Dirty Three

Dirty Three
Warren Ellis
Background information
Origin	Melbourne, Australia
Genres	Instrumental, post-rock
Years active	1993–present
Labels	Touch and Go, Bella Union, Anchor & Hope
Associated acts	Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Tren Brothers, Grinderman, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, Mick Turner, The Blackeyed Susans, Cat Power
Members
Warren Ellis Jim White Mick Turner

Dirty Three are an instrumental trio consisting of Warren Ellis (violin), Mick Turner (electric guitar) and Jim White (drums), originating from Melbourne, Australia. Since the Dirty Three formed in 1992, they have spent a lot of time overseas. Mick Turner is currently based in Melbourne, drummer Jim White travels a lot, and Ellis lives in Paris.

History

Prior to Dirty Three's formation Warren Ellis studied classical violin and worked briefly as a schoolteacher in regional Victoria after completing a degree; he was a member of The Blackeyed Susans, Paranoid, and the Nursing Mothers; he subsequently traveled, busked, wrote music and performed for art openings and plays. Mick Turner and Jim White have a shared musical history via the numerous bands they played in during the 1980s and early 90's. Throughout the Dirty Three's existence, both have contributed their respective talents to numerous artists and groups. Turner was a member of The Moodists for a few months prior to, and including the length of, their first European sojourn (1983-5), and was also a member of the Sick Things (as Mick Sick), Fungus Brains and Venom P. Stinger. White was also in Venom P. Stinger . He has also been a member of People With Chairs Up Their Noses, Feral Dinosaurs (this group also featured Conway Savage, later a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) and The Blackeyed Susans. He has also played on records by Hunters and Collectors and Tex, Don and Charlie.

The Dirty Three first played as a pub act in 1993, in Melbourne, Australia. At the trio's first live show, Ellis attached a guitar pickup to his violin with a rubber band, providing the instrument with a distorted, feedback-drenched tone unlike the violin's more traditional sound. From then on they grew in stature within the Melbourne music scene, and went on to become the support act for many groups such as Pavement and the John Spencer Blues Explosion before the release of their debut album, Sad & Dangerous in 1994- essentially the trio's demo tape. The album, along with subsequent tours with Sonic Youth, John Cale, and again Pavement, led to a record deal with Chicago's Touch and Go.

In 1995, Dirty Three performed with Cave (also a participant on the Palace project) in London for a live soundtrack to the Carl Dreyer silent film La Passion De Jeanne d'Arc, at the National Film Theatre.

In late 2005, the band released their seventh major album, Cinder, which, though following in the spirit of Ocean Songs, diverges from all of their previous works on several points. It was the first Dirty Three album to feature vocals (those of Chan Marshall aka Cat Power and Sally Timms of The Mekons), though only on two of nineteen songs. The songs are also generally much shorter and more concise than their early work, which allows for the rather large number of tracks. Perhaps most notably, instead of the usual recording live technique, they opted, for the first time in their career, to record in the studio individually.

In May 2007 the band curated a weekend of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival, booking bands they admired in addition to performing twice themselves. 2007 was also the year of the release of a live concert DVD, shot in Tokyo in HD by Taiyo Films with a multi-track sound record. Film director Darcy Maine also has completed a feature length documentary on the bands history for release worldwide. Outtakes and clips of which can be seen at [1]

Collaborations

Ellis since 1996 has been a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Ellis and Turner have both released solo albums. In addition, Turner and White have released several EPs as The Tren Brothers, and appear as backing musicians on albums by Cat Power, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and PJ Harvey (White drums). Turner is also an internationally exhibited painter with his own work gracing the covers of all of their major albums except Sad & Dangerous. He also runs the band's own record label Anchor & Hope Records. In 1999, Dirty Three with Low recorded an In the Fishtank session for Konkurrent records.

Dirty Three have released albums on Touch & Go Records and have toured with Nick Cave, Sonic Youth, Low, Pavement, Throwing Muses, Cat Power, PJ Harvey, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Devendra Banhart, Josh T. Pearson and Shannon Wright to name just a few.

Style

The Dirty Three's sound is distinctive, composed of folk melody, rock energy, elements of classical, chamber music, jazz and blues, Celtic, and other European folk styles - a diverse collection of influences, though the style of music the trio play is uniquely their own, born from years of musical experience.^{[citation needed]}

Their latter releases differ somewhat to their first few albums as a trio, which are harsher, more experimental in quality and form. The releases that followed have a prominence of melody, and are at times slower and sparse, but the music still retains the rawness and raucous sound of their earlier albums. The first few albums are typified by consistent fast and aggressive playing, while the later albums rise and fall and have slower moments.^{[citation needed]}

Discography and filmography

Albums and documentaries

• Sad & Dangerous (25 April 1995)
• Dirty Three (25 July 1995)
• Horse Stories (10 September 1996)
• Ocean Songs (31 March 1998)
• Whatever You Love, You Are (7 March 2000)
• She Has No Strings Apollo (18 February 2003)
• Cinder (11 October 2005)
• Live! At Meredith (2005)
• Dirty Three (2007)

Featured in:

• Sticky Carpet (2006)
• Meredith Music Festival: A Weekend In The Country (2006)
• All Tomorrow's Parties (2009)

Singles, EPs and tour albums

• Obvious is Obvious (split with Low) (1997)
• Sharks (CD only for sale during the 1998 tour in Australia and US)
• A Strange Holiday (7" split with Scenic) (1998)
• Ufkuko (1998)
• In the Fishtank (with Low) (2001)
• Great Waves (2005)
• Doris/I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (7" split with Josh T. Pearson) (2006)
• Lowlands (Collection of studio outtakes and radio session tracks. CD only available during the 2000 Australia and US tour)

Compilations and soundtracks

• Absolutely Live 1995 (compilation) (1995)
• Why Should the French Have All the Fun? (compilation) (1996)
• Songs in the Key of X (compilation) (1996)
• Recovery: Ready for Transmission (compilation) (1999)
• Homebake 3 (1999)
• Praise (1999)
• At Least You Can Die With A Smile On Your Face (2003)
• Un Cadavre Exquis (2005)
• Come Fly With Us - Glitterhouse Records

External links and sources

• The Dirty Three's Record Label
• Discography
• Dirty Three fan page
• Warren Ellis of Dirty three performs a rare hometown show at the Prince of Wales, St Kilda, 12 January 2005
• The Dirty Three Mailing List
• Concert photos (2003-05-07) by Laurent Orseau
• Concert photos (2002-06-08) by Laurent Orseau
• Josh T Pearson interviews Warren Ellis