We're in the region of St Etienne (SE France), in Ecotay-l'Olme near Montbrison to be exact. It's here that Mickey (writer-singer and composer of the group) a child of the Sixties grew up in a rather electric environment. A rock fan, he composed and "threw together" his first songs in his room. These were notably for the group 3dk for whom he was the singer. From his meeting with Jojo (drummer for Nopa Jam, and into noisy hardcore) to the middle of the Nineties, an alliance was born which lead them to the success that they know today. So begins the story of Mickey 3D(the name of the singer and a reference to his former group). In the beginning, motivated by the simple pleasure of playing together, our two confederates considered the group as a moment of relaxation, a break, far from the sounds, which were too electric, even though it was what they were used to. It was a sort of breath of fresh air that finally led them further than expected! So, one thing leading to another, they did one mini-concert after another in pizzerias and bars.

Very quickly things accelerated. In 1996, they released their first demo cassette called "le Souffle court", then two others in 1997 and 1998, "Mickey 3D" and "l'Amour". Finally their first album "Mistigri Tordure" appeared in 1999 on the Premier Disque label. Made with the little means they had, this record nevertheless enabled them to do opening acts for big groups, like for Louise Attaque, Tryo, Yann Tiersen. The record companies started making eyes at them but they truly had love at first sight for Virgin in 2000.

Inspired by Miossec and Dominique A, Mickey favours the use of simple yet strong words in his texts to send his messages, which are partly sad and melancholic or laced with humour. Varying between trip hop, rock and traditional songs, their music sometimes accompanies lyrics none the less militant.

Their second album called "la Trêve", which came out in March 2001 was written by Mickey from his native region. This time he mixes accordion, percussion and uses a range of broader keyboard sounds. Najah, an artist musician who plays keyboards and accordion, in fact enriched the group, which is now a threesome. From this new opus, which manages to miraculously maintain the spirit of auto-production of the preceding album, comes one of the two singles from the album "La, tu dis mais ne sais pas" which perfectly illustrates the choice of changes between acoustic, electric and electronic sounds. A real job of composing for the trio! During all of 2000 the group toured around France and made some notable festival stops such as Le Printemps de Bourges in April or the Vieilles Charrues in July. Undoubtedly out of sync this is one of the rare groups who knew how to retain total control of their work. Endearing, they certainly promise more beautiful things to come. Keep an eye on them.

Recognition

Mickael continued his songwriting activities for other artists, penning "J'ai demandé à la lune" for Indochine. The band went on to score a surprise hit with the song, which greatly boosted Mickey 3D’s media profile and street cred. 2003 thus kicked off in an extremely positive way for Mickey 3D with the release of a new album entitled "Tu vas pas mourir de rire" (You’re Not Going to Die Laughing!) The band had spent most of the previous year taking a break from touring to concentrate on songwriting and composing. And their rather pessimistically-titled opus proved to be a thought-provoking work, songs musing on existential themes such as inequality, war and death. The group also used their new album to raise a voice of protest about social and environmental issues.

Mickey 3D kicked off a major national tour at the start of 2003 and went on to perform at a number of leading music festivals later that year, including the "Printemps de Bourges" in April (where they appeared as a support act for Renaud), the "Eurockéennes" in Belfort and the "Vieilles Charrues" festival in Carhaix in July. The group brought their tour to an end in Paris with a memorable performance at the Zénith on 14 November. Meanwhile, sales of "Tu vas pas mourir de rire" continued at an impressive rate, reaching the 200,000 mark by the end of the year.

The group also gained significant critical recognition in 2003, winning the "Prix Constantin" in November. (The jury that year was chaired by Jean-Louis Aubert).

The group recorded a live album of their Saint Etienne show on 11 October, 2003, which was released the following year. A previously unreleased track from the album, "Johnny Rep" got some serious airplay; the title is a reference to a former player on the Saint Etienne football team.

In February, the group received three Victoires de la Musique awards: one for song of the year ("Respire"), another for video clip of the year for the same track, and a third for album of the year ("On va pas mourir de rire").

On the back of this success, Michaël Furnon contributed several songs to other singers, such as Jane Birkin ("Je m'appelle Jane"), Pauline Croze and even Dick Rivers.

The group released a new album in 2005. "Matador" was recorded at home, reflecting the initial desire to work near where the group lived. They also wanted to get back to a lighter type of song than those recorded for their previous album, although the 3Ds didn't totally abandon the themes that had inspired them from their beginnings. The first single from the album was the title track "Matador".

The band kicked off a tour in July.

June 2005