THE 3Ds

Rip It Up, Issue 156, 1 July 1990, Page 8

THE 3Ds

Dunedin’s quirkiest popsters

Yesterday the 3Ds recorded an EP. They've called it Fish Tales. Kinda makes you wonder what Moby Dick would have been like if Charles Bukowski had written it.

With the problems at the convent long sorted out, the Flying Nun backlog has atlast been cleared.

Now it's time for some releases that really are recent. They played their firstgig after most of Flying Nun's

recent releases had been recorded. Justover ayear after that the EP was recorded. :

“We're really pleased with it,” says David Saunders, “It's our first record and it's an EP so we are not trying to become a big selling band with it. If's allowed usto get our groundingin the studio, so next fime we can go in whatever direction we want.”

The result pretty much reflects the band's live sound. Consequently

“precision” is not a word that springs to mind when listening to the seven songs. Saunders thinks the ugly songs have never sounded uglier. The nice songs, well, I've heard them nicer. So has Dominic Stones: :

“We actually chose the rougher versions for those songs (‘Dreams of Herge' and ‘Fish Tales’). Some

versions were really steady butthe ones that were a bit messy had more appeal.”

Saunders: “Yeah, it's notright, but it's not perfect either. We didn't want aclinical record. We wanted something that had mistakes, that wasn'thoned down untilitwas inoffensive.” . - : :

The EP's final song, The Ball of Purple Cotton’, is a bit different. Bassist Denise Roughan fells the tale of aseventeenth century nun recalling a dream about gradually pulling a ball of cotton from her mouth while the band plays quietly in the background. Yeah, quietly, which kinda makes the song stand out because generally the record

showcases the 3Ds ability to rediscover some of rock’s ugliest riffs: most notably in the form of ‘Mud Sacrifice’. ; P:Butlet's not gettoo serious. The band label their music inept or stupid, | preferto call it thalidomide rock. Whatever you choose to call their music, the 3Ds are one of the funnier bands playing in New Zealand at the moment. Not through total incompetence but simply because of their ability to know just when a song needs to move from the extravagant tothe preposterous.

Soyou like noise then? Saunders: “Like lots of people we like exciting, nasty noise butatthe same time we don't want our music to be even slightly doom ridden.”

Stones: “I think there's a lot of absurdity in our guitar riffs. We do want people to laugh with us.” The absurdity is also apparent in the lyrics if you can find them amongst the noise. In another | interview you said your lyrics were like mini horrorstories.Sowho pretendsto be Stephen King? Stones: “People probably just assume they're horror lyrics because we are so ugly.”

Anotherthing some people assume is thatthe 3Ds can't play their instruments. Well, musician type musicians do according to Stones, but what'swrong with being alitle

untraditional? Dominic’s mum thinks it's good. She saw them in Auckland when they supported the Buzzcocks and liked the gaelic undertones. Was Pete Shelley impressed as well2 “We heard through the grapevine that he thought we were really good, despite the fact that he arrived atthe venue ten minutes after we played.”

The 3Ds have afew fansin ; Dunedin as well. Last time they played two policemen walked in, one looking slightly disappointed. Did he hope to find the All Blacks in this bar? Was it because he couldn’t see any teenagers? No. All was revealed when he turned to his colleague and said: “Damm. | just missed ‘Fish Tales™. That night was meantto be the 3Ds record launch. Which turned outto be a bit presumptuous. But the record was only recorded in April. The new fasttrack Flying Nun for the ‘9os¢ Stones: “Yeah,we'rereally enthusiastic about collaboration with Mushroom and really happy to be part of it. Rogeris the Mahatma Gandhi of the NZ music scene.” ~ TheEP, to be followed by an

album, is the first stage in the 3Ds two year plan. Plan2 That sounds like a word associated with thinking, - forward thinking atthat. But it seems’ undeniable. The 3Ds are ambitious. Intwo years they plan obe playing - onthe otherside of the world. - Saunders: “If you're not ambitious you're not going to go anywhere. No one's going to take you seriously. No one’sgoing o help you.” “Yeah, we're really keen on exposing ourselves,” laughs Stones. It's okay, drummers are allowed to laugh at their own jokes. The plan, however, is generally gearedtowards overseas. What is the 3Ds main ambition in New Zealand? ; “We'dlove to be onthe cover of Rip ItUp,” says Stones.

~ Butlet'sficeit, you're notas sexy asthe Chills. Infact some people (like yourselves) might even say you're ugly. - “It's okay. You can do a lot with photography nowdays. There's also makeup, paper bags and stand-ins.” The 3Ds realise that some recent achievements by the Chills are

beyond them. For example, a mayoral reception. “We looked for the mayor when we came back from Christchurch but we couldn'tfind him. Butwe don't really play music a city can be proud of.”

CRAIG ROBERTSON