From about 2001 to 2005, Burns was involved in a side project with Pauline Black of The Selecter, called 3 Men and Black. This involved Black touring with three male artists from the late 1970s, early 1980s doing acoustic versions of songs they are famous for, and talking a little about how they came to write the songs etc. The line up for the concerts was fairly fluid, and has included such people as Bruce Foxton, J.J. Burnel, Eric Faulkner and Nick Welsh.