Doug Millaway - keyboards, guitar, percussion, production.

Originally from St. Louis, MO., Doug Millaway moved to the upper midwest about 23 years ago.  Millaway usually lays down all the basic tracks of a song before the rest of the group comes into the picture.  He uses his arsenal of keyboards and softsynths to create intricate "beds" for the others to play with.  Millaway uses a Yamaha S80 as his controller keyboard, and relies on a variety of soft synths to create music. 

In addition, Doug Millaway occasionally trots out his Martin Shenandoah acoustic guitar to flavor a track.  Millaway has been playing guitar since he was 13 years old.  Many an evening were spent banging out blues chords and terrifying the neighbors from his front porch in suburban St. Louis, MO.  Doug also owns a Wechter Silk and Steel acoustic, a Wechter Pathmaker 3103, a Parker PM-10 electric, and a Jay Turser Resonator. 

  Rob Denton - lead and rhythm guitars, vocals.

Rob Denton has played guitar nearly all his life.  He has a natural ear for improvisation.  His arsenal of "axes" consist of models by Fender, Epiphone, and Jersey Girl.  His guitar processor of choice in the studio is a Pod Pro XT Live.

Rob uses a variety of picking techniques as he plays that has the effect of altering the output in dramatic ways.  He is forever working the volume and tone switches, as well as alternating the various pickup combination in search of the "right sound".  It is not unusual for Rob to spend 20 to 40 minutes searching for his sound before attempting a take on a track.  It is this precision that leads to consistent and quality output from one of the best Minnesota guitarists you can find.

Bob Johnson - saxophone

Bob joined the Third Level Project in 2005 after Doug came across his work with another collaborative band called the Funkdawgs.  Since Bob has brought his incredible sound and abilities to the project, the quality of the production and composition has grown immensely.  Bob lives in Ottawa, Ontario, and contributes his piece via the internet.  Bob is the founder of the award winning internet collaborative project called the Funkdawgs. Visit The Funkdawgs and check out their music.  You will not be disappointed.

Filippo Bertacche - drums and percussion

After the completion of the TLP Connected CD, the group decided to invite Italian drummer Filippo Bertacche to the band.  Filippo is also a member of the internet collaboration known as the Funkdawgs.  Fil is a self-taught drummer of many musical style including jazz, fusion, blues, funk, rock, pop, acid,  and progressive. He started playing drums in 1988, and early on checked out drummers like Jeff Porcaro, Dave Weckl, Steve Gadd, Stewart Copeland and Dennis Chambers. In addition, Fil also enjoys the playing of artists such as Chad Wackerman, Tom Brechtlein, Jay Baron, Bill Stewart and Simon Phillips. His first demo called POLLUTION (written by himself) was recorded in 1996. Fil provides drums tracks for numerous internet collaborations & projects.

Paul Wheeler - bass

The most recent addition to the Third Level Project group is Australian Paul Wheeler.  Paul answered the call when Doug posted a request for a bass player in an online music support group.  Paul is probably the most "famous" of the group in a sense, because he was member of the Australian power rock band of the 70's called Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs.  (You can find some of the bands music on You Tube.)  Having Paul join the band has completed the rhythm section, and that has added a whole new dimension to the sound.  Paul produces his bass tracks in his own home studio in Australia and sends them back to Doug in the US to be entered into the mix.

The original TLP band finally got to meet each other "live and in person" at the Funkdawgs show in Nashville in April of 2006 (including Filippo). The original Trio has released it's first collaborative collection of tunes to the public.  Anticipation for the CD was high as they have received recognition through several internet radio stations as well as appearing as the "Download Of The Day" on the All About Jazz website.