Meet Billy Mays III | Musician under the name Infinite Third

We had the good fortune of connecting with Billy Mays III and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Billy, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but moved to Florida for college once I graduated high school. I received two degrees (Recording Arts and Entertainment Business) and ended up staying in Central Florida until a few years ago when I moved to Atlanta with my family.

I’ve played guitar since I was about 16 and my favorite aspect of making music has always been conceptualizing, recording, and mixing full-length albums. Specifically, I’ve always enjoyed the sequencing part – intuitively choosing which songs go where and why.

My “music career” didn’t really begin until the year 2009 (age 21). It was a really difficult time thanks to a devastating apartment fire in February and then the sudden death of my father in June.

After the fire, I had lost literally all of my belongings (including my music equipment) so I had to start from scratch with just a guitar and a small practice amp. This was the beginning of me more fully connecting my emotional experience with my music. It began to naturally take on a more deep and moving quality that led to some really special demos for what would become my debut album later that year.

Unfortunately, as I started to get back on my feet in a new apartment, my dad died suddenly in his sleep on June 28th. I had moved to Florida to be closer to him and I did for those 5 years but the loss was still extremely difficult to process. Thankfully, music had become a form of therapy and I got through the rest of that year determined to finish my debut album “Gently” as Infinite Third and released it independently on December 15th, 2009. Speaking of which, we’re coming up on the 15th anniversary of that and I’m planning to crowdfund a first-time-ever vinyl release to commemorate.

My dad who shares the same name as me was a public figure (The OxiClean Guy) so there was an added heaviness to the grief process thanks to tabloids and social media. The negative has always been such a small percentage of what I experience online but that stuff hurt uniquely for awhile nonetheless. To this day, I’m a bit of a spokesperson for my dad’s memory through keeping in touch with his fans and sharing the memes/references he still inspires. I even have a nonprofit website that houses all that fun stuff at http://BillyMays.org.

My current-day musical performances have become a completely-improvised instrumental experience of catharsis and exploration. It seems to connect most with people who need a soundtrack to their own grief and/or reflection. I’m most passionate about setting up unique live offerings where people can feel comfortable to come as they are and drop into their own version of processing, whether that’s meditating, stretching, drawing, writing, dancing, relaxing, or just simply listening.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I think my music is valuable because it’s so inextricably connected to my real human emotions. In a world so close to automating legit music via A.I., I’ve decided to focus more on the parts of Infinite Third that are imperfect and “alive.”

Each of my performances is its own unique experience for everyone involved, including me. My intention is always to “channel” what any given space or audience might need at that moment and then that is filtered through what I need to process in my own body/mind that night. I never expected this to be the form it would take but it feels too natural to try and control it too much.

From 2011-2017, I freelanced in the Florida film industry while developing my music. By around 2018, I was able to leave film work behind because I had finally starting receiving the same compensation for a 2-3 hour set as I was making for a 10+ hour day in production. It felt good and more in line with my values.

Of course, like all of us, all that progress came to a screeching halt in March of 2020. From 2020-2023, I was able to pivot into a whole new world of live streaming music on Twitch from 2020-2023 and that did an amazing job of keeping me sane and helping me to continue developing my music from home while also building an awesome little community.

It took me an even longer time to feel comfortable going back out into the world again because I had also become a new dad during the first year of the pandemic and then moved to Florida with my family in 2021. But sometime late last year, I decided I had to indefinitely pause my Twitch channel so I could fully commit to playing local shows and touring again. Now I’m slowly discovering the Atlanta music scene and finding my own unique ways to share my music with this beautiful city.

One of the byproducts of that time streaming is that it became part of the source material for my newest album Holy Noise, a 9-hour collection of improvised ambient music. All of the recordings were pulled from the meditative sections of my livestreams and the album is currently available on all the streaming services.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m always big on taking people on the BeltLine. Krog St. Market is a great stop and so is the tunnel.

I live in East Atlanta Village so I love showing people around my little neighborhood and usually take them to eat at Argosy and Midway at least.

Little Five Points rules so Criminal Records is always on the list of spots to visit.

Other than that, we have some great nature to explore here and I’m still getting to know a lot of it!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I think my mom deserves the most credit for any success I have as an artist. She has always been my biggest fan and an unconditional supporter of my music. Growing up, even when my music sounded horrible in the next room over, she would say how much she loves it. Now that we both live in Atlanta she tries to make it to most of my shows, no matter the venue, and is always wearing an Infinite Third t-shirt.

In a different way, my dad always supported my dreams by putting me through college to study recording arts and entertainment business and by helping me build a strong foundation of music gear – some of which I still have and use daily, 15 years after he died.

Website: http://infinitethird.com

Instagram: http://instagram.com/infinitethird

Twitter: http://twitter.com/infinitethird

Facebook: http://facebook.com/infinitethird

Youtube: http://youtube.com/@infinitethird

Image Credits
Main Portrait Credit: Cameron Watson Other Photos By: Eric Proffit, Katie Callihan, and Stephen Zane