The Three O'Clock
| The Three O'Clock | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | The Salvation Army |
| Origin | Los Angeles, United States |
| Genres | Alternative rock, Paisley Underground |
| Years active | 1981–1988, 2013–present |
| Labels | Frontier, Paisley Park/Warner Bros. Records, IRS, Omnivore |
| Associated acts | Great Buildings, The Falcons, The Quick, The Weirdos, Choir Invisible, Game Theory, Permanent Green Light, The Jupiter Affect, Mary's Danish, Jellyfish, The Grays, The Eyes of Mind, Cee Farrow, OOSoul |
| Members |
Michael Quercio Louis Gutierrez Danny Benair Adam Merrin |
| Past members | John Blazing Troy Howell Mickey Mariano Steven Altenberg Jason Falkner |
The Three O'Clock is an American alternative rock group associated with the Los Angeles 1980s Paisley Underground scene. Lead singer and bassist Michael Quercio is credited with coining the term "Paisley Underground" to describe a subset of the 1980s L.A. music scene which included bands such as Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade, Green on Red, and the Bangles.
The Three O'Clock originally formed under the name The Salvation Army in 1981. The original lineup was Quercio (lead vocals, bass), John Blazing (guitar), and Troy Howell (drums). They released a single ("Mind Gardens" b/w "Happen Happened") on The Minutemen's New Alliance label in November, 1981. At this juncture, Quercio (then billed as "Ricky Start") was the band's sole songwriter, and the group played mildly psychedelic pop-influenced tunes with a decidedly punk-ish energy.
By the end of the year, Blazing left and was replaced by Gregg Gutierrez, later known as Louis Gutierrez. Quercio reverted to his real name, and this lineup of The Salvation Army signed with LA independent label Frontier Records and released a self-titled debut LP in May 1982.
In the summer of 1982, legal problems with the actual Salvation Army forced the band to change their name. "The Three O'Clock" came from the time of day the band rehearsed. Almost exactly coincident with the August 1982 name change, Howell left the band and Mike Mariano (keyboards, ex-Great Buildings, ex-The Falcons) and Danny Benair (drums, ex-The Quick, ex-The Weirdos, ex-Choir Invisible, ex-The Falcons) joined. Frontier would later reissue the Salvation Army LP under the group name Befour Three O'Clock in 1986, and again in 1992.
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