by Kim Pool
Barreling out of the gate with a fierce determination of psychedelic rock, soul, and funk is Third Floor. A beacon of psychedelic rock, the band has played at several venues in the Kansas City area. Before VIVO relocated to Leavenworth, VIVO was the band’s home venue.
The band includes guitarist and lead singer Matt Hunt, bassist Ryan Fort, and drummer Kyle Sargent. Richard Borlaza is the band’s manager.
Ever since they were little, the members of Third Floor have been captured by sounds and music, something that is still a strong influence to this day. Their upbringings and culture also evoke a strong connection to their art.
“A mixed kid from Kansas fronting a rock band isn’t something you see often,” Matt says, “especially being from the middle of nowhere. It means a lot to me as a musician.”
The band’s draw to music is also hereditary, as Matt and Kyle’s dads are both musicians.
Third Floor started through mutual connections:
“I wanted to play some songs I’d written live, so I needed to find members to play with,” Matt says.
“I joined because Rich [Third Floor’s manager] took a pic of me playing drums in his basement on a green screen and posted it to Facebook,” Kyle says. “His friend, who was Emma’s [former bassist] dad, asked if I was free. Then I started texting Matt, and that’s how we met.”
“I had been trying to find a group to play with for a couple years at that point, and I had been informed about an Instagram page called kcitymusicians, which was essentially a job-posting board for bands and artists in Kansas City and the surrounding areas,” Ryan says. “I reached out to a couple of those who posted about wanting a guitarist, and Matt and I share a lot of similar goals and interest. I liked the clips of his and Kyle’s original songs a lot, so I decided to pursue Third Floor, who thankfully let me come on board!”
The band started in Matt’s third floor apartment, hence the band name. Influences range from The Police, Jimi Hendrix, David Gilmour, Kings of Leon, The Beatles, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Cream, TOOL, and Tchaikovsky.
This year, the band has played at The Brick in KC, Westport Bowery also in KC, and most recently at the Great Plains Festival in Lawrence, Kansas.
Next for the band is recording an EP later this month. Their current output is a single “Broadcast (Radio Edit)” released in February last year.
Third Floor describes themselves overall as: “new. fresh, creative, inevitable and the best thing since sliced bread. Maybe we should’ve been called Punk Floyd, since we play just funky, punky, groovy rock.”
Follow Third Floor:
https://www.facebook.com/thirdfloorbandkc
https://youtube.com/channel/UCuv9h4et-A7wxEyMHqT_tKg?sub_confirmation=1
https://instagram.com/thirdfloorbandkc?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
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