Kim Salmon and the Surrealists
Encyclopedia
Kim Salmon and the Surrealists were an Australian indie rock
band formed by Kim Salmon
in 1987 when he was living in Perth
between the final two tours by The Scientists
. When the Scientists stopped, Salmon continued the Surrealists as his main band, while also playing in The Beasts Of Bourbon.
240 total. The band also played live around Perth in mid-1987. The album was released in October 1988.
The Surrealists did a few songs by the Scientists (particularly "Shine" from The Human Jukebox) and had a similar sound, in that Salmon remained the leader and primary songwriter, but the feel of the music was notably different: far less tense and confrontative.
The second album, Just Because You Can't See It ... Doesn't Mean It Isn't There, was recorded more conventionally in 1989 and released in early 1990. Comparing this album with The Human Jukebox, there is a similarity in songwriting but a difference in feel is readily apparent. The band's third album Essence was released in 1991, followed by Sin Factory in 1993, which arguably gained the most attention for the band. The sound by now was strong rock riffery, also blending their take on Blaxploitation
music.
When The Beasts of Bourbon reformed in early 1988, Salmon started touring with that band too. When James Baker and Boris Sujdovic left The Beasts of Bourbon
to go full-time with The Dubrovniks, Hooper and Pola joined to replace them.
Salmon fired Tony Pola from the Surrealists in 1993, replacing him with Greg Bainbridge. Brian Hooper later left as well, after the "Kim Salmon and the Surrealists" album, and was replaced by Stu Thomas in 1995. This new trio put out Ya Gotta Let Me Do My Thing in 1997, touring Australia
and Europe
once more, and USA for the first time. A horn section was added to the band soon after.
In 1999, Salmon renamed the band Kim Salmon and the Business, and released one album "Record" in 1999. Stu Thomas remained on bass, and a slew of different brass players (sax and trumpet) an drummers came through the band. Finally, Phil Collings was recruited in 2000.
In September 2006, Kim Salmon and the Surrealists 'reformed' for a show in Spain
at Azkena Rock Festival. This line-up of Kim Salmon (guitar/vocal), Stu Thomas (bass) and Phil Collings (drums), also played later in Australia
.
2010 marked the release of the "Grand Unifying Theory" album, the first Kim Salmon and The Surrealists record for 13 years. Line-up: Kim Salmon (guitar/vocal/sampler), Stu Thomas (bass) and Phil Collings (drums). The approach to recording was similar to the first album, hence a thematic link between the two records. The band was recorded live during rehearsals. The results were sifted through by Salmon and co-producer Mike Stranges, spliced together in some cases (ala Miles Davis
' "Bitches Brew
"), and made into songs. The sound is equal measures jazz
and punk
, with improvisation a key ingredient.
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band formed by Kim Salmon
Kim Salmon
Kim Leith Salmon is an Australian indie rock musician and songwriter, who attained fame in June 2004, when he was inducted into the West Australian Music Industry Association Hall of Fame....
in 1987 when he was living in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
between the final two tours by The Scientists
The Scientists
The Scientists are an influential post-punk band from Perth, Australia, led by Kim Salmon, initially known as Exterminators and then Invaders. The band had two primary incarnations: the Perth-based punk band of the late 1970s and the Sydney/London-based swamp rock band of the 1980s...
. When the Scientists stopped, Salmon continued the Surrealists as his main band, while also playing in The Beasts Of Bourbon.
Biography
Salmon formed the first lineup of the Surrealists in mid-1987, with Brian Hooper on bass and Tony Pola on drums. He formed the band to record the album Hit Me With The Surreal Feel, using minimalist lo-fi approaches to recording a basic trio: recording the band live with microphones around the studio capturing the entire sound, rather than one instrument per track. The recording and mixing cost was A$Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
240 total. The band also played live around Perth in mid-1987. The album was released in October 1988.
The Surrealists did a few songs by the Scientists (particularly "Shine" from The Human Jukebox) and had a similar sound, in that Salmon remained the leader and primary songwriter, but the feel of the music was notably different: far less tense and confrontative.
