The Three are - from left to right in the photo: Ian (bass / vocals),
Graham (drums / vocals),
Ian (guitar / vocals).
Bassist Ian (ex Kerbcrawlers) and Ian - guitar (ex Riff Raff, AIM) had previously played together in a band called Mother's Ruin. Graham is well-known for being the drummer with the celebrated RCA-signed band Shabby Tiger, which toured Europe quite regularly, seeing as they were having chart hits there, even being supported by some snotty little Southern jessie upstarts calling themselves The Sex Pistols. Whatever happened to them?
Ian had been in a jam night band since August 2013 and Graham joined in late 2015 and the band fully came together when Ian joined on guitar to replace their departing guitarist on 24th January 2016. They enjoyed playing together, thought they really had something and decided to make this their main priority. After what could have been a quick discussion, the highly imaginative band name The Three was settled upon.
The band put together a setlist of songs that they had always wanted to play. There were not going to be any that people wouldn't remember, or that they might need a music degree to understand - or worse still, have to count bars while they were listening. It was going to be fun.
In September 2016, the members of The Three were all available to start playing full live shows.
Fortunately, the gigs came in thick and fast, as they have contacts and are often approached by venues.
The Three do a good mixed set for pubs and can adapt easily for those club audiences who are there for knitting, chat and bingo.
The Three are NOT the world's loudest band. When the band play a venue for the first time, they are usually told that the venue wishes that they had booked them earlier.
The band are in their eighth year and an album of original tracks is released in October 2024.
Ian Taylor is a Gordon Smith guitars endorsing artist.
Ian Edmundson endorses absolutely nothing.
Graham Fielden happily hits things with sticks.
Venues can download a poster here.
All bookings are subject to a fair agreement.
Always the last to know Del Amitri (#13) Are you ready? Thin Lizzy (#19) Battleship Chains Georgia Satellites (#44) Black Night Deep Purple (#2) Blockbuster The Sweet (#1) Born to be wild Slade / Steppenwolf (#30) Caroline Status Quo (#5) Come Together The Beatles (#1) Cum On Feel The Noize Slade (#1) Dancing with tears in my eyes Ultravox (#3) Do wah diddy Manfred Mann (#1) Don't believe a word Thin Lizzy (#12) Don't Look 'Em In The Eye The Three Don't stop Fleetwood Mac (#32) Feels like the first time Foreigner (#39) Fire Brigade The Move (#3) Gimme all your lovin ZZ Top (#10) Here I go again Whitesnake (#9) Highway to Hell AC/DC (#4) Honky Tonk women The Rolling Stones (#1) I can’t explain The Who (#8) I just died in your arms Cutting Crew (#4) I knew the bride Dave Edmunds (#26) I saw her standing there The Beatles (album track) I want you to want me Cheap Trick (#29) The Jean Genie David Bowie (#2) Jet Paul McCartney & Wings (#7) Junior's Wailing Status Quo / Steamhammer Kiss this thing goodbye Del Amitri (#11) Living Next Door To Alice Smokie (#17) Merry Xmas Everybody Slade (#1) Needles and pins Searchers (#1) Paper plane Status Quo (#8) Purple haze Jimi Hendrix (#3)
Purple Rain Prince (#6) RainStatus Quo (#7) Rebel Rebel David Bowie (#5) Roadhouse blues Status Quo / Doors
Rock and roll Led Zeppelin Rock And Roll Part One The Glitter Band (#2) Rockin’ all over the world Status Quo (#3) Roll over lay down Status Quo (#9) Satisfaction The Rolling Stones (#1) Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting Elton John (#7) School's Out Alice Cooper (#1) Shang a Lang Bay City Rollers (#2) Sharp dressed man ZZ Top (#8) Smoke on the water Deep Purple (#21) Smokin' in the boys room Motley Crue (#27) Spinning wheel blues Status Quo Stainsby Girls Chris Rea (#26) Sorrow David Bowie (#3) The Who (#5) Summer Of '69 Bryan Adams (#5) Summertime blues The Who (#18) Surrender Cheap Trick (#8) Tell Him Hello (#6) The boys are back in town Thin Lizzy (#8) Tiger feet Mud (#1) Things we said today The Beatles (#1) 20th century boy T.Rex (#3) Tie Your Mother Down Queen (#13) Walking by myself Gary Moore (#48) When you walk in the room Searchers (#3) Wig Wam Bam The Sweet (#4) Won't Get Fooled Again The Who (#9) You give love a bad name Bon Jovi (#14)
New ideas and requests quite often make it into the set...
unless you want Ed Sheeran or Meatloaf.
'DON'T LOOK 'EM IN THE EYE' THE ALBUM FROM THE THREE
You can order our lovely new CD album HERE or buy it at our gigs.
A little bit about our album...
