With Gontier leaving the group in 2013 and its present lineup finding lead and rhythm guitarist Barry Stock and lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Matt Waist (Brad's brother) performing alongside Waist and Sanderson, Three Days Grace recorded six albums prior to Explosions, all released three years apart and all top-10 hits on Billboard's Canadian Albums chart: Three Days Grace in 2003, One-X in 2006, Life Starts Now in 2009, Transit of Venus in 2012, Human in 2015, and Outsider in 2018. The record label wanted to hear more material, and with Brown producing, Three Days Grace wrote the song 'I Hate Everything About You,' which attracted the interest of several record labels and would eventually be a massive hit from the rockers' self-titled, double-platinum-selling 2003 album. The musicians gave him several years' worth of material that they had created, polished the songs, and crafted a demo album that they gave to EMI Music Publishing Canada.

After that outfit broke up, its musicians Adam Gontier (guitarist and lead vocalist), Neil Sanderson (drummer and vocalist), and Brad Walst (bassist) regrouped as Three Days Grace, and upon landing in Toronto, they became acquainted with local producer Gavin Brown. With Three Days Grace making its debut in Norwood, Ontario in 1997, the band's original iteration was called 'Groundswell,' a group that played in various local Norwood backyard parties and area establishments from 1993 to 1996. Touring in support of 2022's Explosions, a May release that Cryptic Rock called 'an intense album you can listen to over and over and still find cathartic release of heartbreak and pain with each spin,' the alt-rock and -metal talents of Three Days Grace make a July 19 stop at East Moline venue The Rust Belt, the group's credits including a half-dozen top-10 Billboard album smashes and more than a dozen chart-topping singles.

The Rust Belt, 533 12th Avenue, East Moline IL

What was three days grace first album