The second album, Just Because You Can't See It ... Doesn't Mean It Isn't There, was recorded more conventionally in 1989 and released in early 1990. Comparing this album with The Human Jukebox, there is a similarity in songwriting but a difference in feel is readily apparent. The band's third album Essence was released in 1991, followed by Sin Factory in 1993, which arguably gained the most attention for the band. The sound by now was strong rock riffery, also blending their take on Blaxploitation
Blaxploitation
Blaxploitation or blacksploitation is a film genre which emerged in the United States circa 1970. It is considered an ethnic sub-genre of the general category of exploitation films. Blaxploitation films were originally made specifically for an urban black audience, although the genre's audience...
music.
When The Beasts of Bourbon reformed in early 1988, Salmon started touring with that band too. When James Baker and Boris Sujdovic left The Beasts of Bourbon
Beasts of Bourbon
Beasts of Bourbon was an Australian alternative rock band formed in 1983, with a line-up that has changed as the band splintered and reformed several times - Beginnings :...
to go full-time with The Dubrovniks, Hooper and Pola joined to replace them.
Salmon fired Tony Pola from the Surrealists in 1993, replacing him with Greg Bainbridge. Brian Hooper later left as well, after the "Kim Salmon and the Surrealists" album, and was replaced by Stu Thomas in 1995. This new trio put out Ya Gotta Let Me Do My Thing in 1997, touring Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
once more, and USA for the first time. A horn section was added to the band soon after.
In 1999, Salmon renamed the band Kim Salmon and the Business, and released one album "Record" in 1999. Stu Thomas remained on bass, and a slew of different brass players (sax and trumpet) an drummers came through the band. Finally, Phil Collings was recruited in 2000.
In September 2006, Kim Salmon and the Surrealists 'reformed' for a show in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
at Azkena Rock Festival. This line-up of Kim Salmon (guitar/vocal), Stu Thomas (bass) and Phil Collings (drums), also played later in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
2010 marked the release of the "Grand Unifying Theory" album, the first Kim Salmon and The Surrealists record for 13 years. Line-up: Kim Salmon (guitar/vocal/sampler), Stu Thomas (bass) and Phil Collings (drums). The approach to recording was similar to the first album, hence a thematic link between the two records. The band was recorded live during rehearsals. The results were sifted through by Salmon and co-producer Mike Stranges, spliced together in some cases (ala Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
' "Bitches Brew
Bitches Brew
Bitches Brew is a studio double album by jazz musician Miles Davis, released in April 1970 on Columbia Records. The album continued his experimentation with electric instruments previously featured on his critically acclaimed In a Silent Way album...
"), and made into songs. The sound is equal measures jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, with improvisation a key ingredient.
Discography
- Hit Me with the Surreal Feel (1988) Black Eye
- Just Because You Can't See It ... Doesn't Mean It Isn't There (1989) Black Eye Records
- Essence (1991) Red Eye/PolydorPolydor RecordsPolydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
- Sin Factory (1993) Red Eye/PolydorPolydor RecordsPolydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
- Kim Salmon and the Surrealists (1995) Red Eye/PolydorPolydor RecordsPolydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
- Ya Gotta Let Me Do My Thing (1997) Half a Cow RecordsHalf A CowHalf a Cow is an independent record label from Australia, established in 1990 by Sydney musician and music identity Nic Dalton.- History :In 1987 - 1989 Dalton ran a bookshop in the Sydney suburb of Glebe called Dalton's Books...
- Grand Unifying Theory (2010) LTILow Transit IndustriesLow Transit Industries is an independent record label founded in Melbourne, Australia in 2003.Artists:AlmaAviator LaneBatriderBlack MountainBlack NielsonBoddickerC.W. StonekingCo-PilgrimDisaster PlanDishpan FingersElf PowerFinishing School...
/Bang! RecordsBang! RecordsBang! Records is a Spanish label from Basque Country formed in 1998 by Gorka Munster and Juan-Mari Iturrarte. The label has a primary focus on artists from Melbourne, Australia and New York City's swamp, noise and punk blues music scene. Acts among the Bang! Records roster include The Beasts Of...
External links
- Kim Salmon and the Surrealists (Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and PopEncyclopedia of Australian Rock and PopThe Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop or Rock and Pop by Australian music journalist Ian McFarlane is a guide to Australian popular music from the 1950s to the late 1990s...
by Ian McFarlane) - Story behind The Surreal Feel album and fish cover art