The Dirty Three formed 10 years ago in Melbourne, Australia to play "background music" in a Melbourne, Australia pub. They've gone on to play with Sonic Youth, Pavement, Jon Spencer, Beck, etc. Violinist Warren Ellis now doubles as a full-time member of the Bad Seeds, Nick Cave's band. Tonight and tomorrow, they're playing at Taipei's Zeitgeist, and tomorrow's show is already sold out.
Ellis is the only one in the band who gives interviews. Of guitarist Mick Turner and drummer Jim White, he says, "I don't think they particularly like talking to people ... in general. They're socially inadequate. You can hear it in their music."
He's talking to me on a friend's cell phone from a restaurant in Taichung and it's 1:32 Wednesday morning. Turner and White rumble jokes in the background. They were freshly arrived from Melbourne, while the 37-year-old Ellis had half a day earlier flown in from Paris, where he lives and raises his two children. Late Tuesday night they joined up for band practice, then dinner.
To date, The Dirty Three have released six albums and made dozens of tours through the US and Europe, though this is the first time they'll play in Asia. Upon first contact, tour manager David Archdale had told me, "They're post punk, like Mogwai, that kind of thing."
But that's too simple. They're three instruments, guitar, drums and violin, all moving together in a very rock kind of way through their highly expressionistic arrangements. Everyone from Rolling Stone to Salon.com has tried to explain their sound, using phrases like: "radiant," "redeeming," "baroque folk," "seductive," "haunting," "languid," "sweeping," and "evocative instrumental rock band." Hearing them is always different from the adjectives they're given.
Over the phone, I hear Ellis say, "Scallops. No, oysters."
He's a little beat. There's food in front of him. He's not in a very serious mood. I ask him if it's true, as many publications claimed, that audience members often cry at their shows.
"Yeah, I believe so," he says, fairly indifferent. Then, after a pause: "I've been told it does happen quite a lot. I don't know. I'm generally not looking at the people."
As a boy, Ellis found an accordion in a garbage dump and taught himself to play. Years later, he found a violin in much the same way and took up classes in order to meet girls. His father was obsessed with Hank Williams, so he learned country and bluegrass. He also learned some classical and Celtic styles. Then he met Turner and White, who'd been playing with each other for years. When a friend of Turner's asked them to play at his pub in 1993, the band was born.
As for the name: "Mick had this name Dirty Three. And really it's just a name that he had. I think it refers to a bunch of people who used to run around under the influence of LSD and start trouble," says Ellis.
Since releasing their last two albums, Lowlands and Whatever You Love, You Are in 2000, the band has only performed sporadically. White and Turner, both in their 40s, were in Chicago; now they're in Melbourne. All have their own projects.
"We're old punks," says Ellis
But it was at a live show in Australia earlier this year that someone from Taiwan's Gamma Music label saw them and decided to bring them to Taiwan. Gamma Music will also release two of their CDs locally, Ocean Songs and Whatever You Love, You Are.
According to Ellis, live shows is what they're all about.
"I hate recording. I hate going to the dentist, and then I hate recording behind that. Because we evolve as a band out of playing together, and going into a studio really beats the shit out of the good experience you have because you start going over it in a really clinical environment," he explains.
The Dirty Three play tonight at 7pm and tomorrow's show begins at 6pm and will include Ladybug. Zeitgeist (
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