The Saints

Vocals Chris Bailey, Guitar – Ed Kuepper
Bass Kym Bradshaw then Algy Ward & Drums Ivor Hay

The Saints were quite simply a shit hot band from Australia that like many others came over to England because of the interest in the band there. They were Punk before punk had even got a name and the band were completely innocent to the scene that developed in the UK and the fashions and expectations that went with it.

Signed to a major but strangely the progressive label of EMI – Harvest- (along with labelmates Wire) They delivered arguably one of the classic punk tunes in (I’m) Stranded and followed it up with at least two solid albums and a fistful of great singles even appearing on the prime-time TV music programme Top Of The Pops with the blistering This Perfect Day.

Arriving on a wave of expectation, they were mercilessly dissected by punks and music media for their look and stage presence and were swamped in a deluge of like bands. The Saints tried to break the boundaries with Eternally Yours, their second album, adding horns and groove but further success didn’t come and again, like with Wire, after three albums delivered Harvest dumped them and the band split.

In my opinion, The Saints were Australia’s greatest band and that Chris Bailey was my favourite singer. Nick Cave Blog post following CB’s death in April 2022

Formed around 1974 as Kid Galahad & The Eternals in Brisbane Australia, they released the punk classic Stranded/No Time on their own Fatal Records label when no other labels wanted to know.

Kym Bradshaw The Australian scene then was dire. Artists from the sixties Easy Beats, Masters Apprentices really world class acts had expired. Worst of all “British ” influence had been replaced by the “West Coast” laid back sound and, things had got a bit flabby by 1974.

The Saints were really raw and powerful and had an “authentic” sound. There was no one like us. Everyone hated us except for a small dedicated following. Most audiences seemed non plussed by us except for our followers. We realised we would get nowhere in Australia. Our only hope was to make the record and send it to England. Punk77 Interview 10.3.2003

Its release in late 1976 predated Anarchy In The UK and New Rose and their I’m Stranded album predated The Damned’s first album in early ’77. Their brand of high octane punk/rock’n’roll first brought favourable reviews in the music papers and then a recording deal with EMI Harvest in Sydney. The Sex Pistols and Punk Rock furore where the band were dropped by EMI post the Bill Grundy incident did nothing to stop their signing and the story of The Saints is arguably the story of how shit the music business really is.

Signed to a three year contract and located in Sydney they knocked out their first album in 2 days and Emi rereleased I’m Stranded in February 1977 getting healthy sales. The second single was Erotic Neurotic and EMI flew the band over to relocate to the UK and that’s where The Saints’ story takes a downward spiral

Expectations were high for The Saints’ imminent arrival as the band described themselves as being “.. a punk group before it was fashionable.” and their music seemed in tune with the current English punk scene. However, the scene had moved on at speed and there was now an explosion of bands and records starting to come out with a definable punk look and sound.

The first cracks in the relationship were straight away as EMI wanted to market the band with a punkier spikier image but the band refused preferring to remain as they were which was downbeat.

Chris Bailey From the moment we arrived in this country everything went wrong. Almost overnight we went from playing small pubs in Brisbane to supporting The Ramones at the Roundhouse. We were chucked in at the deep end. The Roundhouse wasn’t an unsuccessful night – it was just that because we didn’t look like punks the British press decided we must be terrible. NME 21.10.78

There were criticisms of their stage act as nondescript. Caroline Coon in 1988 The New Wave Punk Explosion describes them as “disappointing live and needing time to live up to their legend “. At the same time they were criticised for their non image (long hair, overweight and blazers) at a time when image and attitude was an integral part of the new movement. These criticisms, and comparisons to their compatriots AC/DC, did not endear the UK and its punk scene to the band and who rightly were cynical of a lot the punk bands at the time and felt like outsiders.

Chris Bailey I have never been over fond of scenes anywhere, it wasn’t that I wasn’t enamoured by the notion of “punky rock a la anglaise”…. it was just that most aspects of the “movement” that I encountered were just a tad too ‘careerist’ for my simple country tastes. I know we were signed to EMI & all…….& had taken the “capitalist dollar”…..! but….. I still had a few teenage delusions left by the time we got to blighty. They didn’t last long. 

