Beasts of Bourbon
Encyclopedia
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
to fulfill a booking his previous band, Tex Deadly and the Dum-Dums, could no longer make. The band began playing together in small venues in Sydney. The initial version of the group included Spencer P. Jones
of The Johnnys, Boris Sudjovic and Kim Salmon
of The Scientists
and James Baker
of Hoodoo Gurus
. This lineup was featured on the band's first album, The Axeman's Jazz, recorded in 1984 in a single afternoon for $100 by Tony Cohen
. A cover of Leon Payne
's "Psycho" was a hit on alternative radio. Although the album became an underground success, the band was largely a side project for its members until 1988.
and Brad Shepherd
of Hoodoo Gurus
. When both the Johnnys and the Scientists fell apart, however, the original line-up reunited in 1987, to record Sour Mash in 1988 and Black Milk in 1990.
The band toured Europe on the back of Sour Mash. In 1991, Baker and Sujdovic left to be replaced by Brian Henry Hooper and Tony Pola - the bassist and drummer of Kim Salmon's new band, The Surrealists
. This line-up recorded the highly popular album The Low Road in 1991. The band disintegrated in Europe while touring to support the album.
A double album of live tracks and rarities, titled The Belly of the Beasts - Live '91 & '92 and Shit We Didn't Put Out the First Time, was released to mark the group's 10 years together, and the group toured extensively in support of the album. Following the tour, it appeared as if the Beasts would announce their demise. Salmon left the group to concentrate on the Surrealists and Perkins' group The Cruel Sea
was achieving huge success with their album The Honeymoon is Over.
In 1996, the group reformed, with former Divinyl
Charlie Owen
on guitar, and released Gone
in 1997. The album received lukewarm reviews, but produced a minor single in with "Saturated". In 1997 the band went on hiatus.
In 2003, they reformed to record a live album, Low Life, released on Spooky Records
. In 2006, they reformed to play in the Big Day Out
Festival around Australia and New Zealand
.
In late December 2006, Albert Productions signed an exclusive worldwide recording deal with the band, and they released a new album, Little Animals, on April 21, 2007.
Tex Perkins said, "The Alberts label releases have been a huge influence on the Beasts of Bourbon, so to be signed to this legendary label is not only a great honour and the start of an exciting new chapter in the bands history, it feels like…..Destiny".
The group played with Australian bands and artists at the Rockin' for Rights concert, which protested the Workchoices legislation.
After a show in Berlin
in April 2008, the group cancelled their remaining tour dates and ended the band.
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band formed in 1983, with a line-up that has changed as the band splintered and reformed several times
Beginnings
The group was started by vocalist Tex PerkinsTex Perkins
Tex Perkins is an Australian singer-songwriter, who is widely known for fronting the popular Australian rock-band The Cruel Sea, but has also performed with the Beasts of Bourbon, Thug, James Baker Experience, The Butcher Shop, Salamander Jim, and Tex, Don and Charlie. He has also released many...
to fulfill a booking his previous band, Tex Deadly and the Dum-Dums, could no longer make. The band began playing together in small venues in Sydney. The initial version of the group included Spencer P. Jones
Spencer P. Jones
Spencer P. Jones is a Melbourne based guitar player from Te Awamutu, New Zealand. He has been a member of The Emotional Retreads, Country Killed the Cow Penalty, Escape Committee, Cuban Heels, Beats Working, North 2 Alaskans, The Johnnys, The Beasts of Bourbon, Olympic Sideburns, Paul Kelly and The...
of The Johnnys, Boris Sudjovic and 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....
of 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...
and James Baker
James Baker (musician)
James Baker is a rock musician from Perth, Western Australia. He has drummed with, and was instrumental in the founding of several influential Australian bands including The Scientists, Le Hoodoo Gurus, Beasts of Bourbon, and The Dubrovniks.-Early days:Baker has named Ronnie Bond of The Troggs as...
of Hoodoo Gurus
Hoodoo Gurus
Hoodoo Gurus are an Australian rock band, formed in Sydney in 1981, by the mainstay Dave Faulkner and later joined by Richard Grossman , Mark Kingsmill , and Brad Shepherd...
