Artist description ME-3 = Me, Myself & I.

Music Style Guitar Rock / Heavy Metal

Musical Influences Accept, Savatage, Rush, Kiss, Ozzy, Deep Purple

Similar Artists April Wine, Accept, Savatage, Dokken

Artist History Before the history lesson, thanks to Tom Woodyard for the incredible artwork on the cover of "Strangely Familiar". Tom is also doing the artwork for the cover of my 2nd release "Reflection Of A Nightmare". My 1st release was completed in 1998. Started toying with ideas for it in Oct./Nov.1996.Here's my whole story. (or most of it anyway)My name is Bill “Willee” Shutt. I was born and have lived my entire life in Columbus, Ohio U.S.A. Music has always been a part of my family life. I remember, at a very young age, going to my Grandparent’s house for family gatherings which often entailed some form of sing-a-long. My Mother would play the piano, Grandmother would play the guitar and Grandfather would play his tenor banjo, which I used on the song “Big Dumb Astronaut”. This song was written by a friend of my Grandparents and I recorded it as the best that my memory would serve.My grandmother taught me the first guitar chords I learned on her basement steps when I was about 5 or 6 years old.(The same house I now own and live in, talk about sentiment) Then, at about 7 years of age, my parents enrolled me for piano lessons through our church. I stayed with piano for several years while guitar was something that did not really concern me at that point in my life.Then came the “Big Boom”, so to speak.In 1975, I turned 11 years old and a friend of mine turned me onto the rock group KISS.At that point I didn’t want anything to do with the piano.I idolized Bassist/Vocalist Gene Simmons. With that eerie aura about him, I was awed.I got the make-up, made the outfits, lived, ate and slept for KISS.Exit piano.Enter guitar, bass, drums and vocals.When I got into the 7th grade at Rosemore Jr. High School in Whitehall, Ohio, the musical director there wasMike Refkin. This man did more for my musicianship and stage presence than any other individual I have everencountered to this day. His communication skills with his students, and knowledge, was most impressive. Withthis new found knowledge and skills still developing I organized my first band, which never got out of thebasement, nor had a name.When I left Rosemore, I started at Whitehall-Yearling High School but still kept in very good contact with Refkin.Then, in the 11th grade the musical director left Whitehall and was replaced by Mike Refkin. WA-HOO and TALLY-HO !!!!During Refkin’s first year at Whitehall-Yearling he put together “Music Unlimited”, a show choir that raisedenough money playing concerts to tour Colorado during spring break my 11th and 12th grade years. Once again,Refkin had given me real experience going from city to city, setting up, tearing down etc. The Combo for thesinger/dancers was comprised of myself on bass, Sam Levy on guitar, Chris Flesh on drums and David Powers onkeyboards. Sam, Chris & myself turned into my first “real band” and started moving away from the main stream ofrock and moving to more progressive music such as Rush, Saga & Triumph. We never really had a name butplayed many times around the Whitehall/Columbus area and started making a little name for ourselves. However,Chris was a year ahead of Sam & I and shortly after his graduation fell out of sight and was never heard fromagain. Sam & myself went through numerous drummers before stumbling onto percussionist Ray Parker, who I alwayscalled “Little Neil”, for Neil Peart of Rush. I mean percussioninst, not drummer. He had the dexterity, the flair,the speed and the looks that we were really searching for. After several months of playing I finally heard a tapingof our band at a birthday party we had played 2 or 3 weeks earlier and noticed a “void” whenever Sam went intohis lead licks and solos. So now, getting into Rush and the like, I incorporated (or tried to) keyboards with a set ofMoog Taurus Pedals, which failed miserably. We then decided on a rhythm guitar player. I contacted Doug Smith,a guitarist I had jammed with before. Doug was not a fancy player by any means but his rhythm and timing wereimpeccable. Steady, steady & steady. With the 4 piece in place we adopted the name “Renegade” and playedvenue after venue, all over Columbus, every weekend. This lasted for about 2 years, until Ray, our new founddrummer, met a girl at a show. They courted, she got pregnant, they got married and Ray left the band. No drummer, here we go again.The rest of the band was then out of school and starting to feel the need to explore other avenues for our musicalendeavors. Doug ended up going back to school and moved out of state. Sam, whom I still see to this day, hasplayed in several noteworthy bands throughout the years, mainly as the lead vocalist and front man. AfterRenegade disbanded I joined (uh-ho, here it comes) a country band. What a change, from Rush to Billy Ray Virus(Cyrus). Country music wasn’t really my bag of tricks but it was money, exposure and experience. This lasted untilJune of 1985 when I was in a life threatening automobile accident.I was on a road trip with a buddy of mine when I passed out at the wheel and went up over a guardrail. A roadtrip,outside of the music genre, in America is : get a bunch of beer and go out driving in the country. Pretty stupid, huh? I was thrown through the windshield of my 1978 Chevy Blazer truck and ended up in a farmer’s field. I spent 5weeks in the hospital. I was in a coma for 3 days, 189 stitches, skin grafts, ruptured spleen, and a broken knuckleon the little finger of my left hand. I then thought my music playing days were over. But I never quit, the musicwas too strong inside of me and was the largest contributing factor during my convalescence from such a tragicevent.The second day after my return home I