To describe Ed Kuepper's career in terms of his unique artistic vision is to understate the impact of his significant influence on contemporary music.
His career has spanned over three decades, beginning in 1973 when he formed the original version of the proto punk band The Saints in Brisbane Australia.
Recording that ground breaking bands first single [I’m] Stranded on the bands own label Fatal records in 1976, and following that up with three albums that refused to fit into any notions of ''punk'' correctness. [The bands three albums were recently re-mastered and re-issued]
When the original Saints split Kuepper returned to Australia and formed what in the eyes of many, was an even bolder enterprise Laughing Clowns.
A band that drew on Kuepper’s past but also moved into relatively uncharted territory with its use of horns and Jeffrey Wegener’s avant jazz inspired drumming.
[The bands studio recordings were re-mastered in 2006 as the three disc set ‘Cruel but fair’.]
After the Clowns broke up in 1984 Kuepper launched an extensive and prolific solo career which has seen the release of more than 15 albums as well as several soundtracks and music composed for experimental film.
Kuepper was awarded and nominated for a string of ARIA awards throughout the 1990’s and was inducted into the Aria Hall of Fame in 2001 a move that was considered long overdue by many observers
In recent years, Kuepper has been involved in sound tracking radio drama and experimental films. He toured Australia and Europe performing semi improvised music to some of these films under the banner of MFLL. Venues included The Institute of Modern Art [Brisbane] Sydney Opera House, The Austrian Film Museum [Vienna] and The Cartier Fondation Paris [where Kuepper has the distinction of being the only rock musician to be invited to play apart from the Velvet Underground]
In 2007 Kuepper recorded the album ‘Jean Lee and the Yellow Dog’. This is the first conceptually based album Kuepper has recorded and was inspired by the story of Jean Lee who was the last woman hanged in Australia. The album’s lyrics were co-written with Kuepper’s longtime partner Judi Dransfield Kuepper and features amongst others, performances by Jeffrey Wegener [Laughing Clowns] Peter Oxley [Sunnyboys] Warren Ellis [Dirty Three/Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds].
2007 also saw Kuepper invited to play the highly regarded All Tomorrows Parties festival in the UK as well as the first performance of the original Saints at Brisbane’s Pig City festival in 30 years.
In 2008, Kuepper was invited to perform his highly acclaimed album “Honey Steel’s Gold’ at the inaugural Don’t Look Back [Australia] festival. ‘Honey Steel’s Gold’ was the first independently recorded and distributed album in Australian history to crack the ARIA top 40 charts in the early 90’s [it stayed there for a remarkable 12 weeks without any mainstream airplay]. The Don’t Look Back concerts were followed by an extensive European tour as special guest of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
2009 will see Kuepper reforming both Laughing Clowns and the original Saints for several ATP concerts in Sydney and Victoria as well as the release of his new album ‘Electricity, the high priest of all security’
