Artist Joey Mars created the character on the Biere de Mars label, 3 Eyed Bill. When asked the story or inspiration behind the character Mars said:
“It all started when I first made the initial drawing a year or so back I put it on Facebook and wrote: 3 Eyed Bill drank a lot of swill. Used to date One Eyed Jill. Things got strange and now Bill’s deranged….
People cracked up and it inspired me to write the ballad of 3 Eyed Bill which was published originally in dinghy magazine… he was a red version with a bigger head, slightly more whacked out…….a bit of a degenerate graffiti artist trouble maker…not sure if you want to be associated with such a trouble maker….
– Joey Mars
The Original Story….
3 Eyed Bill drank a lot of swill…use to date one-eyed Jill…then one-day things began to change…old 3 eyed Bill became deranged…. he use to walk down the street with no pants… eating popsicles looking for romance… Then one sunny, afternoon in May…just a couple of days before he went away… Old 3 Eyed Bill began to say…
“This here town has gone to hay.” “Ya’ll better watch out for judgment day”… “The end is near” old Bill would say… “you folks around here are gonna pay”… Just then, 3 eyed Bill began to wiggle…busted out a paint marker and began to scribble… funny little pictures and twisted little sayings…Old Bill as usual, pushed it too far…He had gone and graffiti’d up the police man’s car…Sheriff Lou did not take it as funny. Bill had drawn 17 hairy trolls, 2 snakes and a bunny. Old 3 Eyed Bill got hauled off to jail… locked up in a cell and fed mackerel from a rusty pail… now old 3 Eyed Bill is waiting on the judge… he got a visitor one day. it was Jill with some homemade fudge… seems Bill had scribbled a love poem on her house during his craze… it touched Jill’s heart she felt sad and apart… perhaps she could reconcile with the crazy old Bill… she sure could try and perhaps she will… 3 Eyed Bill said thank you for the candy… sure is nice to see ya the fudge will come in handy. Bill gave her a wink and his eyes began to shift and shiver… strange sounds came flying from his jaws as he began to quake and quiver… he began tugging on his pants and loosening up his belt. He had a hankering for frozen ice. he likes it best after the melt.
Sheriff Lou warned Old Bill to keep on his pants but Old Bill just went on one of his rants. You people are all gonna pay. Just wait for judgment day. Bill took off his pants and dropped the boxers as well ripped off his shirt and let out a yell. Just then One Eyed Jill began to cry. She was a fool for even thinking she could try. She said goodbye to Bill and walked home from jail. She grabbed a few things and bought passage to sail. She was heading for the Keys as the winds began to wail. It was too much for the crew there was too much water to bail. One-eyed Jill did her best floating on that mast. We think of her often when we look to the past sharks probably got her and ate Jill for a snack. One-eyed Jill was never found or brought back.
3 Eyed Bill has only gotten stranger…there was the winter he lived in a Christmas manger. 3 Eyed Bill was convinced he was a goat. Bill slept next to a plastic Mary never wearing a coat. For 2 weeks straight through snow, sleet and rain 3 Eyed Bill’s energy never seemed to wane. I don’t see 3 Eyed Bill too much these days…I hear he still walks around in quite a crazed haze. He’s been featured on street art web sites and zines. His drawings sold in galleries, his poems published in magazines… 3 Eyed Bill’s lore has grown quite large in that street art, hipster scene. They worship Old 3 Eyed Bill, the Crazy Graffiti Machine.
Want to see more from Joey Mars?
Get tickets and join us for out annual Dead of Winter event Friday, February 17th 2023. Along with live music from The Grateful Dead tribute band, Playing Dead, Joey Mars will be showcasing his artwork at the brewery!
