The Three O’Clock -

The Three O’Clock was an American pop-rock band from Los Angeles. They formed in 1981 as The Salvation Army and cut one album under that name on small-press Frontier Records, which also issued their first two titles as Three O’Clock: the 1982 EP Baroque Hoedown and the 1983 album Sixteen Tambourines. On I.R.S., they made the 1985–87 albums Arrive Without Travelling and Ever After, followed by the 1988 Paisley Park release Vermillion.

Members: Michael Quercio (vocals, bass), Danny Benair (drums), Mike Mariano (keyboards, 1982-88), Louis Gutierrez (guitar, 1982-85, 2013-present), Patrick Winningham (guitar, 1985-86), Steven Altenberg (guitar, 1986-88), Jason Falkner (guitar, 1988)

Background

The Three O’Clock originated in March 1981 in Carson, California, when singer–bassist Michael Quercio formed The Salvation Army with guitarist John Blazing and drummer Troy Howell. Quercio was an 18-year-old high-school senior who used the name Ricky Start and wrote the group’s songs. He grew up in Carson and entered the Los Angeles punk circuit after developing a teenage interest in 1960s rock records.

The trio used high-school graduation money to record four songs on July 10–11 at Piper Studio in Carson: “Mind Gardens,” “Happen Happened,” “For Hours,” and “Fight Songs.” Quercio passed the demo to Minutemen singer–guitarist D. Boon at a local show. Boon selected “Mind Gardens” and “Happen Happened” for a November 1981 single on New Alliance Records.

Blazing left soon after the single, and Quercio recruited guitarist Gregg Louis Gutierrez, who came from Oziehares and an early lineup of Youth Brigade. The revised Salvation Army debuted in December and recorded a five-song tape on Feb. 2, 1982, at Dynasty Studio for a proposed New Alliance EP titled Blow Your Mind. KROQ disc jockey Rodney Bingenheimer aired an advance tape and brought the group to the attention of Frontier Records founder Lisa Fancher, who signed the trio and booked four March days at Fiddler’s Studio. Frontier issued the resulting The Salvation Army in May as a ten-song LP.

Drummer Danny Benair brought several Los Angeles recording credits into the next lineup. He played on The Quick their 1976 Mercury album Mondo Deco and recorded with punk rockers The Weirdos. Benair joined Frontier act Choir Invisible for their 1981 album and also worked in The Falcons, a Los Angeles group formed by ex-Quick guitarist Steven Hufsteter. Keyboardist Mike Mariano played alongside Benair in The Falcons and subsequently joined Great Buildings.

Legal pressure from the charitable Salvation Army forced a name change in summer 1982. Howell left as the change approached, and Benair took the drum position. Mariano joined on keyboards, expanding the lineup to a quartet. Quercio adopted The Three O’Clock in August as the replacement name. The quartet shared Los Angeles bills with The Bangs and Rain Parade at clubs including Cathay de Grande and the Lingerie. Quercio used the phrase “Paisley Underground” in a late-1982 interview about the circle of associated Los Angeles bands.

Frontier paired The Three O’Clock with producer Earle Mankey (the original Sparks guitarist) for the five-song Baroque Hoedown EP, which the label issued in October as the first release under the new name. The Three O’Clock gained college-radio airplay from the EP and mounted a national tour while Quercio and Gutierrez developed another set of songs with Mariano and Benair. The quartet returned to Mankey for the sessions that became Sixteen Tambourines, the first Three O’Clock album.

Discography: