For anyone who spent any time near a radio in the late '90s, it was virtually impossible to avoid Third Eye Blind's song "Semi-Charmed Life," the sort of über-catchy pop hit that demands to be blared from open windows.

But with its heyday some 10 years in the past, some music fans might've been scratching their heads when Third Eye Blind was announced as the headlining musical act for Freakfest, the city-sanctioned Halloween party on State Street on Oct. 31.

Although the San Francisco-based rock band has maintained a smaller, loyal fan base over the years between studio albums, many casual listeners who stopped paying attention after 1997 are probably surprised to see the band still together in 2009, let alone releasing a new studio album, after years of steadily receding from the public eye. The band currently consists of lead singer Stephan Jenkins, drummer Brad Hargreaves and guitarist Tony Fredanelli.

But the band -- which is touring behind its fourth studio album, "Ursa Major" -- seems like it could be inspired booking for a large college-town party like Freakfest, especially given that the band has been discovered by a new generation of young fans who are responding to Third Eye Blind's infectious, wide-eyed alternative rock anthems, some of which subversively detail the excesses and darker side of the party scene amid bright pop melodies and hooks.

Hargreaves said the band is seeing a growing fan base of college students, who share the songs with friends across campus networks. Singer Stephan Jenkins recently told the Los Angeles Times that, according to the band's agent, Third Eye Blind is one of the most requested bands to play shows on campuses.

Third Eye Blind stormed out the gates in 1997 with its debut album, which sold some six million copies, scored a No. 1 Modern Rock hit with its first single, "Semi-Charmed Life," and spawned four more hit singles, including "How's It Gonna Be" and "Jumper," which all made the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1997-1999.

The band signed with major label Elektra/Asylum, and the 1999 follow-up, "Blue," sold 150,000 copies within a month of its release. But the band's 2003 studio effort "Out of the Vein" suffered from poor promotion and got lost amid Elektra's merger with Atlantic Records.

In 2004, the band was dropped, along with many other bands, by Atlantic Records, which had taken over Elektra's roster of bands and was looking to slash costs.

Hargreaves said that, since then, Third Eye Blind has been recharging and reinventing itself as an independent band operating outside the demands and boardroom committees of the major-label system that helped propel the band to huge commercial success early on but ultimately dictated an image for the band that Hargreaves said wasn't right for Third Eye Blind.

It's somewhat jarring to hear a member of one of the most popular bands of the late '90s that became almost synonymous with chart-topping mainstream rock success embracing an under-the-radar independent band sensibility, but Hargreaves said that's exactly where the band is at in 2009 and that it's been a far better fit.

"(Being an independent band) is just vastly superior for us. It doesn't dilute what we do," Hargreaves said. "We're not a mainstream band right now … We feel more like ourselves being sort of like this secret band from the Bay area that we always felt we were … We're so inspired to be an independent band and be able to release music whenever we want and to make our own decisions because we manage ourselves."

For the first time, Third Eye Blind played this year's South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, a high-profile event highlighting indie acts and tastemakers. The band debuted new songs from "Ursa Major" to an overflow crowd there, which is perhaps a sign that Third Eye Blind is just gearing up for a successful second act of a career that's lasted longer than many expected.

"Ursa Major," which was released on the band's own Mega Collider Records, topped the iTunes album chart when it came out in August. The band also registered its career-best peak on the Billboard 200 with the album debuting at No. 3.

Channel 3000 recently spoke with Hargreaves about Third Eye Blind's new independent mindset, playing Halloween in Madison and the band's resurgence in popularity.

Channel 3000: How's the tour going?

Brad Hargreaves: It's going well; we're about halfway through the tour. It's the first full tour we've done in awhile. It's themed around the night sky and astrology. It's galactic.

C3K: That makes sense with the new album titled "Ursa Major." How would you describe the new album?

BH: I'd call it an instant classic. I like that. But, you know, people ask us to describe our record, and it's like, "That's not my job, that's your job. You describe the record. You listen to it."