. This lineup was featured on the band's first album, The Axeman's Jazz, recorded in 1984 in a single afternoon for $100 by Tony Cohen
Tony Cohen
Tony Cohen is an acclaimed Australian record producer and sound engineer based in Melbourne, best known for his work with The Birthday Party and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in the 1980s...
. A cover of Leon Payne
Leon Payne
Leon Payne , "the Blind Balladeer", was a country music singer and songwriter.-Life:Leon Roger Payne was born in Alba, Texas on June 15, 1917. He was blind in one eye at birth, and lost the sight of the other eye in early childhood. He attended the Texas School for the Blind from 1924 to 1935,...
's "Psycho" was a hit on alternative radio. Although the album became an underground success, the band was largely a side project for its members until 1988.
Later years
The original line-up fell apart in 1984 when the Scientists left Australia to tour overseas; fill-ins included Stu Spasm of Lubricated GoatLubricated Goat
Lubricated Goat was an Australian noise rock band of the 1980s.They achieved brief notoriety for playing on a television program naked, wearing only their instruments and shoes...
and Brad Shepherd
Brad Shepherd
Brad Shepherd is an Australian rock musician. Shepherd is a guitarist, singer-songwriter and harmonica player; he has performed with several bands, especially the Hoodoo Gurus...
of Hoodoo Gurus
Hoodoo Gurus
Hoodoo Gurus are an Australian rock band, formed in Sydney in 1981, by the mainstay Dave Faulkner and later joined by Richard Grossman , Mark Kingsmill , and Brad Shepherd...
. When both the Johnnys and the Scientists fell apart, however, the original line-up reunited in 1987, to record Sour Mash in 1988 and Black Milk in 1990.
The band toured Europe on the back of Sour Mash. In 1991, Baker and Sujdovic left to be replaced by Brian Henry Hooper and Tony Pola - the bassist and drummer of Kim Salmon's new band, The Surrealists
Kim Salmon and the Surrealists
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...
. This line-up recorded the highly popular album The Low Road in 1991. The band disintegrated in Europe while touring to support the album.
A double album of live tracks and rarities, titled The Belly of the Beasts - Live '91 & '92 and Shit We Didn't Put Out the First Time, was released to mark the group's 10 years together, and the group toured extensively in support of the album. Following the tour, it appeared as if the Beasts would announce their demise. Salmon left the group to concentrate on the Surrealists and Perkins' group The Cruel Sea
The Cruel Sea (band)
The Cruel Sea are an Australian indie rock band from Sydney formed in late 1987. Originally an instrumental-only band, they became more popular when fronted by vocalist Tex Perkins in addition to Jim Elliott on drums, Ken Gormly on bass guitar, Dan Rumour on guitar and James Cruickshank on guitar...
was achieving huge success with their album The Honeymoon is Over.
In 1996, the group reformed, with former Divinyl
Divinyls
Divinyls were an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1980 and featuring vocalist Christina Amphlett and guitarist Mark McEntee. As the focal point, Amphlett performed on stage wearing a school uniform and fishnet stockings, often using an illuminated neon tube as a prop and displaying...
Charlie Owen
Charlie Owen (musician)
Charlie Owen is an Australian guitar player who lives in St Kilda Melbourne Australia. He is a member of Tex, Don and Charlie, The Beasts of Bourbon, Tex Perkins and The Dark Horses, Large Number 12s, Maurice Frawley and The Working Class Ringos, Tendrils, the Divinyls and Tex Perkins and his...
on guitar, and released Gone
Gone (Beasts of Bourbon album)
Gone is the fifth studio album by the Australian rock band Beasts of Bourbon, released in 1997.-Track listing:#"Saturated" - 3:53#"Fake" - 4:07...
in 1997. The album received lukewarm reviews, but produced a minor single in with "Saturated". In 1997 the band went on hiatus.
