Respected rocker and Brisbane's own proto-punk Ed Kuepper joins the 4ZZZ 50th anniversary celebrations, headlining the ZED50 live concert with The Saints '73-'78.
The Saints '73-'78 will be in good company, sharing the ZED50 line-up with fellow Brisbane legends Regurgitator, Screamfeeder and Butterfingers, alongside Triple Zed favourites like Tropical F... Storm, Flangipanis, Full Flower Moon Band and many more.
By the time 4ZZZ was founded in late 1975, the original incarnation of The Saints had already laid the noisy groundwork for what would become the global punk movement less than a year later.
However, as Ed recounts, it wasn't easy being a Brisbane rock band in the early '70s. "[It was] a lot different to the way that it is today," he says.
"We didn't advertise ourselves as a punk band, we were sort of a fairly unique entity in Brisbane. We did our own songs, we put on our own shows, we had nothing to do with the established agencies. So, we were outsiders to the whole scene, really."
In 1976, The Saints self-released their debut single '(I'm) Stranded', a song that not only heralded the international punk explosion but perfectly encapsulated the isolation Kuepper and his bandmates felt in the cultural wasteland of Brisbane at the time, even with the advent of a radical alternative radio station.
"Triple Zed didn't really take to The Saints in the early days," Ed says. "It took a couple of years and then they became very staunch supporters of The Saints and everything that I've done in various bands since.
"There were a few people involved in the early [days of the] station that, I guess you could say, actively disliked the band. I don't remember names or anything. Things were moving for the band, but I wasn't interested in local negativity."
The Saints '73-'78 features Ed with founding drummer Ivor Hay and 'honorary Saints', singer Mark Arm from Mudhoney, bassist Peter Oxley of Sunnyboys and former The Birthday Party/ Bad Seeds guitarist Mick Harvey in a live tribute to The Saints' first three albums.
'(I'm) Stranded', 'Eternally Yours' and 'Prehistoric Sounds' were released in close succession between 1977 and 1978 while The Saints had relocated to the UK. This period marks some of Kuepper's most prolific and influential songwriting as well as the end of his tenure with the original band.
"To put it into context, those 18 months were at the end of a 5-year period, so there had been 3 years before that when the band and I had been writing," Ed recalls.
"We weren't recording, so by the time we did the first album, there was enough for a second album, so half of the second album was written before the first album was released.
"By the time I moved to London there was a real writing burst; I think I wrote the third album in a couple of weeks. It was a really intense period of time, but enjoyable. That's my recollection of it."
ZED50 is the only Australian show for The Saints '73-'78 before the band embark on a world tour, playing in New Zealand, the US, Canada, and Sweden plus Germany for the first time ever, a significant milestone for Ed in his career.
"It staggers belief sometimes, I'm completely serious in saying that," Ed says of the band's career arc. "At the time that we were doing it, I think at all times when we were doing the first single independently, I thought: 'That's it.'
"There was nothing to look for. We had documented the band, and I thought: 'Well, if in five years' time someone comes across this and likes it, that's fantastic. We'd be set in history.' To turn that five years into fifty is a bit scary, but it's fantastic."
ZED50 takes place at Roma St Parklands (Brisbane) on 25 October.
ZED50: A Market Day Celebration Of 50 years Of 4ZZZ Radio Line-up
The Saints 73-78Regurgitator
Tropical F... Storm
Full Flower Moon Band
Big Noter
Butterfingers
Screamfeeder
Nice Biscuit
Party Dozen
Dancingwater
Flangipanis
Platonic Sex
Velociraptor
