The original Saints burned brightly from 1973 and a move to England in 1976 saw them burn brightly for a couple of years releasing three excellent albums.

Unfortunately lack of commercial success and creative differences between Bailey and Kuepper led them to disband in 1979 with Kuepper returning to Australia and Bailey keeping the Saints moniker but putting out music that had little to do with the first three albums. Fast forward 45 years and Kuepper was working on a box set to celebrate the release of I’m Stranded with Chris Bailey. Unfortunately Bailey passed away before its release but in order to celebrate the bands legacy and the looming 50th anniversary of the band, plans were set afoot to assemble a band around founding members Ivor Hay and Ed Kuepper.

Pete Oxley who played in Kuepper’s post Laughing Clowns combo The Aints was recruited on bass as well as former Birthday Party member Mick Harvey on second guitars and keyboards. The delicate task of filling Bailey’s shoes was given to Mudhoney frontman Mark Arm and a three piece horn section was recruited to make sure the R’n’B subtleties if Know Your Product and Prehistoric Sounds were faithfully reproduced on stage.

This London date was part of a month long tour starting in Australia and New Zealand, moving on to Canada and the US before finishing with the UK and mainland Europe. The Bailey led Saints made good music but there is no mistaking that some of the nineties or early noughties records didn’t hit the mark of the three iconic first albums so this tour can be seen as a way to re-establish The Saints as one of the defining bands of the punk years.

KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY…

…the band chose Australian duo The Chimes to open for them, tight musically with a steady rhythmic pulse, they went down well with the audience. It was then time for the main dish with Saints 73-78 hitting the stage to the sound of the theme song to the spaghetti western Death Ride a Horse by Ennio Morricone. Swing for the Crime with its tribal beat and horns proved a great choice as an opener. The frantic No Time from the first album was played at a more sedate pace than the original version but Mark Arm maid a fine job of retaining the snarl required in the vocals without emulating Chris Bailey.

This Perfect Day, the bands only foray in the charts remains one of the finest tracks of the punk period ! The buzzsaw aggression of Lost and Found was followed by the janglier sounds of Memories Are Made of this. Another killer track from Eternally Yours Private Affair with its fantastic doom laden lyrics while the antipodean tale of alienation Brisbane, Security City wit its wild horn section marked a welcome incursion in Prehistoric Sounds territory.

A WINNING COMBINATION

More tracks from their underrated third LP featured towards the end of the set with The Prisoner and The Chameleon both betraying the LP’s troubled recording (Bailey had to be enticed back to record the album after leaving the band). We were back in Eternally Yours territory with No, Your Product, again another punk masterpiece where Hay’s steady drumming combined with Kuepper’s buzzsaw rhythm playing on his Gibson SG proved a winning combination. Closing with a double punch of I’m Stranded and Know Your Product, the band returned for a generous four song encore including some of the more hardcore tracks from their debut (I’m Misunderstood, Demolition Girl and Night In Venice) as well as another chestnut from Prehistoric Sounds (All Times Through Paradise).

Saints 73-78  Website 

At The Barrier: Facebook / X / Instagram