Ed Kuepper has had a long and colourful journey in his musical life, not only with a very successful solo career but also as founder member of The Saints back in the 70’s. The two-time ARIA winner has recently released his latest album called The Church of Simultaneous Existence with his latest band The Aints! Revisiting material Ed had written 40 years ago, he has finally got to record and release some of this previously unheard material that was written around the time of The Saints first albums (I’m) Stranded, Eternally Yours & Prehistoric Sounds. The Rockpit managed to chat to Ed a few days before the release of The Church of Simultaneous Existence to find out just why he felt the need to finally release this material and where it all began for him at the start of his musical journey.
Sean: Hi Ed, thank you for taking the time to chat to us at The Rockpit. I have to start by asking, how did it feel to finally record these tracks that have been filed away in the vaults for all these years?
Ed: Hey, no problem at all. It’s weird because it kind of felt absolutely natural and almost effortless… even though I feel I should say it was a difficult birth, so to speak [laughs] but it was really easy. Some bands like to work with a bit of friction and tension but I tend to prefer everything to run really smoothly. And we did just that – the parameters were already set, because I wanted to make sure we recorded it as if it was the mid-70’s. The recording is 100 percent analogue – recording and mixing – even the desk didn’t have automation. That was one of the things that tested me the most because we get used to doing things a lot faster. But once we made that commitment and were using 70’s style monitoring it just felt right. So yes, like I said it was almost effortless.
Sean: So have the tracks come out how you envisaged they would back when you wrote them?
Ed: It’s funny because writing a song, playing it and then recording it are different things. I could have done some of these songs quite differently but they are arrangement decisions more than anything. The important thing for me was to keep everything performance-wise & sound-wise true to the era… we didn’t add hip-hop beats and stuff like that. It had to sound like it would have at the time.
Sean: I managed to hear a few tracks from this new album a few days ago but I also went back to The Saints first release (I’m) Stranded from back in 1977 just to get the feel of where it all came from.
Ed: Well, listening to Stranded is clearly an important part of it but so too is listening to Eternally Yours (1978) and Prehistoric Sound (1978) because some of the new material overlaps with these albums. You’ll find the change between the first album and the next two is quite significant. The new one is different again but they all kind of lock in.
Sean: I just missed that 70’s era musically but being from the UK it would have been disco, rock or punk I suppose…
Ed: Well, The Saints were a distinctly different group to a lot that were around that time.
Sean: So going back over these tracks, do you feel you’ve changed much as a song writer?
Ed: No, not all that much really. I think I sort of hit the ground running in that respect. That’s not completely true – the stuff that we ended up recording and I have to say there is various other material. I haven’t just recorded material that was just sitting around. But I picked the stuff that I felt had stood the test of time. We also road tested it all by playing it live to see how fans of the band would respond to it. So there was no intention to do it if no one was interested and people really liked it so that was gratifying and we just ran with it. Even though it’s a long time ago when I wrote most of it I still have a vague recollection of it all [laughs].
Sean: The band you have on board with you have helped bring out the best in these tracks too. How did the recruitment processes go with getting these guys involved?
Ed: It was all pretty easy. I’ve worked with Peter Oxley (bass) & Alister Spence (keys) before and was looking for someone for the horn section. Alister recommended Eamon Dilworth (brass). I also wanted Peter to work with a drummer that he felt comfortable with so he suggested Paul Larsen Loughhead (drums) so it was a painless process there. We discovered in the first 10 minutes of the first rehearsal that it was all working well.
Sean: Have you got a track that stands out for you personally on the album?
Ed: No, I don’t think so. To me it works as an album from start to finish. When you are looking at material that goes back so far, it’s the whole concept of it that you look at – it has to work.
Sean: And there will be a tour to back the release up too, I see. You’re playing a good few dates around the country in October & November, as well as the Meredith Music festival in December.
Ed: Yeah, we’re really looking forward to it. It can’t come soon enough because we love to get out there and play live.
Sean: Other than this new album, what can we expect to hear at the shows?
Ed: We’ll certainly be playing material from the first three Saints albums still and we will be doing album launches at some of the venues so yes, plenty from the new album, as well some other bits in between.
Sean: Really looking forward to seeing one of the gigs. Do you mind if I take you back to the early days of growing up and what music meant to you back then?
Ed: Not at all. My earliest recollection of music was listening to the radio with my mum. She was into Elvis Presley & Johnny Cash and people like that. My father was more into folk music so I also heard a bit of that when I was young. Like most kids growing up in the 1960’s, I was listening to The Beatles, The Easybeats, The Monkees, mainly stuff on the radio because records were expensive back then.
Sean: How did you start playing music?
Ed: I hassled my parents. My mum wanted me to play the piano but I nagged her about playing the guitar – looking back now it would have been good to play the piano. But the guitar was the instrument for me, it was the thing that I saw others play and wanted to do that – the guitar was king!
Sean: Was it a natural instrument for you? Did you pick it up quickly?
Ed: I don’t know. I’m quite a slow learner but one thing I wanted to do for the start was I wanted to write. I wanted to use it more as a tool to make music and write songs, rather than become a great guitarist. That was the important thing for me.
Sean: What drives you on to keep going with writing & recording music?
Ed: Obviously, it helps pay the bills [laughs] and that sort of stuff. It’s an ongoing process even though you think you’ve been doing it long enough that makes you think there’s not much more to learn. Even revisiting this really early material I’ve learnt something… and it’s something I can’t put into an easy sentence. It’s been a process & it’s been educational. I think I’m a better musician now than I was before last year for instance – I’ve improved because I’ve reminded myself of things I used to do.
Sean: Well, I will certainly look forward to listening back through your early material, as well as get stuck into The Church of Simultaneous Existence.
Ed: That will certainly give you a better insight into where it has all come from.
Sean: Thank you so much for your time Ed and we wish you all the best for the new album and the subsequent tour dates. Look forward to saying hi at one of your WA shows too.
Ed: No problem at all Sean, and thank you very much. Take care.
THE AINTS! Australian Tour 2018
Friday 26th October Coolangatta Hotel Coolangatta QLD
Saturday 27th October The Triffid Brisbane QLD
Friday 2nd November Caravana Music Club Melbourne VIC
Saturday 3rd November Theatre Royal Castlemaine VIC
Monday 5th November The Croxton Melbourne VIC
Friday 9th November The Factory Sydney NSW
Saturday 10th November The Cambridge Newcastle NSW
Friday 23rd November Rosemount Hotel Perth WA
Saturday 24th November Settlers Tavern Margaret River WASunday 25th November Mojos Fremantle WA
Also appearing at: Dec 7 & 8 & 9 Meredith Music Festival Meredith VIC
Tickets: www.feelpresents.com
