Anarchic. It's the one word Kim Salmon can find to aptly describe the breadth of his work, from his days in The Scientists, to Beasts Of Bourbon and now The Beasts.
“The world is a chaotic place and as much of it you can control, you do, and the rest of it, it's like if you can ride it, half your luck,” Kim philosophises.
“The Beasts is a fairly – how do I put it? I'd use the word anarchic but I'd say that about The Scientists as well. That's the kind of stuff I do, I suppose.”
The Beasts formed after the 2018 passing of Beasts Of Bourbon bassist Brian Hooper and guitarist Spencer P. Jones as a way of carrying on the legacy of the Australian band that are as beloved as their initial tenure was short.
Comprised of Kim, Tex Perkins, Tony Pola, Boris Sujdovic and Charlie Owen, The Beasts have a new album out called 'Still Here'. Originally conceived as a covers album to pay homage to the B.O.B., it quickly grew into a beast all of its own.
Having toured the album already this year, The Beasts are back on the road again with 'Still Here' and Kim says chaos still reigns in the band. “It was that anarchic thing – it's sort of like we're revisiting that M.O. very much, particularly this tour,” he says.
“When we did the earlier tour we were doing more of a representation of the 'Still Here' album, but we also did a bunch of old things that we hadn't looked at forever. Things like 'I'm So Happy I Could Cry' – I don't recall us ever doing that live, to be honest, I just remember doing it in the studio. I may be wrong; we just kind of did it.”
The current tour comes as Kim releases his biography 'Nine Parts Water, One Part Sand', which has been written by Doug Galbraith, a one-time student of Kim's whom he entrusted the task of chronicling the many stories he has accrued over the course of his career. “I trusted [Doug] to write something,” Kim says.
“Anybody can write anything they like about me to be perfectly honest, I couldn't really stop them, but I certainly gave him my blessing when he asked me because I trusted him.
“Really, it's Doug's story – it's how he's experienced my story, what he knows about it. I think that with anything that ever happens out there in the world there are many different versions of it and I don't think there's any objective truth out there.”
The 'Still Here' tour sees The Beasts not only playing much-loved favourites and hits, but also rarities and some songs that have never been played live. “Maybe we don't remember them the same. . . maybe we'll never get them back the way they were,” Kim ponders about playing 30-year-old songs.
“Maybe we've somehow gone straight back there, I couldn't tell you; I was there, I know, but it was a different me back in the day. We're bringing our old selves to our old songs, it's an interesting thing really.”
The Beasts Australia Tour 2019
Thu 12 Dec - The Triffid (Brisbane)Fri 13 Dec - Kingscliff Beach Hotel (Northern Rivers)
Sat 14 Dec - Solbar (Sunshine Coast)
Fri 20 Dec - The Gov (Adelaide)
Sat 21 Dec - Rosemount Hotel (Perth)
Sun 22 Dec - Rock Rover (Fremantle)
