Project Description
Interview with
ED KUEPPER
from
THE AINTS
Interviewer – Vicky Hebbs
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“…it’s like manna from heaven to anyone who’s worn smooth The Saints three Harvest albums” **** – Mojo
“It blisters. It belts. Man its so damned good.” – 8/10 Classic Rock
“For songs that range from almost 40-50 years old, they sound timeless.” – Baltimore Out Loud
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How did you all first get into music (how’s your memory lol)?
EK- Not really sure about the others because I’ve never asked them, but I started playing guitar writing songs and formed a band…
What kind of music did you grow up on? What artists inspired you early on?
EK- I got obsessed with music from a very young age but I didn’t have a record player so things I heard on the radio, like the Beatles, Monkees Easybeats…lots of stuff really, it was a good era for pop music. Later on when I got a bit older i started to get into blues like Jimmy Reed and Elmore James and early rock’n’roll like Eddie Cochran, chuck Berry and Buddy Holly.
How did you all meet and decide to form The Aints?
I’ve known Pete and Alister for quite some time and worked with both of them on a number of projects. Pete suggested Paul for the drums and Al suggested Eamon to put the horn section together.
You have had a VERY busy solo career over the years! What made you decide to deviate from solo work to form The Aints?
I just wanted to be able to appear live and not have to deal with expectations in some ways, it also helps to narrow the focus in a lot of ways…
What did your original band, The Saints, mean to you?
Well, they were my first proper band, and the first band that played music that I’d written, so in spite of frayed relationships post the breakup i still have a soft spot for the band and I think what we did musically was pretty strong under the circumstances.
How does the music of The Aints evolve or differ from The Saints?
Everything I do evolves and differs over time, but with this album we specifically arranged the material so it has a direct and recognizable connection with the recorded material of the earlier albums, and by that I don’t mean duplicate because those albums differed from each but were still connected, I think The Aints! achieve this pretty well.
What is the concept behind your latest release ‘5-6-7-8-9’ ?
It’s just a ruthless and merciless rip off of an idea I had 42 years ago calculated to cash in on the success of the Saints 1234 EP.
Can you share the origins of lead track, 'Goodnight Ladies’? How did it take so many years to get to its completed state?
It’s a composite of three different songs I’d written just before The Saints got together. I took what I thought were the best bits and turned it into the magnum opus that became Goodnight Ladies. I’ve written a lot of songs that got put aside and not used over the years for various reasons…mostly because I’d written something new or because I thought I/we had already explored an approach enough. In the case of Goodnight Ladies, the fact The Saints had recorded Nights in Venice made it seem redundant at the time. Four decades later I see that there is actually room in the Inn for both.
You are hitting the road soon to play both regional and urban shows. What can fans expect from these live shows?
Something spiritually and morally uplifting in these testing times, plus a top night of pretty unique rock’n’roll.
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In 2017, you performed with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. What was that like? And are you orchestral or classical music fans?
EK- to be honest i was gobsmacked, hearing things I’d written performed by a 50 piece orchestra was just phenomenal….really want to do it again. In answer to the second part of your question, classical is like any other type of music to me, I like certain composers/artists etc, I never say I like an entire genre of anything…I’m pretty picky.
Can you share some interesting or crazy moments/gigs from your long music career that has stuck with you?
There was that time when my previous band Laughing Clowns thought it would be a good idea to play behind the then Iron Curtain in the former Czechoslovakian Socialist Republic without actually getting permits……also [different tour] accidentally running over the foot of a heavily armed Italian border guard and making the mistake of inadvertently laughing…I blame the alpine air.
If you could pick absolutely anyone to bring on tour with you, whom would you pick and why? (Dead or Alive)
Hey you must think I’m dumber than I look, surely they’d have to be alive?
You have produced something like fifty solo albums! How have you achieved this seemingly mammoth task ?
I enjoy my work.
Will you be producing more music with The Aints? What’s next for you in your music career?
Hopefully yes, I’ve written a couple of new things that we might throw in from time to time on the forth coming Aints! tour. Apart from that slowly putting together my next solo album tentatively titled ”Electricity, the High Priest of all Security’’.
Finally, a few questions for some quick answers –
FAVORITE:
Album – The Church of Simultaneous Existence
Artist – The Aints! [of course]
Movie – The Rise and Fall of James Hoopnoch Eefil [still in pre production]
Place to visit – The Church of Simultaneous Existence
Venue to play – The Church of Simultaneous Existence
Food – Yes indeed, and too much of it at times
Drink – A good single malt whiskey, lightly sparkling water [though not together], espresso
Person in History- Bit hard to say, not a question I’d usually answer so I’ll keep very parochial and within my own lifetime… Gough Whitlam.
Tattoo – (if you don’t have one, one you would get?) – A lovely mermaid
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FEEL PRESENTS…
THE AINTS!
AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES
Friday 14th June 2019
Corner Hotel, Melbourne VIC
* The Aints! perform three sets
Saturday 15th June 2019
Caravan Music Club, Melbourne VIC
* Ed Kuepper solo show (with Eamon Dilworth)
Thursday 20th June 2019
The Zoo, Brisbane QLD
with guests Blank Realm
Friday 21st June 2019
Sol Bar, Sunshine Coast QLD
with guests Colonel Kramer & The Eamon Dilworth One Man Brass Ensemble
Saturday 22nd June 2019
Kingscliff Hotel, Kingscliff NSW
with guests Colonel Kramer & The Eamon Dilworth One Man Brass Ensemble
Friday 28th June 2019
Factory Theatre, Sydney NSW
* The Aints! perform three sets
Saturday 29th June 2019
The Street, Canberra ACT
* The Aints! perform two sets
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Check out THE AINTS below
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