Three Ton Gate

Abandoning the Daisy Berkowitz name in favor of his own initials, SMP, Scott Mitchell Putesky joined up with longtime Marilyn Manson collaborators Jack Off Jill, replacing departing member Ho Ho Spade and playing live guitar on their 1997 West Coast tour. His first recorded work with the band was the 1998 EP Covetous Creature, to which he lent guitar and some production. At the same time, Scott was developing ideas for several of his own bands, including The Linda Blairs (a joke band, featuring Scott and several other South Florida musicians performing cover songs in drag) and Rednecks on Drugs; and recording demos for his "real" solo project, Three Ton Gate (named for the rock formation within the Coral Castle of Homestead, FL, created by one infatuated Ed Leedskalnin). A three-song demo, 3x3, featured music and lyrics written and performed entirely by Putesky, under the name "Scott Mitchell" (his first and middle names). The full-length Three Ton Gate release, Vanishing Century, was released in 1997 in limited quantities, and sold out its entire run of 400 copies. The album, also written and performed by Scott Mitchell, was the first Three Ton Gate release to feature vocalist Tyreah James. By early 1999, SMP was no longer a member of Jack Off Jill. By most accounts, he simply lost interest in the band and returned once again to Ft. Lauderdale to resume work on his own music, primarily seeking a live band to perform his Three Ton Gate material. In the meantime, he successfully sued Marilyn Manson for what he claimed were unpaid royalties for his contributions to Antichrist Superstar; in the same lawsuit, Putesky was also awarded the rights to 21 unreleased recordings by Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids. Following his settlement with Manson, Scott kicked around several solo and collaborative projects, continuing to develop Three Ton Gate as a vehicle for film soundtrack work, joining the backing band of Israeli-born musician Michal Towber, and lending his songwriting skills to Washington, DC, industrial-rock band Godhead (who would ironically later become the first and only band on Marilyn Manson's record label, Posthuman Records). He also reestablished the Rednecks on Drugs project with friend and fellow musician Rich Penny (who was also in the Linda Blairs). Eventually, Rednecks on Drugs metamorphosed into Stuck on Evil, essentially a hard rock band with gothic rock, Southern rock, and early rock and roll influences. Stuck on Evil recorded a 10-song full-length album, Suntanic, produced by Scott Putesky, in 2001. Their plan for a national tour starting in August of that year was ruined, however, by a bone-breaking accident on the part of vocalist John Cain Reilly. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, and the subsequent condemnation of "evildoers" by President George W. Bush, the band decided to drop the word evil from its name. Explained Putesky: "Stuck on Evil -- it's a joke! And then nobody got the joke, and therefore it became a silly name, and all of a sudden having evil in your name wasn't so funny." Reilly agreed: "With the whole nation up in arms about evildoers, it just wasn't a good name to be." Reverting to the original name of Three Ton Gate, Scott recorded the album Lose Your Mind for his own Scorpion Rising label in 2003. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.