Kim Salmon is bringing his legendary Scientists and Surrealists together for a once-in-a-lifetime tour, and two major releases are dropping to mark the occasion.
Seminal Los Angeles label In The Red Records is set to release a brand new live Scientists album, The Definitive Article, alongside a reissue of Kim Salmon & The Surrealists’ classic 1988 debut, Hit Me with the Surreal Feel.
Both releases coincide with Salmon’s ambitious Surreal Science tour, which unites the Scientists and Surrealists on the same stage, sometimes simultaneously, for the first time.
Recorded in 2017 at The Triffid in Brisbane by 4ZZZ’s Branko Cosic, The Definitive Article captures the Scientists’ lineup of Kim Salmon, Tony Thewlis, Boris Sujdovic and the late Leanne Cowie. Heartbreakingly, it will be the last new Scientists recording to feature Leanne, who passed away unexpectedly a year ago. Exact release dates for both titles are yet to be confirmed, so follow Kim and In The Red on socials for updates.
Kim Salmon – Scientists & Surrealists
- 10 April – Melbourne, Corner Hotel
- Tickets: here
Check out our gig guide, our festival guide, our live music venue guide and our nightclub guide. Follow us on Instagram here.
Surreal Science is exactly what it sounds like, and then some. Three drummers, two guitarists, two bass players and two vocalists, all drawing from a repertoire of 160 songs to create something that will never, ever be repeated. Guitarist Tony Thewlis, bassists Boris Sujdovic and Stu Thomas, drummers Clare Moore, Greg Bainbridge and Phil Collings, production engineer Hepburn and Salmon himself will perform alongside a visual presentation of both bands’ past, present and future projected onto, behind and above the stage. Not a tribute; a reckoning.
The show is built thematically and dynamically rather than chronologically, with seamless transitions between the various iterations of the Scientists and Surrealists as they move through a transcendent set together. It’s immersive, inside-out, backwards, upside down, and absolutely not to be missed.
For those new to the story: the Scientists belligerently ditched standard melody for minimalism, brutality and abstraction, while remaining staunchly rock and roll.
They crossed the globe, exploded and imploded, and along the way paved the road for Seattle grunge, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Dinosaur Jr and Spacemen 3. Kim Salmon, art school dropout, seminal punk rocker, living legend, formed the Cheap Nasties in late-70s Perth at the very crest of the first punk wave, making music as vital as the Saints in Brisbane, Radio Birdman in Sydney and Nick Cave with the Boys Next Door in Melbourne.
When the Scientists emerged, they were something genuinely new: dark, primitive, swampy, demented; punk, rock and roll, psychobilly and blues all at once.
Salmon is frequently cited as a seminal influence by Mudhoney, Nirvana, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the White Stripes, Sonic Youth, the Drones and Spacemen 3. He’s shared stages with the Stooges, Television, the Cramps, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, the Pop Group and even U2.
Nearly 50 years in, he is absolutely not slowing down.
For more information, head here.
