Lock up your laboratories because Perth band The Scientists have reformed in their classic 1985 line-up for a limited run of live shows across the country.
Established in 1978 by vocalist and guitarist Kim Salmon, The Scientists went through several incarnations before discovering the perfect, chemical bond in their '85 line-up featuring Kim, Tony Thewlis, Leanne Cowie and Boris Sujdovic.
“There's something about what we did with the band, especially that particular line-up, that seems to really speak to me,” Kim says.
“Out of all the things I've done, [with] that particular line-up it’s like you just add water and it's there almost. It’s one of the most adaptable things too; we don’t have to change it but there seems to be a lot untapped in [the music], so I'm just discovering things about it.”
{youtube}DsKiTHw1vdQ{/youtube}
Active until their disbanding in 1987, The Scientists were playing grunge long before the Seattle explosion of the '90s when Nirvana and Pearl Jam came to dominate the genre.
In fact, it was Kim who first coined the term in the 1980s to describe the band's sound. “The music itself, it was very fluid or in-a-moment, so it just sort of happened, it was like a framework really,” Kim says.
“You set up a bunch of certain conditions and then the music would happen. So it seemed to be spontaneous every time and it still seems to do that.”
This October, The Scientists take their elaborate experiments in sound on the road and Kim says that at this stage of their careers: “The stage performance will just take care of itself.
“We're all in reasonably good nick so none of us need wheelchairs, we don't need to sit down and we don’t need medication. We’re going to be fine,” he laughs.
{youtube}yKfJ0kZ0KbU{/youtube}
From their home in Perth, The Scientists relocated to Sydney and London during the '80s, adding a new sonic dimension to their extensive back catalogue.
For the upcoming shows, Kim says they'll be selecting songs from both eras of the band's development. “Every time we get back together we do a slightly different set,” he says, “but there’s always the core elements – 'Blood Red River', 'Swampland', 'We Had Love' and 'Rev Head'.
“Sometimes we focus more on the stuff we did in London and we've got more comic book-style things like 'Atom Bomb Baby', or sometimes we focus on the early, primitive stuff, which was more arty as well. We’re going to see how we go because there's enough material there to change it every time.”
Usually when classic bands get back together, they inevitably try their hand at writing new material often with mixed results. But Kim is adamant that the time and place for new music from The Scientists has come and gone. “When it comes to bands getting back together and doing new material it’s been proved time and time again that no one is interested in the new material,” he says.
“Everybody goes back to the old stuff when it was all working and the chemistry that was in place was working. It’s enough just to get the old chemistry happening.” [Ed's note: after this interview was conducted, the band announced the release of their first new song in 30 years: 'Mini Mini Mini']
The Scientists Shows
Fri 27 Oct - Rosemount Hotel (Perth)Sat 28 Oct - Corner Hotel (Melbourne)
Sun 29 Oct - Barwon Club (Geelong)
Sat 4 Nov - The Triffid (Brisbane)
Sat 18 Nov - The Factory Theatre (Sydney)
