Arizona’s Greenhaven provides 3-Gun Nation theme music

Republished from The Phoenix New Times
By Mike Meyer

Veteran Arizona hard rock/metal outfit Greenhaven is about to get some national exposure, thanks to a new TV show on the Versus sports network. 3-Gun Nation, a competitive shooting show that requires contestants to navigate courses of fire while shooting targets with a rifle, shotgun and pistol, has chosen "Waterloo," the first song from Greenhaven's 2007 debut album "The Last Powerful Second", as its theme song.

3-Gun Nation debuts on Versus this coming Monday, July 26, at 7:30 a.m. EST. The show replays on Thursday, July 29, at 3:00 p.m. EST., and will continue to air in those two time slots through Dec. 31. The first two episodes were shot in Mesa, AZ at the Superstition Mountain Mystery 3-Gun event this past March.

Q&A with Greenhaven's Matt Strangewayes

Up on the Sun: Tell us the short story of how this whole 3-Gun Nation thing came about. Did the voice-over gig lead to "Waterloo" being used as the theme song, or vice versa?

Strangewayes: Like the song says "It came out of the sky, landed just a little south of Moline." No joke, I got an email from Pete Brown, the producer of the show, and right away it was a done deal. Pete is a former musician himself, so he wanted to do something different with this show. There's an natural link between shooting sports and high-power music - it's kind of a lifestyle thing. He felt that our song "Waterloo" captured the spirit of competitive shooting, and we agreed wholeheartedly. The voice-over thing seemed to make sense too, so here we are. What's great is Pete is really into new and underground bands and has a great ear. I sent him a bunch of Arizona music and now he's putting our cronies in the mix as well. There's so many raw-dog bands around here that are perfect for this kind of programming. I've seen the first couple of episodes and they're killer. The dudes are all running through these courses with grounded helicopters, jeeps, zip lines - all sorts of crazy crap. And they're shooting rifles, shotguns and pistols - it's nuts. There's women doing it too! And of course the music rips.

What exactly will your voice-over duties involve?

I'm doing the basic narration. The show has two on-screen hosts - Mark Wills, the country star, and Chad Adams, who is a well-known name in the outdoor sports/firearms world. They handle the in-depth stuff.

Are you a fan of guns and/or shooting yourself? Have you ever participated in a 3-Gun event?

I am now! Me and our drummer Bill [Schumann] went to the Superstition Mountain Mystery 3-Gun event (the first event from the show, out in east Mesa) and it was a rush. These dudes are intense, man. I've never competed, but on occasion I shoot out in the range east of town. I have my dad's old lever-action 30/30 and I take that out for fun. I like to pretend I'm Walker, Texas Ranger.

What's the latest word on a new Greenhaven album?

We just got back from the first day of recording with Byron at Villain Studios. We'll go back in the studio in the late fall, and hope to have the CD out early next year.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/greenhaven/id206117477

About the Band: The release of the “Southbound” 7 inch and its corresponding video opened many critical eyes to the emergence of this special unit from Phoenix. A Phoenix New Times award for “Best Hard Rock Band” only confirmed what many already suspected, these fellas are out for blood. The rapier like riffing of Jay Hofer, the cocksure wordplay of Matt Strangwayes, Bill Schumann’s technical recklessness, and the freakish lack of respect with which Uncle Dave treats his instrument have established Greenhaven as one of the most promising bands in the country. “The Last Powerful Second” is their first CD was produced and distributed independently.

Posted on 7/27/2010