The 3Ds

The band was formed in May 1988 by Dominic Stones, Denise Roughan and David Saunders. The band's name refers to the members' names all starting with "D". In 1989, they were joined by David Mitchell from Auckland bands Exploding Budgies and Goblin Mix, who introduced the twin-guitar attack which became the defining feature of the group. He also created all EP and album artwork apart from Fish Tales which featured a painting by Jane Davidson. Among their inspirations, in addition to the Pixies, they also consider Black Sabbath and Fairport Convention to be inspirations.

Their first recordings were demos, one of which, "Meluzina Man", became their first release on the 1990 compilation Xpressway Pileup. The band's first release for the Flying Nun label was the EP Fish Tales at the beginning of 1990, beginning a long collaboration with the label in Dunedin. Their second EP, Swarthy Songs for Swabs, and the first album, Hellzapoppin', were released over the next two years.[1]

The first tour in the United States was in 1992, followed by an Australian tour with the Lemonheads.[2]

In 1992, the band played with Nirvana in New Zealand.[2][3]

Their second album was The Venus Trail, released in 1993. This included their best known singles "Hey Seuss" and "Beautiful Things."[3]

In 1994, they returned to the U.S. for a three-month tour.[3]

The 3Ds toured with Pavement in New Zealand and Australia. Following this, The 3Ds played two stadium shows supporting U2 on their Zoo TV tour in New Zealand.[3] An associate of the band took a bottle of champagne from U2's dressing room without permission, leading the concert promoter to inform The 3Ds that they would not be paid for their performance. However, Bono was in the room at the time and insisted that The 3Ds be paid double, and given an additional bottle of champagne.[4]

In 1997, the band released its third album, Strange News from the Angels.[5]

The band announced it was splitting up in early 1997.[1]

In July 2009, the 3Ds reformed to play two shows at the Merge Records 20th anniversary festival in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.[6]

In 2010, the 3Ds toured New Zealand, including the inaugural Laneways festival.[7] This was followed by an invitation to play at the Pavement-curated All Tomorrows Parties festival in the UK.[8]

• Dominic Stones — drums
• Denise Roughan — bass guitar, keyboards, tambourine, vocals
• David Saunders — guitar, vocals
• David Mitchell — guitar, mandolin, vocals

• Flying Nun Records website
• 3Ds myspace page
• Merge Records website