- Punk pioneers The Saints came out of the confines of the Country Party governess town of Brisbane in the mid-1970s and onto the pages of history as frequently cited influencers for an array of bands far too long to list.
Saints co-founder Ed Kuepper has remained enormously productive in the forty years since he left that band, releasing an astonishing fifty or so albums as part of a variety of bands, projects and solo outings.
A couple of years ago he added The Aints! to that list, forming a tight three-piece foundation with Peter Oxley of Sunnyboys fame and former Celibate Rifle Paul Larsen, with brass and piano added over the top. Their widely hailed album The Church of the Simultaneous Existence consisted of updatings and polishings of tunes Kuepper had originally written in the '70s but never used.
Now they're back for more, with a five song EP called 5-6-7-8-9 - a title riffing off the Saints' 1-2-3-4 EP of forty-two years ago.
Once again it’s an elective mix of interesting tunes, with the main feature in common being their consistent excellence. A stand out is Laughing Clowns, a reworking of the song Kuepper named his first post-Saints band after. It's given a bit more of the straight rock treatment it would have got if it had been recorded with The Saints as originally planned, but still packs some jazz piano plonking of a style the Clowns would become renowned for.
This EP also features a single edit version of Goodnight Ladies, another stand out from the original album. A punchy stomp-rock number which manages to feel both retro and fresh at the same time. It’s also the oldest track Kuepper has ever recorded, with its origins going all the way back to his schoolboy days of 1969. After fifty years of songwriting, it must be a good feeling to be able to reach into the bottom draw and still pull out a banger as good as this one.
- Andrew Bartlett.