The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

The sophomore album of 3rd Secret, The 2nd 3rd Secret, was released this June. This is the most recent creative adventure for local musicians Krist Novoselic, bass player for Nirvana, and his Giants in the Trees bandmates Jillian Raye and Jennifer Johnson. The band also includes Kim Thayil of Soundgarden, Bubba Dupree of Void, and Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.

According to Novoselic, you can hear the transition from Giants in the Trees to 3rd Secret in their first album, but the band really settled into their sound this time around.

"We converged in Seattle and we would just write songs pretty fast," Novoselic said. "When we would get together, we would just get down, and every set, we would have at least a couple songs. It came together rapidly."

Cameron wrote three songs on the album and provided the music for Ditch, while Raye added the vocal phrasing and the lyrics. Dupree's compositions to the album include Awaken Ye Sleeper and Queens. There were contributions from Thayil throughout.

Novoselic said he and Raye worked on So Close for a couple years, even recording a demo where they just "disco-ized" it, he said, wanting to sound like Blondie.

The last song on the album, Let it Burn, started with a riff from Novoselic. Two hours after showing what he was working on to the band, they had a song.

"We just had this jam at the end," Novoselic said. "We'd play it and play it and play it, and it would start to develop. That was the last take. Matt is freaking out on drums and I'm doing all these bass riffs, and that's it."

The first song, Reckless Room, started with a riff that Thayil shared and Novoselic re-arranged, with Raye again providing vocal phrasing and lyrics.

"It was like a Soundgarden instrumental and we just took part of it and made it into our own song," Novoselic said.

In August, the band plans to get together to make a few videos, but so far no shows are planned.

"The videos are all just performances of the songs," Novoselic said. "That's fun.We love to play together, and it gives us an excuse to play together."

As for now, Novoselic is keeping busy working in the garden, mowing a nearby cemetery, and tending to Grange duties.

"Exciting rock and roll stuff," he said.

"The first record was more of a lockdown record. We did write in the same room, but not as much," Raye said. "This record, it was traveling to Seattle over the winter, sitting in the same room together. People would bring their riffs in or we would write something together. We kind of developed our more unique sound, because it was written together in that same space and energy."

"The inspiration is there," she added. "You can feel it. Everyone brings their own unique flavor in. We don't shape it too much, we let it be what it wants to be."

Raye is excited for people to hear the music and create more with this band.

"We are blessed to be able to do what we love," she said. "I think the intention behind the music is very pure. We just love music. You can feel whatever was put in on the out."

The album was mixed by Brandon Bell and features a duet with Cameron and Taylor Momsen.

The band hasn't gone national with their new release, Novoselic said, but the album is getting played on a couple local independent stations, The Blitz in Longview, and The Bridge out of Seaside.

It can also be found on streaming sites. For more information, go to 3rdsecret.com.