Topic: Shane Clark

3 Inches of Blood is a Canadian heavy metal band formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 2000.The band was heavily influenced by the NWOBHM bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Their sound is also very thrash-influenced and contains major elements (namely, vocals) of early death and black metal. Before 3 Inches of Blood Cam Pipes and Justin Hagberg were in a black metal band called All Father. When Pipes was around 10 years old, he sang in his school's choir.

The group initially performed with only Jamie Hooper on vocals before the addition of Cam Pipes. Hooper, Sunny Dhak, and Bobby Froese got together to do a one-off reunion gig for an old group of theirs; however, things went so well they decided to continue under a new moniker. Pipes heard their demo EP at the house of Hot Hot Heat keyboardist Steve Bays, a longtime friend and former bandmate. He was originally asked to add some vocals to the band's already-recorded demo, Sect of the White Worm, and was welcomed as a permanent member after the results proved to the band's liking. Their debut album Battlecry Under a Wintersun was recorded in 2002 on the Megarock Records label. This release went by almost unnoticed until the band's UK distribution label decided to put them on as a support slot for a tour with platinum rock band The Darkness. This exposure gained them much critical attention and acclaim in the world of underground metal, and they were signed up by major label subsidiary Roadrunner Records in 2004.

In 2004, original drummer Geoff Trawick and bassist brother Rich Trawick left the band. Matt Wood of Vancouver doom/sludge/noise band Goatsblood, and Brian Redman replaced them. Original guitarists, Sunny Dhak and Bob Froese left the band shortly after recording in around July 2004 because "they could no longer commit to touring and needed to deal with some personal matters" as the band wrote on their website. They were also committed to a business that they had set up called Bloodstone Press, a union shop and party venue. It is now defunct and together with Mike Payette (who was the third of the four shareholders of Bloodstone Press) and Matt Wood (who is also an ex-3 Inches of Blood member since July 2005 and was replaced by Alexei Rodriguez) they founded the rock band Pride Tiger. The band plays music more oriented towards '70s guitar-driven rock bands because, as Wood stated, "metal just becomes the same thing over and over. Anyway, I'm not really a metal dude. None of us are. I'm sure if you studied pictures of 3 Inches of Blood you could pick us out as not really belonging there." Sunny and Bobby were replaced by Justin Hagberg and Shane Clark. Roadrunner put out an advertising blitz, and the track "Deadly Sinners" from the band's second release Advance and Vanquish appeared on numerous sampler CDs, compilations, and even a video game (Tony Hawk's Underground 2) creating a huge press hype for the band that caused their popularity to skyrocket, with a slot on 2005's Road Rage tour in August (with bands like Machine Head and Chimaira) gaining them many new fans.