Three

After recording the Egg Hunt songs in England, Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson considered forming a new band. They played with Geoff Turner and Steve Niles of Gray Matter, but the project never got off the ground and Ian decided to leave. The others carried on and soon added yet another Gray Matter member, Mark Haggerty, and this line-up would become Three.

Meanwhile, Steve had started his own comic book company, Arcane Comix, which he operated out of the apartment that he shared with Geoff on Swann Street in the Dupont Circle area of D.C. It was this street that served as inspiration for the song of the same name. The line "these berries smell like shit" referred to the small fruits that dropped to the sidewalks from the Ginkgo trees on the block.
Three did a few short tours and recorded at Geoff's home studio as well as at Inner Ear. Things were looking up for them, but the band self-destructed before their album came out. Three and Happy Go Licky played their last shows together on New Year's Day, 1988.

Photo: Naomi Petersen