Third Eye Blind on MGK Sampling Their Song ‘Semi-Charmed Life’: ‘He’s Irrepressible.’
Who knew that a ‘90s jam about a crystal-meth-fueled good time could be a modern emo-rock track? Machine Gun Kelly just dropped “Starman,” a track off his new album Lost…
Who knew that a ‘90s jam about a crystal-meth-fueled good time could be a modern emo-rock track? Machine Gun Kelly just dropped "Starman," a track off his new album Lost Americana that samples Third Eye Blind’s iconic “Semi-Charmed Life.” Frontman Stephan Jenkins didn’t just hear the news; he had something to say about it.
Third Eye Blind Stephan Jenkins: “He’s Irrepressible”
In an interview with Page Six, Jenkins said of the sample, “He is irrepressible. Uncontainable in the way people want to be. I’m glad that artists like MGK find ways to bring energy and life to their own stories through the song.”
MGK revealed he struggled a bit to get the sample. But he’s adamant since the song is a “huge soundtrack to [his] life growing up,” fortunately, it made it in time to be included on the album.
MGK worked up the courage to reach out to Jenkins directly and had plans to meet up at Jenkins' Malibu, California home, but because of the wildfires, the road to his home was not passable. “So many homes were burnt and lost in that strip there, this iconic strip in California. You can only get through if you have a resident pass, like if you have a house there. I do not,” MGK told fans.
MGK’s Appeal to the National Guard
MGK also shared that he needed to appeal to the National Guard to let him pass: “I pull my car up to the National Guard and I was just sitting there like, ‘Dude, please be a young army man who likes MGK.’ I said, ‘Dude, I’m gonna be completely honest with you. I’m trying to clear this song for an album that means a lot to me. The guy to clear it is right in there [in that house], so will you believe in this mission and let me accomplish it?’ He was like, ‘Go ahead, bro. I better hear it on the album.’”
MGK’s gamble paid off, earning Jenkins’ all-clear, and perhaps that’s why the frontman called him “irrepressible.” After all, he didn’t even let the National Guard stop him from reaching Jenkins’ home.
Jenkins said, “There are plenty of famous people who are trying to get past the National Guard to drive down the PCH. That MGK is not only the one to get through, but who makes that guardsman feel good about doing it, is indicative of who MGK is as a person. I think it is a big part of why his fans feel uplifted by his music.”
Lost Americana, MGK’s seventh album, is out now.