We're proud of it. We worked really hard on it. We feel like it's every bit as good as all of our records, which we believe in and love. I think this is even stronger than some of the previous records.

C3K: Do you have a favorite song from the new record?

BH: Yeah, it's a song called "Water Landing." It's one of those songs that was kind of slated for the second half of the record -- and I think it is on the second half of the record. But there are always songs on records that you have high expectations for, and then they maybe don't turn out as well as you wished they would.

And then there are some that are the surprise tracks, where it's like, "Wow, that just really exceeded all my expectations for that track." That song really is the one on the record that sort of overachieved and really became kind of a fan favorite and definitely my favorite on the record.

C3K: From what I've read, it seems the band is feeling optimistic about the decline of the major-label music industry and what that means for the future of Third Eye Blind.

BH: Yeah, for us it's a great opportunity and fits in perfectly with where we are as a band now. Because of all the touring we've done and the music we've made over the years, we have a fan base of people that follow us, and because of that, we're able to be an independent band. We release our own records; we manage ourselves now; we do our own merchandise. Everything we do has come back to be in the band, rather than outside people with opinions that you feel like you have to listen to for one reason or another.

So, what we're doing now is as pure and meaningful as anything we've ever done. We're the captains of our own ship in every way now.

C3K: Is it a challenge to manage all those other aspects that had previously been handled by other people?

BH: I guess it's more work, but at the same time, when you're the only one who benefits from all that work, then it's much more gratifying. No one cares about your band more than you do. Band members have the most at stake with every decision that gets made, so it's just much more satisfying when you can see the fruits of your very own work. Essentially, we work entirely for ourselves and our fan base now.

We always had a lot of control over what we did creatively and musically, but there are other aspects of marketing that we didn't -- and now we have that too. It's just vastly superior for us. It doesn't dilute what we do, like some other models, I suppose.

C3K: What were some instances in the past where marketing or something didn't turn out as you wanted it to?

BH: I mean, we were marketed as a "radio band" and all that stuff, and that definitely benefitted us in certain ways but it also sort of pigeonholed us in a way that to this day we're still sort of fighting against.

And then there were the music videos that we did for major labels, and the directors that were recommended to us, that were just the wrong kind of videos to be making.

We're lucky because we always had complete control over the recording and the sound of our music, and that's always been the purest thing. Generally what people remember today is the music on our records and it's what people still love. And thankfully some of the marketing has faded away with the record industry.

There are just so many aspects of a band's public record, so it's nice to be in control of all those things now in a very all-encompassing way.

C3K: The band's singer has said that he believes albums are basically unnecessary in this digital age. Do you agree with that assessment?

BH: I think a great album is necessary. Most of the records that get made now in sort of a cookie-cutter world, yeah, I think they are becoming unnecessary. I mean, sure, there are songs that resonate, but very few full albums do; and that's true over time, it's not like that just started happening now.

I think he (Jenkins) would prefer to be in a time where you just release singles through your Web site. (You'd release a) couple songs and then go on tour, and then when you have 10 of them you package them together and it's called an album.

I think that once we finish our next record -- it's sort of a sister record to "Ursa Major," called "Ursa Minor" -- we're just going to kind of get into more of an independent singles-releasing environment, as opposed to the pressure of, say, "Write 30 songs and record them and pare them down to the best 12 and figure out how to market the right single and all that …" I think we're going to get away from that.

C3K: So you have a bunch of newer material that isn't on "Ursa Major"?

BH: There was a bunch of material that was written over the last five years that we felt just didn't go on "Ursa Major." We just thought "Ursa Major" was a collection of songs that went together, and so "Ursa Minor" is some of the rest of the songs, and some that we're writing now, that are going to comprise that record.

C3K: How familiar are you with Madison's reputation as far as the big annual Halloween party?

BH: I heard it's wild. We'll see -- we'll see what you got. San Francisco is pretty wild on Halloween, too. I'm sure it will live up to its reputation.

C3K: What are the differences in how the band performs as a part of a larger event like Freakfest compared to playing your own show where people come specifically to see you play?

