3 Inches of Blood

The group began when Jamie Hooper, Sunny Dhak, and Bobby Froese, along with Geoff Trawick and Rich Trawick filling in on drums and bass, got together to do a one-off reunion gig for an old group of theirs, but things went so well with writing new material in a traditional metal style that they decided to continue under a new moniker. Rich Trawick's roommate, Steve Bays (keyboard player for Hot Hot Heat), heard the demo of the band's first recording and suggested having his friend Cam Pipes overdub some clean vocals to it.[1][2] Pipes overdubbed additional vocals to what became the band's first EP, Sect of the White Worm, and became a permanent band member after the results proved to the rest of the band's liking.[3] Their debut album Battlecry Under a Wintersun was recorded in 2002 and released in cooperation with the Teenage Rampage and Fashion Before Function labels. It was later remastered and re-released by the band under their own label, Minion Music. This album had moderate underground success in the Canadian market, ranking on national college radio charts and winning Metal Album of Year at the 2002 Canadian Independent Music Awards. The band garnered international exposure when its UK distribution label put them on as a support slot for a tour with platinum rock band The Darkness. This exposure garnered much critical attention and acclaim in the world of underground metal, and they were signed by major label subsidiary Roadrunner Records in 2004.

Cam Pipes live on stage

In 2004, Geoff Trawick (original drummer) and brother Rich Trawick (original bass player) left the band following personal differences with the rest of the band and professional differences with Roadrunner Records. Matt Wood of Vancouver doom/sludge/noise band Goatsblood, and Brian Redman replaced them. Soon after, just after recording the band's second album Advance and Vanquish, original guitarists Sunny Dhak and Bob Froese left the band and, with Mike Payette and Matt Wood (who is also an ex-3 Inches of Blood member and was replaced by Alexei Rodriguez), founded the rock band Pride Tiger.[4]

Dhak and Froese were replaced by Justin Hagberg, who had previously played with Pipes in Allfather, a black metal band, and Shane Clark. Roadrunner put out an advertising blitz, and the track "Deadly Sinners" from Advance and Vanquish appeared on numerous sampler CDs, compilations, and in three video games (Tony Hawk's Underground 2, Saints Row 2, and Brütal Legend). This created huge press hype for the band; their popularity skyrocketed and they earned a slot on the 2005 Road Rage Tour with bands like Machine Head and Chimaira.

Also in 2005, Justin Hagberg recorded the guitars on the tracks "Dawn of a Golden Age" and "I Don't Wanna Be (A Superhero)" for Roadrunner United: The All Star Sessions. In October 2006, at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Irvine, California, the band opened for Iron Maiden during the United States leg of their 2006 A Matter of Life and Death World Tour.

The band wrote their entire third studio album in Tacoma, Washington and performed their new songs at various places in Washington. By December 2006, they were recording at Vancouver's Armoury Studios, and announced that it would be titled Fire Up the Blades, with Joey Jordison, drummer of Slipknot as producer.[5] A demo of "Goatrider's Horde" which was recorded in Seattle in the spring of 2006 was made available for streaming on Roadrunner's official website, and a demo of "Night Marauders" appeared in the fifth Battle Metal compilation album released in issue 161 of the UK magazine Metal Hammer.

The band toured the United States during January and February 2007 in support of Cradle of Filth with The 69 Eyes and, in March, toured the UK with Biomechanical. On March 22, 2007, the band was confirmed to play the second stage at Ozzfest.[6] On April 6, 2007, the band's website was completely redesigned. Prior to the release of Fire Up the Blades, the band stressed that the album would be "darker, tighter and more dangerous" than their Roadrunner Records debut.[7] "This album is heavily influenced by low quality beer, bong rips and listening to black metal in the dark", says Hooper. "It doesn't sound blatantly black metal, it still sounds like us. But it's a faster, more intense version of us."[8] Fire Up the Blades was ultimately released in Japan on May 28, 2007, and worldwide on June 26, 2007. During the 2007 Ozzfest Tour, Jamie Hooper was unable to sing with the band as he was experiencing throat problems, and was warned by doctors that he may damage his voice permanently if he did not rest it.[9] He did not perform on the Ozzfest tour nor the Operation Annihilation tour. Harsh vocal duties were taken over by guitarist Justin Hagberg. Hooper did not perform with the band for the whole 2007-08 year.

At the 2007 Hard Rock Hell festival in the UK, drummer Alexei Rodriguez got into a fight with Saxon drummer Nigel Glockler. The fight left Glockler with broken glasses and a black eye; the security guards who intervened put Rodriguez in hospital with a broken elbow. 3 Inches of Blood fired Rodriguez, apologized for his behavior and replaced him with Ash Pearson (of Sound Of the Swarm & Just Cause).

Toronto concert

In 2008, Jamie Hooper quit the band and did not perform on 3 Inches of Blood's fourth album Here Waits Thy Doom, making it the first album from the band not to feature any original members. Harsh vocal duties were taken over by Hagberg.

The song "Beware The Preacher's Daughter" features all four members of fellow Canadian Metal band Bison B.C. (James Farwell, Dan And, Masa Anzai and Brad MacKinnon) singing gang vocals on the chorus.

3 Inches of Blood was featured in Rockstar's Mayhem Festival 2010, and the band released a music video for the song "Silent Killer".[10]

On March 26, 2012, the band released their final album, Long Live Heavy Metal, in North America.[11]

On June 2, 2015, the band announced it would be disbanding following two final shows, which took place on November 7 and 8 at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver.[12]