Forty years after the release of one of the great Australian debut albums of all time Ed Kuepper returns with a brand-new band and a brand-new contender for the title.
When the heavily lauded, heavily influential first incarnation of The Saints split in 1978, Ed Kuepper, the sonic architect and primary songwriter of the original band and their three albums: the proto-punk classic (I’m) Stranded (1977), the r’n’b infused Eternally Yours (1978) and the brass-laden genre-defying Prehistoric Sounds (1978) left behind a plethora of unreleased material, however, rather than attempt to salvage what could have been Kuepper chose to move on forming the legendary Laughing Clowns performing and recording in Australia and the U.K. from 1979 through 1984 before embarking on an ARIA award winning solo career that has kept him touring and recording steadily since 1985.
Come 2017 though, and the 40th anniversary of The Saints seminal debut Kuepper was persuaded it was time to revisit and celebrate the music of his youth. Recruiting like-minded souls in Sunnyboys bassist Peter Oxley, drummer Paul Larsen Loughhead (The Celibate Rifles / The New Christs), jazz pianist Alister Spence and trumpeter and brass arranger Eamon Dilworth the band performed as The Aints! Play The Saints (’73 – ’78) covering Kuepper’s tenure with the band and all the classics including This Perfect Day, Know Your Product, Swing For The Crime and (I’m) Stranded to large crowds and a hugely appreciative response. But rather than purely recycle those formative songs Kuepper began to introduce the new-old material to an audience eager to hear what else Kuepper had been sitting on since 1978. A further positive response from the music department of the ABC saw these two iconic Australians join forces and bring to light what is in essence, the long lost fourth album by The (original) Saints.
”Things had started to move fairly quickly once The Saints recorded [I’m] Stranded (Fatal Records) in mid ’76. We recorded three albums over the next two years as well as doing a fair it of touring, and for a while things were looking very promising, however, business problems, compounded by personal and artistic differences meant the band didn’t get around to recording all the material I had lying around….so forty [very] odd years later it occurred to me that these songs might well have made up a hypothetical 4th album….The Church of the Simultaneous Existence…..the songs that refused to die….performed in much the way they would have had the band not split up in 1978’’ – Ed Kuepper
THE AINTS!
Australian Tour 2018
Friday 26th October Coolangatta Hotel Coolangatta QLD
Saturday 27th October The Triffid Brisbane QLD
Friday November 2nd Caravana Music Club Melbourne VIC
Saturday 3rd November Theatre Royal Castlemaine VIC
Monday 5th November The Croxton Melbourne VIC
Friday 9th November The Factory Sydney NSW
Saturday 10th November The Cambridge Newcastle NSW
Friday 23rd November Rosemount Hotel Perth WA
Saturday 24th November Settlers Tavern Margaret River WA
Sunday 25th November Mojos Fremantle WA
Also appearing at:
Dec 7 & 8 & 9 Meredith Music Festival Meredith VIC