Kevin Cadogan

Personal history

Born in Oakland, California, Cadogan spent two years in England as a child, while his father taught on sabbatical. Later, the family returned to the United States and settled in Berkeley, California. The Cadogan family maintains their Irish heritage, and Cadogan holds dual American and Irish citizenship. Cadogan's song "Waiting For Me" refers to his close ties to Ireland.

Cadogan attended Berkeley public schools up to his graduation in 1988. Cadogan later attended San Francisco State University, graduating in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in broadcast communications.

Kevin Cadogan lives with his wife and three children in Berkeley.

Third Eye Blind

Cadogan began learning the guitar at age 12 and began playing in bands shortly after. Like many other guitarists, Cadogan was a student of guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani. Cadogan was introduced to Stephan Jenkins, who would become his songwriting partner in Third Eye Blind, at a concert in San Francisco in 1993. The two began jamming together before starting to perform as Third Eye Blind in shows around the Bay Area. Cadogan won two California Music Awards for best songwriter along with bandmate Jenkins and was nominated three years in a row as best guitarist in California along with Kirk Hammett from Metallica and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine.

According to a NY Times interview with Kevin Cadogan, it was his understanding that Third Eye Blind was an equal partnership.

Having signed to Elektra Records in 1996, the band released their self-titled debut album the following year. Cadogan co-wrote ten of the 14 songs on the album. The album spawned a number of Billboard Top 10 singles, and the album has sold in excess of six million copies to date. Cadogan was awarded, along with Jenkins, the award for best songwriter at the 1998 California Music Awards.

Cadogan co-wrote six of the 13 songs on Third Eye Blind's second album, Blue. Subsequently, Cadogan was awarded, along with Jenkins, the award for best songwriter at the 2000 California Music Awards.

Departure from Third Eye Blind

Cadogan and Third Eye Blind "parted ways" in January 2000.

According to Cadogan, he was ousted without warning because he didn't agree to a deal that would have yielded a $1 million advance to record an EP and start an Elektra Records imprint for which Stephan Jenkins would have full ownership and control.

The controversial circumstances of Cadogan's departure stem from his allegations that Stephan Jenkins and he were to be partners of the corporation named Third Eye Blind Inc. Instead, Jenkins directed the band's manager Eric Godtland and the band's attorney Thomas Mandelbaum to issue Jenkins 100% of the shares to himself making Stephan Jenkins the sole owner of all Third Eye Blind assets. Kevin Cadogan claimed that he was told by the band attorney that shares had not been issued to anyone. Cadogan told the NY Times in 1999 that he discovered 100% of the shares had in fact been issued to Jenkins as far back as 1996 when Cadogan and Jenkins signed the definitive record contract with Elektra. Cadogan states that upon learning that Jenkins owned 100% of the band he then refused to sign off on any more recording contracts and loans until shares were also issued to Cadogan. In 1999 Cadogan was asked to sign a 1 million dollar loan from Elektra records which would allow Third Eye Blind to record an EP and release it on its own label as a subsidiary of Elektra. Cadogan refused to sign the deal, citing the fact that he would not own or have any control over the assets acquired from the deal. In November 1999 Elektra records issued the funds to the Stephan Jenkins owned Third Eye Blind corporation without Cadogan's signature as Elektra had previously required. Two months later in January 2000, Cadogan and Third Eye Blind parted ways after a concert in Utah. Despite having received the $1 million from Elektra back in 1999, the band never delivered the EP for which the funds were allocated. Cadogan filed suit, alleging wrongful termination, adding that his production, recording, and songwriter royalties were withheld since being kicked out of the band. The lawsuit was settled out of court in June 2002, with the terms of the settlement undisclosed.

A major point of contention between Cadogan and Jenkins was an original understanding that Cadogan and Jenkins were to be equal partners in Third Eye Blind, but Jenkins established Third Eye Blind Inc. on the eve of signing the band's original record deal with Elektra Records in 1996. All payments were subsequently directed in the record contract to be paid to Third Eye Blind Inc., effectively cutting Cadogan out of any partnership and making Jenkins the sole "owner" of the band. Cadogan says several years went by before he realized that this change had been made in the contract.

In 2006 Third Eye Blind released A Collection on Rhino records. The collection included songs that were co-written by Cadogan from the first two albums. Cadogan was omitted from the band's history in the biography section of the liner notes, and credit for his work was falsely given to his replacement guitarist, Tony Fredianelli. The liner notes state: "As always the music profited between the interplay of guitarist Tony Fredianelli, Stephan Jenkins, Arion Salazar and Brad Hargreaves." Jude Gold from Guitar Player Magazine wrote in his review of the album that omitting Kevin Cadogan from the band's history: "It's like saying Guns N Roses music always profited from the interplay between Axl Rose and guitarist Buckethead."

New bands and solo career

Kevin Cadogan released three solo albums titled Wunderfoot, 12 days in Studio A, and Thousand Yard Stare.

In April 2007 Cadogan, Steve Harwell of Smash Mouth and Eric Stock of Stroke 9 formed a band Radio Angel. Eric Valentine agreed to be a producer of their music. They have not performed together since May 2014, but did release two singles, "Come Together" and "Never Turn You Down."

Cadogan made a guest appearance on a recording of Third Eye Blind closing track "God of Wine" with Lovedrug for the band's fan-chosen covers album from the I AM LOVEDRUG campaign. The album, titled Best of I AM LOVEDRUG was released June 28, 2011.

On December 19, 2011, Cadogan and original Third Eye Blind bassist Arion Salazar reunited to perform on the television program "Backline". Cadogan, Salazar, and Neve's John Stephens performed 12 of their original Third Eye Blind compositions under the new band name "XEB". While audio recordings of the performance have surfaced through the band's social media sites, the broadcast of the performance never came to fruition. They also created a music video for Graduate as well as releasing a single titled "Out of My Mind," this time with Cadogan again on vocals.

In May 2013 Cadogan and brothers Collin and Chris Livingston formed the alternative rock band Seven Cinematic. Cadogan left the project shortly after its inception following an unsuccessful crowdfunding campaign to help pay for the recording of an album.

On February 1, 2016 Cadogan announced he and Salazar were forming a new band named Cadogan & Salazar They performed a 20th anniversary concert at the Annex celebrating 20 years since the creation of Third Eye Blind's self titled debut album.

In October 2016, Cadogan & Salazar reverted to the name "XEB" when former Third Eye Blind guitarist, Tony Fredianelli, joined the band as their permanent singer. A number of shows have been announced including an opening slot on a one-off show with Everclear and Tonic.

In 2017, XEB announced a 20th anniversary spring and summer tour in support of Third Eye Blind's debut album.

Discography