Dirty Three are an Australian instrumental rock band, consisting of Warren Ellis (violin, keyboards), Mick Turner (electric guitar, organ and bass) and Jim White (drums), which formed in 1992.

[1] Dirty Three formed as an instrumental rock trio in Melbourne in 1992 with Warren Ellis on violin and bass guitar (ex-These Future Kings in 1986), Mick Turner on lead and bass guitars (Sick Things, The Moodists, Venom P. Stinger, Fungus Brains), and Jim White on drums (People with Chairs Up Their Noses, Feral Dinosaurs, Venom P.

[3][4] Prior to the formation of Dirty Three, Ellis studied classical violin, worked briefly as a school teacher in regional Victoria, then travelled as a busker in Europe.

[8][9] White's previous group Feral Dinosaurs also featured Conway Savage, also a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and The Blackeyed Susans.

[12] During 1994 they were the support act for international groups Pavement, Beastie Boys and John Spencer Blues Explosion.

In November 1994 their next album, Sad & Dangerous, was issued on the Poon Village label and included tracks from the trio's earlier cassette.

They toured Israel with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, then back in London in August they performed with Cave – who was also a participant on the Palace project – providing a live soundtrack for the Carl Dreyer silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc, at the National Film Theatre.

[3][5] They performed at the Big Day Out series of concerts in January 1996 – for the Melbourne show they were joined on stage by Cave.

[3] In March 1998 the band issued Ocean Songs, which Billboard's Chris Morris felt was "an unexpected new direction" where "the sound is still brazenly live, the atmosphere is generally rapturous and lyrical, instead of explosive and febrile".

[3] In 2002, Dirty Three toured Taiwan together with US indie rocker Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) and both artists returned in 2004.

[12][18] Also in 2004, they gigged at the Meredith Music Festival where a rain storm threatened their set, Ellis later remembered "we just went out and played like our lives depended on it ... and you all went for it; otherwise it just fell to pieces".

Although following in the spirit of Ocean Songs, it diverges from their previous works: it was their first album to feature vocals (from Marshall and from Sally Timms of The Mekons), albeit on two of nineteen tracks.

Dirty Three have released albums on Touch & Go Records and have toured with Nick Cave, Sonic Youth, Low, Pavement, Throwing Muses, Cat Power, PJ Harvey, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Devendra Banhart, Josh T. Pearson, Shannon Wright and The Pogues.

[5] During their career the group have spent much of their time overseas, when not performing together Turner is based in Melbourne, White lives in New York, and Ellis in Paris.