Ed Kuepper

Performer

​Edmund ‘Ed’ Kuepper is a German-born Australian guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. He co-founded the proto-punk band The Saints (1973–78), the experimental post-punk group Laughing Clowns (1979–85) and the grunge-like The Aints! (1991–94, 2017–present).

He has also recorded over a dozen albums as a solo artist using a variety of backing bands. His highest charting solo album, Honey Steel's Gold, appeared in November 1991 and reached No. 28 on the ARIA Albums Chart. His other top 50 albums are Black Ticket Day (August 1992), Serene Machine (March 1993) and Character Assassination (August 1994). At the 1993 ARIA Music Awards, he won Best Independent Release for Black Ticket Day and won the same category in 1994 for Serene Machine.

Kuepper’s earliest intention was always to write his own music and by default be in a band. He started to realise this ambition when in 1973, he asked a couple of friends in high school to join him in what was initially more of a concept than a fully realised idea. That band went on to become The Saints, who are to this day highly regarded and influential band nationally and internationally. The Saints recorded three albums between late 1976 and early 1978 in London.

When The Saints weren't able to continue, Kuepper returned to Australia to form Laughing Clowns. The Clowns drew on some of the avant-jazz influences picked up in the UK, but were determinedly not a jazz-rock outfit. The band toured extensively in the UK and Europe, and was the first (and perhaps only) Australian band to play the then Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, admittedly without official sanction, in 1983. The band independently recorded five albums between 1979 and 1984.

In 1985, Kuepper decided the only sustainable way forward as an independent musician was to go solo and to engage musicians on a project-by-project basis. During this time, he recorded and released in the vicinity of 50 albums and was involved in soundtracks for radio productions and films, including 2015’s highly regarded Last Cab to Darwin.

In 2017, Kuepper reactivated The Aints name adding a ! and a whole new line-up this time tackling material he had written both before and for The Saints over the period 1969 to 1978, resulting in an album The Church of Simultaneous Existence (ABC Music) and mini-lp 5-6-7-8-9 (ABC Music).

He is currently preparing his entire post-Saints catalogue for reissue on all digital platforms with select physical re-release.

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