it began one night in melbourne, in 1984, as a jam session with mark valentine on bass, mark amis on vocals, and myself(barry norton) on keyboards/drum programs. we recorded two songs that we had written that night, and this was the start of 'fact or fear', the first incarnation of 'three years in tibet'. this style of music was very different to me. it was dark, brooding, ambient...and above all, experimental. we made music out of anything, we just tweaked it a bit. from 1984-86,mark amis and i wrote and recorded around 50 or 60 songs,with our crowning achievment, the release of the lp 'brittle branches'in 1985. this record was given airplay on several florida college radio stations,wfit in melbourne played it regularly.it was available in many major record stores all over central and east coast florida in 85-86. also through a friend of mark amis who is in british radio, several copies of the lp was sent to england, and we were told later that it was well liked and given airplay .i recently talked to mark, and he told me a record collector had contacted him and purchased all his remaining copies . also i would like to mention mark valentine, who has been in guest spots in our recordings on his trusty bass, and deserves credit for composing several bass lines which are the backbone of this style of music, and also vig, for several colaborations with mark and i on music projects in the tyit tradition. 
ORGINALLY, FACT OR FEAR WAS TO BE A TRIO WHICH INCLUDED MARK VALENTINE ON BASS, BUT HE WAS ALSO A ROCKER AND COULD NOT CHANGE HIS STYLE COMPLETELY. SO MARK WAS FEATURED ON SEVERAL RECORDINGS AND COMPOSED THE BASS LINE FOR "DANCE OF THE PAPER TIGER" AND "FALLING". THINGS MAY HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT WITH HIM AS PART OF THE BAND. IM SURE THE SONG WRITING WOULD INCLUDE ALL 3 OF OUR INFLUENCES, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF LIVE PERFORMANCE A REALITY. AND THEN THERE IS ROBERT(STOP SHAKING THEM DAMN BELLS) VIGLIANO, OR VIG FOR SHORT.HE IS ON THE ORIGINAL RECORDING OF "FEMME LA' STRANGE" DOING BACKGROUND PERCUSSION, AND COMPOSED/RECORDED "9 OF LIGHT" WITH MARK AND I TOGETHER AS A SEMI- THREE YEARS IN TIBET PROJECT. 
click on any photo of mark and i together on this site and it will take you to the 3 years in tibet photo gallery 
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