I can see for a time that you couldn’t get a gig if you didn’t look a certain way……hence the “image” of the Stranglers et all…the Jam would be the youthful Who (very threatening etc etc ) & then came mod & power pop then new romantic & christ knows what else….. in the process some fine sounding noise no doubt…..but at the end of the day it all became Showbiz rather too quickly. In my opinion the “punk era” is more a testimony to fashion than music. Punk77 Interview 14.12.99

Chris Bailey British punk? Well I think Remote Control was a great little record. It seemed so honest … but having come over here, I see that that isn’t true. Its all showbiz. Its all pose. Sounds 16.7.77

Kym Bradshaw Being in England in some ways made us feel, yes people understand a bit more here but I felt let down that so many of the acts were obvious fakes and free loaders like The Sex Pistols, Gene October, Generation  X, Wayne County and the Vibrators. I met and spoke to Johnny Rotten; he came across as a fake. He talked a good fight but really it was a put together band with the creative input coming from some one else. History proves my point. The genuine articles were the Captain, The Clash, Ramones, Talking Heads and The Stranglers.

I find it difficult to describe how it felt with some one from my background being pitched from the suburbs of Brisbane to the middle of the cauldron of the British music scene.  Confused and over awed might describe it better. In some ways we were outsiders especially image wise. I don’t know about the others, but I certainly had no “show bizz savvy” Our manager was south African and had no idea how things worked in London unlike (say) Bernie Rhodes. Punk77 Interview 10.3.2003

Following that initial UK tour, Kym left the band and was replaced by Algy Ward. Kym would join The Lurkers and then the short-lived King with Captain Sensible and Henry Badowski and continued making music.

Pressure was on the band from EMI to have a hit single and start generating a return so perhaps strange that their next single in July Perfect Day was arguably their most ferocious, got great reviews, and jumped from #84 to #34 giving them an appearance on prime time national TV on BBC 1’s Top Of The Pops which almost guaranteed increased sales and higher chart positions.

Not so for our heroes, as EMI had no stock and this remained the position for two weeks meaning the single sank and effectively the band’s relationship with their label. Chris Bailey in typically deadpan fashion recounts the surprise.

Chris Bailey Although the logic that made EMI stop pressing Perfect Day which at the time was rising in the charts, escapes me, I think that my inability to understand this simple tactical brilliance behind this ploy was the major factor that led to the breakdown of our lovely little relationship. Record Mirror 30.12.78

That said their performance on the show wasn’t exactly awe-inspiring. They looked uncomfortable miming and very static, not unlike their stage show.

In October they released a double single 1234 – 4 songs featuring a couple of covers and a couple of reworked older songs that did nothing.

It was onto their second album then.

The band moved on to making the second album – Eternally Yours – at the end of 1977 which they viewed as their first proper one seeing the first as a collection of old songs and demos and that’s where the fun really started. Disillusioned by the business aspect and their perceived plasticness of punk they decided to add in their Stax and Motown influences (well on one song) introducing horns and harmonicas and keyboards to their records. More interesting were the slower semi-acoustic numbers. There were still plenty of the trademark bangers and Bailey’s voice was still suitably sneering and effective.

The result was inevitable. While Punk had caught up with them they were now out ahead but in a completely different direction. Post Punk had begun and punk itself hardening and splitting into a myriad of forms while new youth cults were coming through like mod and ska. The Saints were pretty much out on their own sounding mature in songwriting and sound and no wonder EMI struggled with how to market them. Listening to Eternally Yours now it’s an astonishing record in its breadth and sounds for early 1978.

The machine ground on and the band started work on their third album. Band differences began to appear about direction as the band wondered which way to go. Bailey preferred writing more rock and pop songs and Kuepper less commercial more post punk material. They delivered their third and final album for their contract which while OK saw a band in transition but not necessarily knowing to what. It didn’t sell and they were dropped

Prehistoric Sounds band promo shot

Chris Bailey We were destroyed by the insidious corporate slime of EMI. NME 21.10.78

Though Chris may have been bitter about punk and how the band was treated Kym Bradshaw is much more forgiving.

My personal view is that at the time Punk was a Renaissance of the musical revolution that began in London during the sixties. It threw The Saints a life line without which we would have sunk without trace. It was only after those reviews in the English press that EMI knocked on our door. England effectively launched The Saints to a wider world which enabled Ed and Chris to make a career in music that they may not have otherwise had. Punk77 Interview 10.3.2003

Chris Bailey passed away in April 2022 and Algy Ward in May 2023.

