The Three Generals

The Three Generals are an experimental band from Sydney, Australia. All members of the band are Multi-Instrumentalists, however their main roles are: band leader General Steel on guitar, back-up vocals and brass instruments with General Coal on main vocals, bass guitar and keyboards with General Grain producing, drumming and providing back-up vocals.

Band Bio

The band began in 2001 when Coal and Grain formed a Rap duet that went by the name "Burning Wheat". Coals extreme lyrical precision and Grains complex jazz-sampling beats and gained them much popularity in the underground scene, and major labels quickly showed interest in their work. Burning Wheat signed with AlphAlpha Records late 2002 and began working on their first LP.

Mid-2003 an early stripped down version of the album was released, dubbed by fans as "Fresh Loaf in the Oven". It was clear that this album yielded some of Coals most complex work yet, combining his extreme speed and precision with abstract rhymes and complex structuring in his verse. Grains production style had changed also, morphing his complex jazz-hip-hop blends into a sample heavy blend of futuristic sounding jazz-fusion. More interesting however was the presence of a mysterious third member heard playing guitars, drumkits, keyboards and brass instruments on various tracks. Fans did not know the identity of the third member, but they could see that he was influencing Burning Wheat towards a more live sound. Hype grew and grew for FLO, some claiming the early demos were the freshest music they had ever heard, inside and outside of the hip-hop genre.

On the October 31 the Burning Wheat website disappeared. Fans assumed this was a Halloween prank, however a week later Coal and Grain publicly announced that due to censorship problems with AlphAlpha Records they had left the label, and Fresh Loaf would never be officially published. On the 9th of November a close to completion version of Fresh Loaf was leaked by Burning Wheat, including demo's and b-sides from the recording sessions.

The album quickly became an underground classic, but Burning Wheat were never seen again.In 2006 a MySpace appeared for a band "The Three Generals" featuring the unmistakable voice of Coal but now singing instead of rapping, displaying his previously little-used beautiful voice. Grains production was very sample light, instead becoming more of a solo instrument than backup to Coals vocals. The Third General was finally revealed and Burning Wheat fans found out who could be heard on Fresh Loaf General Steel.

External links

* [http://www.myspace.com/thethreegenerals]