Channel Three

Or Channel 3, or, CH3, whichever way you spell it, it always spells one of my top 10 favorite bands, and what I feel is one of the most grossly under-rated bands of all time. And a band I've never been particularly lucky with as far as collecting goes.

I've never seen them live, never owned one of their shirts, and to date have only acquired a few records and one C.D.

My first exposure to the band came in the form of a mid-grade scotch cassette tape compiled of songs recorded from my friends vinyl collection he gave me for what I think, was my 21st. birthday.
And I played that tape almost endlessly from the day he gave it to me (we popped it in right away) until it eventually fell apart. Four years and three tours later.

There's very few bands that ever hold my attention like that from first exposure.
The song "I Didn't Know" from the "After The Lights Go Out" L.P. is regarded by many, that I know anyway, to be one of the finest Punk Rock love songs ever recorded.

The tape was crammed on both sides with his personal favorites as well as what he felt were "The Hits" and I still to this day, don't have all those songs.
What I do have, is this....

I'm by no means a biographer and I would be an absolute twat to try and come off as one in this post, but the Core of the band consists of Mike Magrann, and Kim Gardener. It seems they had some-what of a steady lineup on their earlier stuff, but eventually they've gone through a few drummers and bass players.

The band has been compared to T.S.O.L. by some losers because of the fact that an ugly part of the '80's kinda crept up on them and fashion mistakes were made. But there is one very important difference.
T.S.O.L. sucks, and Channel 3 does not.

They started out on Posh Boy records in the early '80's and eventually ended up on Enigma. With a couple others throughout the years. "Rejected", was released in Canada on Lone Wolf, Get Back has since done re-issues, and I'm not entirely sure of the labels that have issued C.D.'s.

My first CH3 vinyl purchase was $3.60 for a used copy of "Rejected". I remember being  frustrated by the fact that only one song from the tape was on it, but hell, the song was "Gone Drinking" which is wonderfully simple and poetic, and a great showcasing of Mike Magrann's "Damned if you do, period" writing style.

"Rejected" L.P.

A song any self-loathing lonely drunk like me would play over, and over, getting just a little bit more from it each time.
Visualizing each scenario of that song with an un-canny familiarity. Ahh, cheers Mike!
See, bastard's got me writing like him already.

The story that accompanies the album tells why each song was pushed aside throughout their career (to that point, anyway) and how each of the tracks was ultimately for one reason or another "Rejected" hence the title.

Nothing like reading the back of the book first!

My next two finds came with an early B.Y.O. compilations "Something To Believe in". "Indian Summer" was the track, and it was a different version than the one on the tape. I later found the 12" single of "Airborne". Which has another version of "I Wanna Know Why" than I was used to.

"Airborne" 12"

I found a sealed copy of "Last Time I Drank". on tour, and sat on it for about a year. I figured "Hey, I's on a rather big label, I'll find another one", bullshit. I STILL have never seen another copy. Finally, I got so frustrated with trying to find more CH3 that I just caved in and opened the fucker. I was glad. It's really good. I hadn't heard songs like "Mary", and the title track is probably one of my favorites.

"Last Time I Drank" L.P. - Enigma

Let's see, I got that tape for my 21st., that means it was 1993. It wasn't until 2003 with the re-issues of "I Got A Gun" & "After The Lights Go Out" on Get Back that I found one single piece of CH3 vinyl. Ten years!  And I look for CH3 on every record outing I go on.
They're on my permanent "always look" mental list.

"After the Lights Go Out" L.P. - Posh Boy

I did however find the "Skinhead Years" C.D. and that's helped me get through tough times. But I found no other vinyl until around '04 or '05 when I found a live L.P. on a label from Grmany called Re-Force! (cat# RE002) and has a paragraph written by Kimm Gardener and Mike Magrann in April, '94 on the back cover. It also states that it was originally released on C.D. in 1994 on Lost & Found.

I love it. And what kills me is that it really makes me want to see this band live. Even if it is 20 years after the fact. It's not that they're not around, they are, but they never come anywhere around here and times are tough. Money is scarce and I'm not young enough anymore to go skippin town for the sake of just seein' a band. It sucks, I know, but I got the job and the wife. You know?!
At least not this month...

I did get lucky recently with a little help from Ollie Stench. I've gotten a lot of kick ass slabs from this kat through the years, and he always delivers the goods!

"CH3" - Posh Boy

Self titled 4 song 12", "I'll sell it for what I paid for it, back then." Score! He even threw me the "I'll Take My Chances" b/w "How Come?" 7" single. Nice one Brad, Cheers!

The last piece I've acquired I bought off ebay. An original copy of "After The Lights Go Out". A very nice copy. That's the thing with ebay, I almost never bid on a record that isn't practically flawless. To me, that's the point of it. Otherwise, It's not the kill,  it's the thrill of the chase!




I suggest you look 'em up if you can, maybe even take in a show if you have the chance. They play out, I know because they write about it. They've got a killer blog right here.

Again, those spoiled fuckers in CA. don't know how good they've got it.