The tracks:
Don't Look 'Em In The Eye. (Fielden / Edmundson)
This song was one of the first two that we recorded, late in 2023 at North West Recording Studio with Paul Hutchinson. The main guitar part is Ian Taylor and Ian Edmundson adds a second background guitar part. Toni Baker plays keyboards. The lyrics were a general observation about stange people in towns, but Ian added a couple of lines that were specifically about a couple of people who were hanging around outside our jam night venue. It was chosen as the first single from the album and was made available on Spotify and streaming platforms.
Better Than No Love At All. (Fielden / Edmundson)
Recorded at The Workhouse in Farnworth. The lyric - about pining for the sole attention of a woman who has other men going on the side - inspired Ian to try to come up with a classic 60's pop-soul type arrangement. Ian played the guitars, a vintage style bass part and also a subtle guitar-synth brass part. The drums on these songs were fun to record in a small room.
Cold Cold Heart. (Fielden / Edmundson)
Recorded at The Workhouse in Farnworth.Graham's lyrics concisely deal with the fickleness of the opposite sex. Ian went for a sparse Joe Jackson Band type feel on this one, keeping the guitar and bass sounds crystal clear, leaving lots of space and not building up the guitars too much.
She Said. (Fielden / Edmundson)
Recorded at The Workhouse in Farnworth. Graham's lyrics are about the kind of women who can't be trusted and how to deal with them. Cut her loose - problem solved. The idea behind the general feel of this one was to get a bluesy song on the album and the original version was a much slower take on the song, weighing in at around 8 minutes. While the song worked and the initial idea was good, it was felt to be a little bit too long and a bit ponderous, so that remains in the archive.
When Things Go Wrong. (Fielden / Taylor)
Recorded at Studio Studio, Whitworth with Pete Troughton. Graham's lyrics are a study in love and loss. It was envisioned as being a country song. We were indebted to Toni Baker for his additions to the track - banjo, violin and piano parts, which really assist with the alt.country feel that we wanted. Ian Taylor sings the main vocal.
The Silence Is Screaming At Me v2.0. (Fielden / Edmundson)
Recorded at The Workhouse in Farnworth. When Ian came up with the melody and the guitar parts for this song, it turned into a blend of a feel of AC/DC and T.Rex. He fulfilled his dream of a rock solid bass part that is just ONE repeated note for about five minutes. The song is called 'v2.0', as Graham has previously written and published another song with the same title. He can't find it anywhere.
We Are United. (Fielden / Edmundson)
Recorded at The Workhouse in Farnworth. Not about footbal. Graham had written a song about people working together and pulling together and being united with a single goal. A more football-y version exists.
And Then I Woke Up. (Fielden / Taylor).
The longest song on the album was recorded at Studio Studio, Whitworth with Pete Troughton. This song was originally known at times as Cruisin' and Graham's lyric is about someone who dreams his life away and who fantasises about living a lavish lifestyle, then keeps waking up and seeing his somewhat different poorer reality. It boogies along nicely. This was one of the harder songs to get together, as it went through a couple of more complex arrangements before finding its final form. It has a lot of lyrics and getting the phrasing right was a task which Ian T slaved away manfully at. The Three rehearsed this song for quite some time and originally attempted a recording at their jam night venue, but opted to do it again in the studio. Toni Baker plays keyboards. Ian Taylor sings the main vocal.
I Hate Christmas. (Fielden / Edmundson)
This was one of the first two songs that we recorded, late in 2023 at North West Recording Studio with Paul Hutchinson. Graham wrote about the small things that really bug most people about Christmas, making it a time when we'd rather hide under the bed than be visited, or to go out of the house and see people, or get ripped off by anything to do with the festive season. Toni Baker plays keyboards. Bah humbug.
We think the album is a good result. Though we might know who the influences on various songs are, we don't think the songs particularly sound like other people, or other songs. They sound like our own work.
Thanks to Toni Baker for his help on the album, which was much appreciated.
We play a varied and interesting set of songs that have all been big chart hits, or which are really well-known classics that may not have been singles.
We're not going to play anything at all that your crowd won't recognise after a couple of bars.
You won't get subjected to some rare and obscure and dull rock opera that nobody's ever heard of.
8 years and we have never ever died on a stage.
We can play a pub, a bar, a club,
a birthday party or a beer festival.
You can book us with confidence.
We'll deliver a great show.
We've got the songs.
The band diary is now full for 2024. We have availability in 2025.
We're the kind of band musicians like.
That chap who comes in talking about when he used to be in a band and who talks about guitars will especially enjoy watching us, just as much as your regular crowd will. We are musically versatile and we play the songs we have chosen in the way that they should be played.
We are reliable.
We only have one diary and it's well organised and run properly.
We have never EVER double-booked ourselves.
If we take a booking, we will turn up and do it, unless one of us is unable to perform due to illness.
