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Beasts of Bourbon are an Australian Rock'n'roll Band formed in 1983 . Although they received limited commercial success, they are widely influential and critically acclaimed. They helped define Australian Swamp Rock and are somewhat of a supergroup, featuring line-ups of some of the most popular musicians of that sub-genre over many years. INFLUENCES The Beasts of Bourbon's music has often been related to that of a rougher Rolling Stones (whose 'Cocksucker blues' they covered), The Gun Club (who they played with and who some Beasts filled in for) and The Birthday Party . In Germany, the band were described as ' Muddy Waters on crack'. It is a tough amalgam of Country Music , Blues , rock and roll and Punk and often touched on themes of depravity, morbidity, despair, Drug Abuse and violence. BEGINNINGS The group was initially thrown together by vocalist Tex Perkins to fulfill a booking his previous band, Tex Deadly And The Dum-Dums , could no longer make. 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 The Hoodoo Gurus . More or less recruited because they were often found in the Southern Cross, an inner-city Sydney bar, this line-up featured on the first album, ''The Axeman's Jazz'', recorded in eight hours for one hundred dollars by Tony Cohen and is considered by some to be the 'classic' line-up. The album was an excursion into deranged Gothic Country And Western , with a strong sense of irony and irreverence toward country music's cliches. A cover of "Psycho" was a hit on alternative radio. LATER YEARS This line-up fell apart in 1984 when the Scientists left Australia to tour overseas and fill-ins included Stu Spasm of Lubricated Goat and Brad Shepard of The Hoodoo Gurus. The 'classic' line-up reunited in 1987 and recorded ''Sour Mash'' in 1988 and ''Black Milk'' in 1990 . The band grew particularly confident and powerful while touring Europe on the back of ''Sour Mash'' and grew in popularity. In 1991 , Baker and Sudjovic left to be replaced by Brian Hooper and Tony Pola - the bassist and drummer of Kim Salmon's new band, The Surrealists . With this line-up (considered by some others to be the 'classic' line-up) recorded the highly popular album ''The Low Road''. The band disintegrated in Europe while touring to support the album. A collection 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 in 1993 , which was also when Salmon left the band for the final time. In 1996 the group reformed with guitarist Charlie Owen in Salmon's place and recorded the album ''Gone'', to less praise than previous efforts. In 1997 the band split up. The Beasts of Bourbon are an Australia n band that picked up from where Nick Cave 's The Birthday Party left off. A sound that was grounded in Blues but parsed through the Garage sound of The Stooges and the drunken mayhem of Australian Pub Rock . Formed as a supergroup by members of various bands, such as The Johnnys , Hoodoo Gurus and others, the line up changed as the band reformed and splintered several times. In 2005, they reformed again to promote a live album, ''Low Life'', released on Spooky Records . The Beasts of Bourbon grew from simply being a side project to become a true supergroup of the Australian pub rock scene. Forming in Sydney in 1983, the original Beasts lineup comprised Tex Perkins (vocals, later of the Cruel Sea), Spencer Jones (guitar, also with the Johnnys), James Baker (drums, and a Hoodoo Guru) and a pair of Scientists in guitarist Kim Salmon and bassist Boris Sudjovic. The band began playing together in small venues in Sydney, recording their first album, The Axeman's Jazz, in a single afternoon in 1984. Despite the album becoming an underground success, the Beasts continued to be just a side project for its members. It wasn't until 1988 that this situation began to change. With both the Johnnys and the Scientists imploding, the Beasts reformed to record arguably their best album, Sour Mash. The swamp-rock of The Axeman's Jazz had given way to a fusion of blues-based pub rock and punk with great effect. 1990's Black Milk expanded on this idea. 1991's The Low Road saw the addition of two new members. Baker and Sudjovic left the group to concentrate on their band the Dubrovniks, and were replaced by Tony Pola and Brian Hooper from Salmon's then band the Surrealists. In 1993, a double album (From the Belly of the Beasts) was released to mark the group's ten 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. However, the group reformed in 1996 with former Divinyl Charlie Owen on guitar and released Gone in 1997. The album received lukewarm reviews, but managed to produce a minor single in the form of "Saturated". In 2006 they reformed to play on the Big Day Out Festival around Australia and New Zealand. MEMBERS Vocals Perkins Tex 1983-1985,1988-1993,1996-1997 Drums Pola Tony 1990-1993,1996-1997 Baker James 1983-1985,1988-1990 Rixon Brett 1984 Freidenfelds Johnny 1983 Ploog Richard 1983 Guitar Spencer Jones (bv) 1983-1985,1988-1993,1996-1997 Charlie Owen 1996-1997 Kim Salmon (harm,bv) 1983-1984,1988-1993 Stu Spasm 1984-1985 Tony Thewlis 1984 Brad Shepherd 1984 George Spencer 1983 Terry Doolan 1983 Bass Hooper Brian 1990-1993,1996-1997 Sujdovic Boris 1983-1984,1988-1990 Hood Graham 1984-1985 Ferrie Mark 1983 |
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