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ED KUEPPER
Anyone lucky enough to see The Saints in their recent ATP reformation must surely have been amazed at the visceral power of Ed Kuepper’s shredding guitar blasting out of his Marshall triple stack, perhaps even more savage than back in the seventies, the fire in his belly seemingly burning even more intensely. You also had to marvel at his ability to tolerate sharing a stage, van or anywhere else for any length of time with the irritatingly supercilious Chris Bailey without throttling him!
And if that demonstration of his undiminished primal power chord presence wasn’t enough, he also reformed his post Saints band The Laughing Clowns. They were only were together for five years but left behind six albums and assorted singles and EPs that demonstrated their mastery of melodic and dissonant rock, soul and jazz ensemble playing. Their innovative rhythmic and percussive sound defied categorization- “jazz punk” was the closest description. Nobody in this country or any other had their open-ended song structure style that was as provocative, experimental, progressive and unique; both ugly and strangely beautiful. Ed’s intense musical vision gave the band an identity in spite of changing line-ups, he was the axis around which everything happened. They were the first band I ever saw that placed the drummer, Jeff Wegener at the front of the stage, the rest of the band gathered around like jazz musicians, playing as much to each other as the audience- a joyful process.
In 1985 he then launched his solo career with the Electrical Storm album, playing most of the instruments himself before forming The Yard Goes On Forever, their guitar / horn driven rock sound producing two albums, before he went acoustic with drummer Mark Dawson, their unconventional guitar effects and drum kit combination opening up new possibilities.
Then he strapped on the electric guitar again with The Aints, his blistering distortion-drenched sound producing some of the most powerful six string sound blast ever heard in this country, producing three albums.
Since then his musical evolution has constantly changed and mutated, exploring acoustic, instrumental, soundtracks, ambient and electric musics, solo, as a duo and with various band line-ups- The Serene Machine, The Institute Of Nude Wrestling, The Oxley Creek Playboys and others.
Amazingly prolific, Ed has created over 50 solo albums, won two ARIA awards, been nominated numerous times, toured overseas often and has carved out a career independent of record companies, commercial pressures and fads and fashion. An artist who remains true to his restless muse wherever it leads him, Ed Kuepper is a creative dynamo.
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