Representative Albums: "Louden Up Now", "Myth Takes", "!!!
Representative Songs: "Me and Giuliani Down by the School Yard (A True Story)", "Feel Good Hit of the Fall", "Intensifieder Sunracapellectrohshit Mix 03
Biography
The curiously named !!!, whose moniker can be pronounced by repeating any one-syllable percussive sound three times (e.g., "chk chk chk"), formed in 1996 after the demise of the mid-'90s hardcore act the Yah Mos. While on tour, members of the Yah Mos, including !!! singer Nic Offer, envisioned forming a band oriented more toward danceable music, and once they returned to Sacramento, CA, their hometown, they decided to turn their working concept into an actual group. The band quickly grew into an eight-member ensemble, including Mario Andreoni on guitar, Offer on vocals, Justin van der Volgen on bass, Dan Gorman on trumpet and percussion, Tyler Pope on guitar, Allan Wilson on saxophone and percussion, John Pugh on drums, and Jason Racine on percussion. Fusing the groove-oriented style of James Brown's backing band with the edginess of Gang of Four and the Contortions and featuring an expansive percussive presence, !!! spent its first few years as a group developing its sound and playing at house parties for friends in Sacramento. At the same time, Offer, Pope, and van der Volgen were playing in a dub-inflected instrumental outfit called Out Hud with Molly Schnick and Phyllis Forbes, two musicians who used to be in the band Raoul. After putting out a 7" on Hopscotch Records and a split single with Out Hud in 1998, the two bands decide to release a split full-length together in 1999, a release jointly sponsored by the Sacramento-based label Gold Standards Laboratories, founded by Sonny Kaye of Angel Hair and the VSS fame, and Zum, a San Francisco-based zine. After extensive touring of the States, which gave them a chance to further expand the songs they had written by placing them in the interactive context of a live show, !!! recorded and released a self-titled album on GSL in December 2000. Soon after, the band re-entered the studio and recorded enough material for a second album. Members of the band moved to New York, but the group still remained intact, planning regional tours and tape trades across the expanses of the Midwest. In 2003, the band issued Me and Giuliani Down by the School Yard (A True Story), their first release for Touch and Go. They followed it with 2004's politically charged Louden Up Now (mixed by Maurice Fulton) and 2007's relatively lighthearted Myth Takes. ~ Josh Eppert, All Music Guide
This section requires expansion with:
More historical info, critical reception.
After a tour together, members of Sacramento bands Black Liquorice and Popesmashers formed !!!. The band's name was inspired by the subtitles of the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy, in which the clicking sounds of the Bushmens' Khoisan language were represented as "!". However, as the band themselves say on their web site: "!!! is pronounced by repeating thrice any monosyllabic sound. Chk Chk Chk is the most common pronunciation, but they could just as easily be called Pow Pow Pow, Bam Bam Bam, Uh Uh Uh, tik tik tik, wik wik wik, lik lik lik, nit nit nit, pat pat pat, sat sat sat, dit dit dit, etc."[citation needed] The title of their MySpace page, however, suggests that "Chk Chk Chk" is the preferred pronunciation.[2]
The band's debut full-length record came out in 2000 as a self-titled album on the label Gold Standard Laboratories. This was followed in 2003 by the single "Me and Giuliani Down By the School Yard", a lengthy track combining house beats with sinewy basslines, psychedelicguitars, and simple lyrics which quote the title song of the musical Footloose.[citation needed]
!!! is composed of Mario Andreoni (guitar), Dan Gorman (horns/percussion/keys), Nic Offer (vocals), Tyler Pope (bass/various electronic devices), and Allan Wilson (horns/percussion/keys). Touring members include Shannon Funchess (vocals), Sean McGahan (various electronic devices/sound manipulation) and Paul Quattrone (drums). The band also shared membership with the similar, defunct group Out Hud (including Tyler Pope, who has played with LCD Soundsystem and written music for Cake).[citation needed]
Vocalist and drummer John Pugh officially left the band in July 2007 to concentrate on his new band Free Blood.[5] Shannon Funchess stood in for Pugh during much of their 2007 tour.[6]
One of the songs from the album !!!, There's No Fucking Rules, Dude, is played during Cuddy's striptease in season 4 episode 15, House's Head, from the series House.[citation needed]
"The Dis-Ease/The Funky Branca" • "Me and Giuliani Down by the Schoolyard (A True Story)" •"Pardon My Freedom" •"Hello? Is This Thing On?" •"Me and Giuliani Down by the Schoolyard (A Remix)" •"Heart of Hearts" •"Must Be the Moon"
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