First Posted: 7/13/2014

The wait for new music from multi-platinum selling rock band 3 Doors Down just got a little longer. Lead singer Brad Arnold tells “Ralphie Tonight” that he doesn’t expect material to be released until the spring of 2015.

“We’re going to have it written by the end of this year so we can put it out in the spring,” Arnold said via telephone, ahead of the band’s performance last week in Jim Thorpe. “Really excited about it man. Some different things happening and a little bit different songs we’re writing this time. The songs we’ve been playing for the crowd so far, they’ve been enjoying it so that always makes you feel good and excited to get it out there.”

The album that 3DD drops next year will serve as the follow-up to 2011’s Time of My Life. Arnold and company have performed some of the new tracks on the band’s acoustic tour, which started about a year ago. The live shows shape how 3 Doors Down writes and records songs.

“We keep in mind when we’re making a record like, ‘Alright guys, we gotta play this every night. We have to sound great so don’t go overboard,’” Arnold revealed of the band’s thought process. “We just try not to do anything in the studio that we can’t pull off live.”

That mindset in the studio allows 3 Doors Down to sound just as good, if not better, than the recordings when they do take the stage, regardless of the set-up.

“This summer is about half acoustic and half electric,” Arnold said. The full band played a set last weekend in Readington, New Jersey. “When we first got back to playing electric shows I was sitting up there like, ‘Man I think I’m lazy. I need to do some cardio tomorrow or something!’”

But whether the full setup is behind him or not, it is Arnold’s voice that really carries the live show. The lead singer says he probably could do a better job of keeping his vocal chords fresh, but attributes the longevity he does have to simply resting and trying not to yell.

“Sometimes you’re kind of worse on your throat during the day just sitting around talking, without realizing it, than you are when you’re on stage,” Arnold said. “I just try to keep that in mind because I talk a lot.”

There have been plenty of moments to want to scream from excitement during the band’s career. The quintet from Escatawpa, Mississippi rose to fame in 2000 with the hit “Kryptonite.” A few lineup changes and about 20 million albums sold later, 3 Doors Down finds itself preparing to release its sixth studio LP with Republic Records.

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