After 18 years, Dave, Danger and Guff recently got together @Wick Studio for a jam/rehearsal. Unfortunately Matt couldn’t make it but here is the three of them doing their take on the threesixteen classic, “Judas”. It’s funny how things come back to you after so long…

In the beginning

threesixteen was a Christian indie pop band based in Melbourne, Australia between 1995 and 2000. The four members, Dave (lead singer), Matt (guitar), Aidan “Guff” (bass) and Darryl “Danger” (drums) met at a church called Christian Faith Centre (CFC) and regularly played together in the church band. Out of this relationship the idea of creating a band that could support the youth ministry and other “street” outreach initiatives was formed. And so began threesixteen.

The name came from the Bible verse John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes on Him shall not perish but have eternal life”, and it was felt it would also identify with a teen audience.

In 1995 the internet was still relatively new and threesixteen were able to secure the threesixteen.com domain name and put up a website.

First gig and early days

In 1995 CFC launched Operation STITCHES aimed at reaching kids living in the inner-city high-rises of Richmond, Collingwood and Fitzroy and “give them a message of hope”. The high-rises were rife with drugs and prostitution and there were many innocent kids caught up in the middle of it – and given there were no alternatives, many of the kids would follow down this route once they became teenagers. Operation STITCHES sought to provide an alternative.

Initially the program involved a Sunday afternoon fairground with rides, fairy floss, popcorn, granitas etc and a stage show. The kids that watched the stage show were given a ticket that let them go on all the rides for free. After a while the idea of doing an evening show with a live band, aimed at older youth, was presented to threesixteen.

So threesixteen’s first live gig was the first of such an outreach, a portable outside stage in the middle of the high-rises in Richmond. Dave couldn’t make it so Matt took the lead with Aidan and Darryl in support. The core of the audience were youth from CFC who enjoyed the show, but there were many from the high-rises who didn’t appreciate it – or simply took pleasure in disrupting it. The band found themselves dodging the occasional stone that was thrown from the back of the crowd.

At their next gig, in Fitzroy, the band had eggs and stones thrown at them. At one point a brick was launched off a top balcony towards the stage. Fortunately no-one was injured. The band played on however it was decided afterwards that it was too dangerous to continue. Sooner or later someone was going to get seriously hurt.

Youth band

From then on threesixteen focussed on being a support band for youth pastors and performed for many church youth groups around Melbourne, from Broadford to Frankston, over a period of three or four years. For many of those that were in the audience at the time, threesixteen songs form a part of the soundtrack to their teenage years.

2000 Sydney Olympics

In the lead up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics a number of eisteddfods were organised. The winner would get a CD recording and would appear on a stage in Sydney at various times during the Olympics. Unfortunately threesixteen came runners up in the competition so did not get the CD recording they needed.

The songs

Matt is an exceptional songwriter and wrote 99% of the songs with Dave contributing a couple here and there. The band would meet regularly once a week in various rehearsal studios around Melbourne (mostly an industrial estate in Bayswater) to try out new songs, rehearse old ones and try out new arrangements. It was a creative and collaborative process and the result was a unique sound.

All the songs were original with the exception of “History Maker”, a cover of a song by Delerious that was very popular in Christian circles at the time. “All I Need” was the song threesixteen first played live and became their anthem with “Only One” and “History Maker” featuring as the highlights of a typical gig.

threesixteen only ever recorded one studio track, which was basically an acoustic duet of the song “Only One” featuring Matt and Dave. The only other known recordings are on video and are very poor quality. However, in the interest of sharing, some of the better recordings are linked on this site so you can hear them, reminisce or discover for the first time.

Enjoy.