BH: I think generally the difference is the length of time we get to play. I think we play fairly late that night, so we're probably not playing all that long of a show, so we have to get to it. You have to be cognizant of the time you're playing and the mood of people -- a.k.a. how drunk people are (laughs). We tailor the set list to what we're doing. I can't say exactly what that's going to be, but once we get there and see what the vibe is we'll make the set list and rock it out.

C3K: The band played the Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey this year, which is mostly devoted to punk rock and geared toward 18-year-old fans. What was it like playing for an audience that was predominately around 10 years old when your debut album came out?

BH: Yeah, I don't know why and I can't explain it, but those are our fans now. We have like this whole new generation of fans that have come along and just completely embraced us, and embraced us solely for our music -- that sits in an mp3 playlist on their computer. There's no marketing that they're seeing, there's none of the residue of the former record industry as we know it and its affect on how we were marketed.

We're just so overjoyed to have our music just sit next to other people's music now, and have it just be judged solely on that.

For whatever reason, I don't know what the reason is, but our fans are 15-25 year olds again.

C3K: It seems in general the band is seeing a resurgence in popularity as of late. Is there anything you attribute that to?

BH: It's hard to say. At the end of the day, our music is not (b.s.). We're not trying to be something that we're not. We write music to express a pure emotion, and that's what we've always done. And so consequently, I don't think anyone can see it as fraudulent, because that's really not the motivation behind it. And I think people are wiser and wiser and they can small a fraud from so far away now. We've been lucky in that what we naturally do and the music we naturally want to make together is something that people can embrace.

C3K: The band's previous album came out six years ago. Why the long wait between albums?

BH: We just needed to kind of recharge. What people don't realize is when you gain some success -- like our first record came out in 1997, but we were working really hard on it starting in 1995. So in 1995 we were writing a lot of that material and playing shows and developing it, getting a record deal. (We were) recording the record in 1996, releasing it in 1997, and then two years straight of touring, go back in the studio to record "Blue," go do another two years of touring, go back and start the recording process for our third record, and then suddenly it's 2004 and you've basically been working solid the whole entire time.

We got a little breathing space there, and we just kind of had to step back for a second. And everyone does a lot of different projects and records with other people and has different bands or projects or things they do, so that, and with our fans being fired up, we started working pretty hard starting in 2007 again on "Ursa Major" and then spent a couple years making that and just put it out.

C3K: Was having such a huge success very early on with the band's debut album a challenge at all as far as shaping the band's career after that?

BH: Only in the sense that we were sort of marketed in a certain way. We were marketed as a band that was going to be huge now and then be forgotten later. And there are definitely choices that were made that we would have liked not to have happened, but by and large, at the end of the day, we're still going. We're not a mainstream band right now. We have some songs that are going on the radio now, and I guess that could happen again, but we feel more like ourselves being sort of like this secret band from the Bay area that we always felt we were.

C3K: Early in your career, the band landed a big opening spot for Oasis. Did it surprise you that you got such a high-profile opportunity?

BH: No, that came about because their record company was interested in signing us, and we said, "OK, if you want to sign us, let us open for Oasis." We were all fans of the record. You get one time when you really have the record industry over the barrel and that's when they want you, initially, before you're committed to them. So we definitely, in that and numerous other ways, used it for all it was worth.

C3K: What was your reaction to seeing Jim Carrey sort of cover the band's song "Jumper" in his movie "Yes Man"?

BH: I never saw it.

C3K: But you're aware of it?

BH: Yeah, I know he did it. You know, whatever, good, good. Cover away. I didn't even bother to look.

C3K: Where would you say the band is at this point? Where do you go from here?

BH: We're rolling. We're so inspired to be an independent band and be able to release music whenever we want and to make our own decisions because we manage ourselves. It's going to be interesting to see where it goes, but I think we feel like we're on solid footing again and we definitely like the direction of things. We're just going to keep touring and keep putting out music and keep doing what we do. We're looking forward to playing Madison and rocking out with the freaks.