi-Platinum and one live Gold album. Their new CD, Seventeen Days, shipped Platinum.
      They’ve had six No. 1 singles: "Kryptonite," "Duck & Run," "Loser," "Be Like That," "When I’m Gone" and "Here Without You." There have been four Grammy nominations, an American Music Award, two Billboard music awards, a BMI songwriting of the year award and a BMI acknowledgement for most performed song on college radio.
      The pride of Mississippi also was the first debut act in Billboard history to have had a No. 1 single at four different radio formats simultaneously with the song "Kryptonite." Last year, 3DD was one of the four top-selling summer tours.
      In February of this year, the band took the top spot in the nation the first week out with Seventeen Days, the follow-up to 2002’s Away From The Sun CD, selling over 200,000 copies and entering at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 album charts. It was their first No. 1 album debut.
      "We are the band that won’t go away," says Henderson, laughing. That’s where 3DD fits into this big, broad entity known as the "music scene," he suggests. "Music is dictated by the people, so it will do what they say it will do," he adds. As to whether that "scene" is healthy, ailing or needs to go in a new direction, Henderson says, "It doesn’t matter what I think. It is what it is."
      He believes new bands or individuals can learn from 3DD’s career so far. "I think they can learn a lot from us. We have had our ups and downs and I think that we handled it pretty well," the artist says. "They can learn what to do for sure, but I think that if they can learn what not to do it might help them more!"
      He takes the view that his group is just at the beginning of its career. He says they will be touring and writing for at least "a number" of years yet. "After that I will be producing records for a living, which is something that I love just as much. The journey has surprised me. I thought I would be back at the shipyard by now!"
      Henderson appreciates that anyone who has been in any profession for a long time sometimes struggles with keeping it all fresh for themselves and avoiding burnout. With the seemingly endless cycle of record-tour-record that the music industry demands, the members of 3DD have their own approach to avoiding staleness.
      "Our secret is having fun, lots of it," Henderson says. "We work hard, but we also play hard. We are all about the fans and the music and having a good time. That is what it should be about."
      It is the fans that keep them motivated, he says. "We have a family audience, from the youngest child all the way through to the parents and sometimes the grandparents. The fan reaction and energy exchange between the band and the audience in concert is infectious, he says. "The biggest thing is hearing 10,000 people sing back to you."
      He cites songwriting, performing and their relationship with their fans as their strengths. "We have the best fans in the world," he says. The group tries to keep in contact with as many of them as possible via their website: www.3doorsdown.com.
      People respond to 3DD’s music, he believes, because the writing comes from the heart. "We leave our songs open to interpretation," he says. "We write for ourselves, as fans of music, and hopefully the rest falls into place. We just write about life and experiences we have or a great story we heard along the way. I hope people enjoy our music on a personal level. I hope they can get their own personal feeling that no one else gets."
      Henderson senses that many people think of 3DD as a pop band, but he believes that at their core they are a rock band. He also thinks the new CD will prove that. "All you have to do is get into the record and you will see we are a rock band," he promises. "We just happen to be able to cross over. Way over!" In concert, he says, people experience a high-energy rock show that never lets up.
      Some are suggesting that Seventeen Days displays a more musically aggressive side to the band. Henderson believes that side always has been there. "We just took a couple of years to develop ourselves," he explains.
      He says the new CD is the group’s best work so far. Does he think people will be surprised by this CD? Henderson: "I was! So I hope everyone else will be too."
      It was recorded in Nashville with producer Johnny K, whose credits include Drowning Pool, Finger 11 and Disturbed. "Johnny K has so many talents it should be illegal," he says, laughing. "He is one of the greatest producers to ever work in this biz and we were lucky to catch him at a time when we could afford him."
      The first single, "Let Me Go," went Top 5 at rock radio. Its video features Jesse Metcalfe of the TV hit Desperate Housewives and Jodi Lyn O’Keefe of Boston Legal.
      The song "Landing In London" treats the subject of how lonely the touring life sometimes can be. It’s a topic that Bob Seger, a vocal guest on the track with 3DD’s lead singer, Brad Arnold, certainly knows something about. His "Turn The Page" is considered a road song classic. The Associated Press hails "the richer vocal texture" he brings to "Landing In London" as the hidden gem of the song.
      So, how did 3DD pull off the coup of getting the now rarely heard from Seger to sing with them? "We just asked him and he said ‘Yes,’" Henderson says. "That song was right for him and we all knew it."
      As for those critics who still don’t seem to "know" the essence of 3 Doors Down, Henderson shrugs, "I don’t think they get it. I don’t think they are in touch with the people like we are, because we are out there living it every day."
      And, the guitarist re-emphasizes, his band doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon. "Music means everything to me," he says. "It is the one thing I never get tired of."