3Oh!3 talks music, med school and hometown pride

Students kicked off their spring break celebrations a little early this year as 3OH!3 performed in the Trabant Multipurpose Room March 23.

Following a show that included songs from its album "Want," the crowd called for an encore. Audience members chanted, "One more song! One more song!" but received three, including 3Oh!3's hit single, "Don't Trust Me."

Before the show, The Review sat down with Nat Motte, one half of Colorado-based duo, to discuss his life and career.

The band's name came from the area code of Boulder, Colo. Do you still live there?

I do, yeah. My family's there, my brother's there. I bought a house about a year ago. We travel all the time, but when I'm alone, I like to have my own spot.

Was music always something you wanted to do as a career?

No, it didn't even dawn on me I could do it for a long time until recently. For me, it was more of a hobby that developed into a career. It was only the past couple years that it was something I realized I could do for a living.

When was the turning point that made you realize it was going to be something bigger?

I think the first was the first real tour we went on. The extended tour was Warped Tour in 2008, and that was kind of a turning point because we saw the crowds grow and grow. We had never really toured around. We had done a few shows in New York, California, Vegas and at home in Colorado, but that was the first time going to Middle America, going to Florida, all the places in between. It was crazy. We could feel the momentum build. I was actually accepted into medical school that year. I was supposed to attend at the end of August, and half way through Warped Tour I was like, ‘I think I should probably defer.' It was a tough decision, but I think that's when I realized this is more than a fleeting thing.

Do you plan to eventually go to medical school?

We'll see. I'm still deferred actually. I deferred three times, and then this year they made me sign a contract that says I can only defer for one more year. I am deferred until August of 2011, so we'll see what happens then.

Besides the performing aspect of it, do you enjoy touring?

I do, yeah. It's great because we're pretty busy these days, but we try to take advantage of it, too, and be tourists and have days off and get to see things, and we think that if we have an opportunity to travel the world we might as well take advantage of it and see the sights of it. [But] there are parts of it that are super tiring.

Of the celebrity musicians you've worked with, who has been the most memorable?

We've known [Katy Perry] for a while, so working with her was natural and fun. But maybe Lil Jon, actually—he's a funny guy. He yells so loud. It's crazy when he records, it's deafening. I was impressed by that, and it was cool to work with someone I've admired for so long. It was pretty surreal and awesome. He's a character. He's a super nice, super smart dude.

In your music, it seems that a lot of what's important in your career is having fun.

That's one of the central aspects of our music. We're very serious about our music and try to make music that sounds different and is advancing something, but at the center of everything I think there's a want to have fun and that's making our music and playing it live, and then making sure everyone who comes to our show has a good time.

Are you working any projects as of now?

Right now we try to do new things and expand and branch out, but also keep the thing that's cool about our music and that's that sense of fun, and hopefully the sense of making new stuff and combining incongruous sounds, and hopefully doing that with some taste. I think we'll see if an EP or CD comes out.

The Review will have more on this story in the April 12 edition of the paper.