Nick Cave It is this photo that I will treasure – a moment of realisation and divergence, as a drunk singer sits slumped on a stage floor, his very presence in that moment approximating some kind of moral purity or essential truth, and a young man watching transfixed, feeling his own best laid plans fall away as the thought bubble above his head fills with its sudden and outrageous revelation, ‘This is what I want to do and this is who I want to be.’” 12.4.22 Music Feeds AU

Nick Cave centre behind Chris Bailey – Image: Rennie Ellis (via The Red Hand Files)

At times brilliant, at times average The Saints can justifiably mix it with any of the UK boys in terms of tunes and punk attitude. The mix of incendiary guitars, garage attitude and sneering vocals and white-hot punk riffs made them instant punk favourites. Sadly, though their music coincided with punk, their attempts to move on were ill-fated and out of tune with the times and they split up shortly after their third album. 

EMI may have booted the Sex Pistols off the label but they had no qualms about signing up bands like Wire and The Saints but to the progressive offshoot of the label, Harvest, more known for bands like Third Ear Band and Edgar Broughton. While Harvest went gung ho with 2 singles off the first album, which dropped to 1 from the next 2 and less and less PR and by 1979 they were dropped.


I’m Stranded / No Time (Fatal Records September 1976)

Released in September 1976 its Ramones style riffs with snarling vocals by Chris Bailey virtually built the Saints reputation as a punk band of note.

Voted single of the week By Sounds when re-released it was also coupled with the awesome No Time that I’m sure Status Quo slowed down and nicked for Sweet Caroline!

This single truly is one of the great moments of punk from the sleeve to the aural onslaught in its grooves.

It was this that got them their deal with EMI.


Erotic Neurotic / One Way Street  (Harvest EMI May 1977)


This Perfect Day / L.I.E.S ( EMI Harvest May 1977)

In which the boys from down under hit the charts with the song leaping from #84 to #34 with a song written by Ed Kuepper while at his parents house on his dads classical guitar. Sadly EMI cocked up and had no stock for two weeks meaning the single promptly nosedived!

The second truly great punk tune from The Saints, they promoted it with a static none too chuffed about miming performance on the TV show Top Of The Pops. But who needs movement when you bring a song like this to the party crackling with energy and angst. Superb!


River Deep Mountain High /Lipstick On My Collar / One Way Street / Demolition Girl (Harvest EMI October 1977)

You would have expected this to chart but it didn’t. Maybe too many songs to choose from. Fairly typical punk run through a couple of covers but the nugget here is Demolition Girl. The energy they had was awesome!


Know Your Product / Rundown (Harvest February 1978)

The Saints start to rail against the punk scene and the falseness they perceived to be at its root. In fact The Saints start to rail against everything! Start of Harvest taking note of the criticisms against the bands image and not featuring them in adverts for their products! That said an absolute stomper of a single. A radical step and out of keeping with the time to add horns! Strangely no other singles followed off the album. The sleeve above has the band looking more akin to a mod band.


Security/All Times Through Paradise (Harvest EMI 1978)

Otis Redding track again featuring horns. Average-sounding single and Harvest were still not featuring the band in its adverts! And that was that.

I’m Stranded (Harvest EMI February 1977)

Recorded in 48 hours in Australia, this set The Saints as a major force to be reckoned with. Featuring blistering tracks Like Nights In Venice, Demolition Girl & One Way Street.  Coincided perfectly with the upsurge of punk in the UK and was one of the first punk albums. It’s all here – frenetic pace, sneering vocals and riffs in bucketloads.


Eternally Yours (Harvest EMI May 1978)

Arguably their best album, pushing the boundaries of punk with horns, acoustic guitars and keyboards but allied to tight, muscular songs with power but still punk – just advanced; too advanced for some. It wasn’t post punk, it was more that kind of rockier sound like The Ruts had.

Chris Bailey For me, it’s our first proper release because (I’m) Stranded was just a load of demos. Although we still had the same energy as the first album, the added horn section seemed to confuse people and the record sort of disappeared. John Robb, History Of Punk

Reviews were good if sales weren’t and I think Rosalind Russell from Record Mirror hits the nail on the head with her review.


Prehistoric Sounds (Harvest EMI October 1978)

Their last for Harvest before being dropped. Losing the last vestiges of punk, their sound is more introspective, bluesier and flatter reflecting a band not sure where it stood musically or with its label. Less punky, but still Bailey’s vocals are unmistakable. Try if you must, but buyer beware. A couple of weeks after its release the band split. 



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