3 X 4

At the dawn of the ’80s, The Bangles (then just known as The Bangs), The Dream Syndicate, The Three O’Clock (originally called the Salvation Army), and Rain Parade were all new bands in Los Angeles who formed the core of the small yet influential Paisley Underground scene. In 2013, the four ensembles got back together to share the bill at L.A.’s Fonda Theatre for a charity concert that benefited the non-profit Education Through Music organization. The show went so well and everybody had so much fun that Danny Benair (The Three O’Clock), Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate), and Vicki Peterson (The Bangles) started talking about doing some type of album to celebrate their Paisley Underground beginnings. The idea quickly formed that each band would cover one song of the three’s. Plans were discussed but lingered.
The project didn’t take off until Benair mentioned it to Yep Roc Records co-owner Glenn Dicker, who loved the idea. The four groups then got to work, resulting in the terrific twelve-song collection succinctly entitled 3 × 4: The Bangles, The Three O’Clock, The Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade.
The album’s dozen tracks represent a wonderful melding of the original rendition with the personality of the new interpretation. Rain Parade retained the wild sonic assault of the Dream Syndicate’s “When You Smile” but added a twist by going acoustic on the chorus. The Bangles enlisted an Indian percussionist to enhance the dreamy quality of Rain Parade’s “Talking in My Sleep,” while swapping in guitars for keyboards that were on the Three
O’Clock’s original “Jet Fighter.”
Because these bands were, and remain, friends who started off performing together at the same time and places, 3 × 4 holds a more personal quality that most tribute projects don’t have. The tunes that each group chose to cover all had deep connections to them. These were their friends’ songs that they admired, that they saw played originally in tiny clubs, in studios, or at parties.