It's been four years since Third Eye Blind last released a record, but 2007 could mark the long awaited return of one of the 90's most popular bands.  In an effort to promote the band's upcoming shows in San Francisco later this week, Third Eye Blind's Stephan Jenkins did an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle where he revealed the band plants to release a new album tentatively  titled "The Hideous Strength" later this year.

Of the new album, Jenkins said that it will be more political than the hook-filled radio hits, such as "Semi-Charmed Life" and "How's It Going to Be," that made the band famous in the late '90s.

"I think this album is going to be more political, but there's nothing worse than a political song," Jenkins says. "Over the last few years, I realized I've been personally so oppressed by government and the way so many people in our country have been silenced and duped. It's had a personal effect on me and I had to write about it."

Jenkins also went on to talk about the band's severed ties with the now defunct Elektra Records and the weeks following the release of their last album "Out of the Vein", and what has lead to the bands recent hiatus.

"Our record company ceased to exist the month the record was released," Jenkins said. "Elektra Records imploded. It was just letterhead.  After the release of 'Vein' I was determined not to second-guess myself," he says. "But I just needed to quiet down. I needed to put my loudspeaker down for a minute and read and watch."

"It's like there's times where you want to speak out," Jenkins continues. "There's times when you want to write and there's times when you want to read, or you sort of want to take in. And the last couple years for me I just realized it's been more about reading and taking stuff in and more about listening than speaking. So hopefully we're going to get back out to the speaking part."

Jenkins did not say if the band's new album would be released with another major label, or if it would released independently.

For those in the San Francisco area, Third Eye Blind plays March 13 and 14 at the Fillmore.