In 2003, they reformed to record a live album, Low Life, released on Spooky Records
Spooky Records
Spooky Records is a garage and hard rock record label formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1999. Artists who have albums released under the Spooky label include The Beasts of Bourbon, The Devastations, Electric Eel Shock, King Daddy and The Drones.-Artists:...
. In 2006, they reformed to play in the Big Day Out
Big Day Out
The Big Day Out is an annual music festival held in several cities in Australia and New Zealand in late January. It started in Sydney in 1992, spread to Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth by 1993, with the Gold Coast and Auckland joining in 1994...
Festival around Australia and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
In late December 2006, Albert Productions signed an exclusive worldwide recording deal with the band, and they released a new album, Little Animals, on April 21, 2007.
Tex Perkins said, "The Alberts label releases have been a huge influence on the Beasts of Bourbon, so to be signed to this legendary label is not only a great honour and the start of an exciting new chapter in the bands history, it feels like…..Destiny".
The group played with Australian bands and artists at the Rockin' for Rights concert, which protested the Workchoices legislation.
After a show in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
in April 2008, the group cancelled their remaining tour dates and ended the band.
Members
- 1983
- Vocals: Tex Perkins
- Guitar: Terry Doolan, Spencer Jones, Kim Salmon, George Spencer
- Bass: Mark Ferrie, Boris Sujdovic
- Drums: James Baker, Johnny Freidenfelds, Richard Ploog
- 1984
- Vocals: Tex Perkins
- Guitar: Spencer Jones, Kim Salmon, Brad ShepherdBrad ShepherdBrad Shepherd is an Australian rock musician. Shepherd is a guitarist, singer-songwriter and harmonica player; he has performed with several bands, especially the Hoodoo Gurus...
, Stu Spasm, Tony Thewlis - Bass: Graham Hood, Boris Sujdovic
- Drums: James Baker, Brett Rixon
- 1985
- Vocals: Tex Perkins
- Guitar: Spencer Jones, Stu Spasm
- Bass: Graham Hood
- Drums: James Baker
- 1988
- Vocals: Tex Perkins
- Guitar: Spencer Jones, Kim Salmon
- Bass: Boris Sujdovic
- Drums: James Baker
- 1989
- Vocals: Tex Perkins
- Guitar: Spencer Jones, Kim Salmon
- Bass: Boris Sujdovic
- Drums: James Baker
- 1990
- Vocals: Tex Perkins
- Guitar: Spencer Jones, Kim Salmon
- Bass: Brian Henry Hooper, Boris Sujdovic
- Drums: James Baker, Tony Pola
- 1991-1993
- Vocals: Tex Perkins
- Guitar: Spencer Jones, Kim Salmon
- Bass: Brian Henry Hooper
- Drums: Tony Pola
- 1996-1997
- Vocals: Tex Perkins
- Guitar: Spencer Jones, Charlie Owen
- Bass: Brian Henry Hooper
- Drums: Tony Pola
Discography
- The Axeman's Jazz (1984)
- Sour MashSour mashSour mash is a process in the distilling industry that uses material from an older batch of mash to start fermentation in the batch currently being made, analogous to the making of sourdough bread. The term sour mash can also be used as the name of the type of mash used in that process, and a...
(1988) - Black Milk (1990)
- The Low Road (1991)
- Just Right E.P. Limited Edition Maxi-Single (1992)
- From The Belly Of The Beasts (1993)
- Europe 1992 (1994)
- GoneGone (Beasts of Bourbon album)Gone is the fifth studio album by the Australian rock band Beasts of Bourbon, released in 1997.-Track listing:#"Saturated" - 3:53#"Fake" - 4:07...
(1997) - Low Life (2005)
- Little Animals (2007)
External links
- Clip for their song "Chase the Dragon"
- http://www.texperkins.net Tex Perkins .net - Unofficial home for The Cruel Sea, Beasts Of Bourbon, Dark Horses etc.
- Record cover art at prehistoricsounds.com