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San Diego's Three Mile Pilot are perhaps best known to the indie rock world at large for supplying key personnel to Touch & Go buzz band the Black Heart Procession. Still, they spent much of the '90s near the forefront of a surprisingly active local indie scene. Three Mile Pilot made their mark with distinctively moody, bass-centered arrangements (in fact, they started out with no guitar at all) and a prog rock aesthetic that often resulted in long, winding, multi-sectioned song structures. Their abrupt shifts in key, rhythm, and volume earned them comparisons to math rockers like Slint and Don Caballero, but their poppier moments were more akin to the Pixies or Nirvana. After several unique albums for local indie Headhunter, the band went on hiatus as its leaders focused on other projects.
Three Mile Pilot were formed in San Diego circa 1991 as a trio featuring vocalist Pall A. Jenkins (aka Paulo Zappoli), bassist Armistead Burwell Smith IV (aka Zach, aka ABS#4), and drummer Tom Zinser. At times, they were augmented by horn player Jim French. This lineup signed to Headhunter and issued its debut album, Na Vucca Do Lupu, in 1992. In its wake, Jenkins took up guitar, giving the instrument a dry run on the 1993 EP Circumcised. For the group's second album, 1994's The Chief Assassin to the Sinister, Smith contributed piano and cello, further broadening Three Mile Pilot's textural palette. The album caught the attention of major label Geffen, which reissued it in 1995 with several additional tracks. However, the band's tenure at Geffen was stormy and very short, and it soon returned to Headhunter.
Three Mile Pilot added a full-time pianist, Tobias Nathaniel, for the recording of their third album, Another Desert, Another Sea, released in 1997. A self-titled five-song EP followed on the Gravity label, as well as a series of 7" singles for assorted tiny indies. During this period, Jenkins and Nathaniel broke away to form the Nick Cave-influenced Black Heart Procession, who earned a deal with Touch & Go starting with their second record, and built an underground following that grew to eclipse Three Mile Pilot's. While both Jenkins and Nathaniel remained official members of Three Mile Pilot, the band went on hiatus indefinitely, during which time Smith and Zinser joined with San Diego native Rob Crow (Heavy Vegetable, Thingy, etc.) in the off-kilter indie pop band Pinback. In 2000, Headhunter released a double-CD compilation of Three Mile Pilot singles, outtakes, and rarities titled Songs from an Old Town We Once Knew. Although Three Mile Pilot continued to work on new material from time to time, the relative success (and touring commitments) of the bandmembers' alternate projects effectively precluded an end to the hiatus. Then, seemingly out of nowhere 13 years after Another Desert, Another Sea, Smith, Jenkins, and Zinser reunited to record a new studio album titled The Inevitable Past Is the Future Forgotten, which was released in the fall of 2010.
from Wikipedia:
‹ The template below (Cleanup) is being considered for deletion. See templates for discussion to help reach a consensus.›Three Mile Pilot (often shortened to 3MP) is an indie rock band from San Diego, California formed by Armistead Burwell Smith IV (a.k.a. Zach Smith from Pinback, Systems Officer, Neighborhood Watch (Chula Vista)) on bass and vocals, Pall Jenkins (The Black Heart Procession, Dark Sarcasm, Mr. Tube) on vocals and guitar, and Thomas Zinser (Neighborhood Watch (CV), Pinback) on drums.
The group released their first album, Nà Vuccà Dò Lupù in 1991. It was recorded and mixed in 3 days, composed only of bass, vocals, and drums, and released on Cargo/Headhunter. Their next record, The Chief Assassin to the Sinister, came out (also on Cargo/Headhunter) in 1993, with a vinyl version released by Negative Records and then later by Goldenrod Records. It was significantly darker and introduced Jenkins on guitar. Geffen Records took an interest in them, re-issued Chief with 3 new tracks produced by Tchad Blake, backed 3 months of touring and set them up at Seattle's Bear Creek Studios to produce a new cd with Steve Fisk. Because of internal strife over the belabored new cd Another Desert, Another Sea, Geffen dropped 3MP, fortunately allowing them to keep their masters which were later released by Headhunter. They added Tobias Nathaniel (The Black Heart Procession, The Young Destroyers, A Day Called Zero, Struggle) on piano/keyboard and released Another Desert, Another Sea in 1997. Several 7" releases followed on various labels, as well as a self-titled EP released on Gravity Records the following year. Songs from the 7" releases and other unreleased tracks were gathered in a 2-CD compilation titled Songs From an Old Town We Once Knew, released on Cargo/Headhunter in 1999.
3MP's early releases often referenced the cult sci-fi computer game series Star Control, as evidenced by album and song titles such as Star Control Out, "Chenjesu," "The Ur-Quan Destroyer," "Androsyn Guardian," and "Ilwrath," simply because they liked the names.
After years on the backburner writing material intermittently, Three Mile Pilot partnered with indie major Touch and Go Records working toward a new album [1] and played the uber-weekend extravaganza Touch and Go 25th anniversary festival in Chicago in 2007. Following the downsizing of Touch and Go the band moved on and is now partnered with Temporary Residence Limited. Pinback and Blackheart have also both moved from Touch and Go Records to Temporary Residence Limited.
Three Mile Pilot played three sold-out shows at Tim Maze's The Casbah on January 18, 19, and 20th of 2009 as part of the venue's 20th anniversary celebration. The line-up included Pall Jenkins, Armistead Burwell Smith IV, and Tom Zinser, as well as Kenseth Thibideau (Sleeping People) on keyboards, and Brad Lee (Mr. Tube, Comfortable for You) on Bass and Guitar.
The band toured the west coast in July 2009, their first tour in over ten years, and re-released their earlier work as a handmade six CD box set titled, "Three Mile Pilot: 1991 - 1999". They announced that a new album was nearly finished and that in October 2009, a 7" with two new songs ("Planets/Grey Clouds") would be available. Their latest album entitled "The Inevitable Past is the Future Forgotten" was released on September 28, 2010 to much critical acclaim. This was their first album in over a decade.
