Formed in 2017 The Aints! original brief was to recreate the sound and energy of The Saints, the band co- founded by Kuepper in 1973, as they celebrated 40 years since the release of that band’s groundbreaking debut (I’m) Stranded in 1977. An album The Church of Simultaneous Existence, comprised entirely of Kuepper originals written in the period 1969-1978, was was released internationally to much fanfare and was a hit with fans and critics alike.
5-6-7-8-9 (the name taking it’s cue from The Saints’ 1977 4-track ep release 1-2-3-4) is the next release from The Aints!
Tomatrax caught up with Ed Kuepper to talk about his latest project.
The original brief for the Aints! was to recreate the sound and energy of The Saints, given the influence the Saints have had, did you feel any pressure in trying to recreate what you had achieved before?
Once the decision was made to do the shows it was just a matter of reminding myself how I did things in those days, the temptation being to change things because everyone feels they’ve improved and can probably do things better than they used to…the process of not doing that was enlightening and inspiring and a bit humbling in some ways as learning from your younger self would be
Your latest release, 5-6-7-8-9 comprises of alternate versions of previous songs, how did you pick which songs to include?
The Laughing Clowns was originally written to be the first post Prehistoric Sounds single back in 1978 so it made sense for The Aints! to do a version of it maybe a bit along the lines of how it might have been done had The Saints recorded it. Memories was a song I’d written for the Saints second LP and works well in The Aints! Context, Hang Jean Lee was just something we tried out at soundcheck and it worked really well, it also indicates that The Aints! Will do whatever they want…
What was the inspiration behind the cover of 5-6-7-8-9?
The music the Aints! play but really that would be a question best directed to the immensely talented artist Judi Dransfield Kuepper
Are there any plans for a 10-11-12-13 release?
Hopefully there will be new releases forthcoming from The Aints! I’ve written a few new songs for the band that I think will work really well. We’ll possibly throw a couple into the set from time to time on the forthcoming tour.
You performed with the Aints in the early 90s, do you see the current band, The Aints! (with the exclamation mark) as a separate band or a continuation of the previous group?
I see everything I do as interconnected, but I think conceptually The Aints! Are a different beast to The Aints. That said I’d quite like The Aints! To maybe include an Aints song or two in the set sometime down the track.
The lead track ‘Goodnight Ladies’ is one of the first songs you wrote, how has the song evolved over this time?
I’d largely forgotten about it until this project so in a lot of ways it’s jumped from being a gleam in my eye to the lumbering behemoth it is today
The Church of Simultaneous Existence, comprised entirely of your originals written in the period 1969-1978, are there any other songs you’ve written in that time that you plan on re-recording?
Yes there are a number of others, I can’t say for certain if we’re going to record them as a band, some of them would suit my solo stuff but we’ll have to wait and see.
The Aints! Will be touring Australia in June, what can fans expect from your show?
Something that is spiritually and morally uplifting in these testing times, plus a night of very good and fairly unique rock’n’roll
For some shows you’ll be playing two sets, will there be specific themes to each set?
I think we’re going to change it around from night to night so that the shows are all a bit different
Where did the name The Saints come from?
The Leslie Chateris character The Saint….I used to collect old paperbacks.
What do you have planned following the Aints! tour?
I’ll be doing some solo shows with the occasional special guest debuting some material for my next solo album, tentatively titled ‘’Electricity, the High Priest of all Security’’
Check out Ed Kuepper’s Facebook page or the Aints! website to find out more!
Tickets on sale via feelpresents.com
Tomatrax 
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