abc records

Also Sprach might have been the king of Eurodisco but Ed Kuepper reigns supreme as the Monarch of Re-invention. Of his contemporaries, only Kim Salmon comes close.

There was a modest risk in forming a third line-up of The Aints; the upside was that they'd pull crowds and make good cash, the other half of the equation being that it wouldn't take the legacy of the original band anywhere special. If you were a doubter, leave the room now...

Re-shaping un-recorded songs written for the original Saints was a masterstroke. So was Kuepper's selection of his band - the engine room of Paul Larsen-Loughhead and Peter Oxley was never going to be a dud - and his decision to colour the material with bold brass arrangements...that was inspired.

Here’s a sight you thought you’d never see: That’s Saints guitarist Ed Kuepper with B1 and B2 of kids TV show "Bananas in Pyjamas". Confused? Besides the fact that Ed is a Queenslander (and don't all Queenslander love bananas?), all three of the above are now labelmates on ABC Records, who announced today that they’ll be putting out the new studio opus for Kuepper’s current band The Aints!, the grandly titled “Church of Simultaneous Existence”.

Have you heard that the people at Warner Bros are working on a re-make of the Road Runner cartoon? Hollywood has unfailingly screwed up the legacy of almost every other iconic TV show with a lame makeover, so why the hell not?

Rock and roll has its own history of reinvention and Australia’s master of the art is onetime Saint, Ed Kuepper.

Kuepper’s enduring career has been through more twists and turns than Wile E. Coyote navigating a cliff-side road on an ACME corporation-sponsored suicide mission, but unlike the bird-seeking missile of cartoon fame, he usually delivers his payload with unerring accuracy.

So make no mistake:  “The Church of Simultaneous Existence” is a controlled demolition that’s worthy of comparisons to his most seminal work.