picked up my guitar and couldn’t even play a C chord because of theweaknesses in my hands, fingers and body from the accident and the hospital stay. I began exercising with a gripmaster for the hand and stairs for the legs etc. After about 2 or 3 years I was able to play with some adjustments inmy style to make up for the loss of use in my little finger. I can use this finger but certain nerves and tendons hadto be “tied together” resulting in not being able to bend my 4th finger without bending my 3rd finger. A real dragfor guitar and bass.After the rehab stage and then 4 of 5 more years of lugging my guitar and/or bass, amp head, cabinet, keyboards,mic. etc.around, I constantly felt this was not really what I wanted to do with my music. I started taking thebasement recording scenario quite literally. Musical independence, so to speak.I started my basement recording edeavors in 1993 with the purchase of a Vestax MR300 4-Track for $350.00 Thisput together with other the instruments I already had on hand, Peavey T-40 bass, cheap Electra 6-string electric anda Yamaha- PS something or another keyboard for strings and drums(not programmed, one beat through the entiresong) allowed me to, at least, start tracking music. I upgraded this, replaced that, until 1997 when I began writingmy own music. Until then, all I had done were cover tunes with friends and several Rush tunes on my own (the 1stbeing “The Trees”). When I was writing the individual parts of the songs for my first CD, I realized a 4-Trackwasn’t going to sufficiant for my applications. I purchased a Tascam 488 MKII (8-Track, cassette format) whichcompleted my studio for the recording of “Strangely Familiar”. The band name took some thought but it simplystands for : ME-3 = Me, Myself & I (not meaning to sound egotistical).My equipment list for “Strangely Familiar” was:Recorder : Tascam 488 MKIIDrums : Alesis SR-16Bass : Rickenbacker 4001 straight into the recorderGuitar : Jackson PS4 into a Digitech RP6Keyboards : Mini Moog, and 2 Yamaha PS/PSR series I know longer ownMic : Shure SM58 with a Digitech DSP16 through effects loop 1 of the recorderCompressor : DBX 163A (used on recording of vocals only)Harmonies are via a Digitech Vocalist Performer through effects loop 2 of the recorderSince the completion of “Strangely Familiar”, I have done very little recording and no formal writing. Simply riffsand licks on tape with no completed songs. I had to give myself some breathing room away from music, as the firstCD took me 4-6 days/week for 14 months to complete while still working a 40 hour/week job. Needless to say Ihad “Musical Burnout” at that time.Upgrades/additions since the first CD :BBE 462 Sonic Maximizer (best $200.00 I’ve ever spent, serious)Replaced the 2 Yamaha PS/PSR series keyboards with an Ensoniq SQ1 which has an onboard 16 track sequencer with Keys and Drums and a Roland U20 (keys and drums also). The Ensoniq is now the brains of the system. I use it to pull sounds from the Alesis SR16 and Roland U20 via midi, then SYNC it with the Tascam. Thus giving me 16 digital and 8 analog tracks simultaneously. I bump these 24 synced tracks to a Sony MD recorder which I can in turn rip to MP3’s or burn to CD.Since the completion of my first CD, I have been engaging in MP3 downloading (naughty, naughty), home improvements, and genealogy research. While my music has taken a back seat to such, it is not gone by any means. Several times thoughout the course of this Bio., I have used the term “first CD”. This is the only one I have at this time but more will definitely follow. I will now quote the band "Triumph". I'm young, I'm wild and I'm free. I've got the Magic Power of the music in me. Keep the music in you. It's language is universal. And nobody can take it away. Well it is now 2002 and the new CD "Reflection Of A Nightmare" is in the works. This will be more "my bag of tricks". What I mean by that is, this will be like the music I really love. Upon the recording of the first CD, I really didn't have a direction to follow, other than I wanted to release a CD on my own. Now, after listening to "Strangely Familiar" for a few years, I knew I wanted to get heavier with my sound and feel of the music. I am now playing a Gibson Flying V'67 reissue into a Marshall 50 watt 1x12 combo. I put a Shure SM-57 right in the face of the speaker and another Shure SM-57 around the back side of the open cabinet for extra low end and mix the two together onto one track. Both mics get mixed down to tracks 1 & 2 consecutively. I then pan track 1 to the left and track 2 to the right thus giving mt the stereo guitar sound, or 2 guitarists, so to speak. My bass will probably NEVER CHANGE!!!! There is no mistaking the sound of a Rickenbacker 4001. However I am now running my Rick into a DBX 163a compressor then into a BBE 462 Sonic Maximizer, then straight into the board. A friend of mine gave me his Alesis SR-16 drum machine. So now I have 2 of them. This allows me to keep more songs to edit and play with, without the chance of losing anything during a "back-up". It looks like I am making the jump into the digital world of recording as well. I just purchased a new computer with a 1.8 GHz AMD Athalon processor and a 100 gig HD and a CD burner already installed. I have also purchased "Cakewalk Home Studio 2002" which has unlimited audio tracks. A nice step up from the 8-Track (cassette format) Tascam. Not that is hasn't done well down through the years. More to follow later. Sincerely, Bill "Willee" Shutt a.k.a. ME-3

Group Members Willee : All Instruments, Vocals, Recording & Engineering.

Instruments Guitar, Bass, Keyboards, Drum Programming, Vocals

Albums Strangely Familiar, Reflection Of A Nightmare

Additional Info Thanks to Tom Woodyard for the artwork on the cover.

Location Columbus, Ohio - USA

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