Kim Salmon and the Surrealists are an Australian

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band formed by

Kim Salmon Kim Leith Salmon (born 24 January 1957) is an Australian rock musician and songwriter from Perth. He has worked in various groups including The Scientists, Beasts of Bourbon, Kim Salmon and the Surrealists, Kim Salmon and the Business, and Darli ...

in 1987 when he was living in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

between the final two tours by

The Scientists The Scientists is a post-punk band from Perth, Western Australia, led by Kim Salmon, initially known as the Exterminators and then the Invaders. The band had two primary incarnations: the Perth-based punk band of the late 1970s and the Sydney/ ...

. When the Scientists stopped, Salmon continued the Surrealists as his main band while playing in

Beasts of Bourbon Beasts of Bourbon were an Australian blues rock band formed in August 1983, with James Baker on drums (ex-Hoodoo Gurus, The Scientists), Spencer P. Jones on guitar (The Johnnys), Tex Perkins on vocals (Dum Dums), Kim Salmon on guitar and Boris ...

Biography

Salmon formed the first lineup of the Surrealists in mid-1987, with Brian Henry Hooper on bass and Tony Pola on drums. He formed the band to record the album '' Hit Me with the Surreal Feel'', using minimalist

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...

approaches to recording a basic trio: recording the band live with microphones around the studio capturing the entire sound rather than one instrument per track. The recording and mixing cost was A$240 total. The band also played live around Perth in mid-1987. The album was released in October 1988. The Surrealists did a few songs by the Scientists (particularly "Shine" from ''The Human Jukebox'') and had a similar sound in that Salmon remained the leader and primary songwriter, but the feel of the music was notably different, far less tense and confrontational. The second album '' Just Because You Can't See It ... Doesn't Mean It Isn't There'' was recorded more conventionally in 1989 and released in early 1990. Comparing this album with ''The Human Jukebox'', there is a similarity in songwriting but a difference in feel is readily apparent. The band's third album ''

Essence Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...

'' was released in 1991, followed by '' Sin Factory'' in 1993, which arguably gained the most attention for the band. The sound by now was strong rock riffery, also blending their take on

Blaxploitation Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president o ...

music. When The Beasts of Bourbon reformed in early 1988, Salmon started touring with that band too. When

James Baker James Addison Baker III (born April 28, 1930) is an American attorney, diplomat and statesman. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 10th White House Chief of Staff and 67th United States Secretary of the Treasury under President ...

and Boris Sujdovic left The Beasts of Bourbon to go full-time with The Dubrovniks, Hooper and Pola joined to replace them. Salmon fired Tony Pola from the Surrealists in 1993, replacing him with Greg Bainbridge. Brian Hooper later left after the "Kim Salmon and the Surrealists" album and was replaced by Stu Thomas in 1995. This new trio put out '' Ya Gotta Let Me Do My Thing'' in 1997, touring Australia, Europe, and the U.S. A horn section was added to the band that included trumpet player Leon de Bruin and saxophonist Michael Redman. In 1999, Salmon renamed the band Kim Salmon and the Business, and released one album "Record" in 1999. Stu Thomas remained on bass and Phil Collings was recruited on drums in 2000. In September 2006, Kim Salmon and the Surrealists 'reformed' for a show in Spain at Azkena Rock Festival. This line-up of Kim Salmon (guitar/vocal), Stu Thomas (bass) and Phil Collings (drums) also played later in Australia. 2010 marked the release of the album ''Grand Unifying Theory'', the first Kim Salmon and The Surrealists record for 13 years. Line-up featured Kim Salmon (guitar/vocal/sampler), Stu Thomas (bass) and Phil Collings (drums). The band was recorded live during rehearsals. The results were sifted through by Salmon and co-producer Mike Stranges, spliced together in some cases (ala

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

' "

Bitches Brew ''Bitches Brew'' is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis. It was recorded from August 19 to 21, 1969, at Columbia's Studio B in New York City and released on March 30, 1970 by Columbia Records. It marke ...

"), and made into songs.

Discography

* ''Hit Me with the Surreal Feel'' (1988), Black Eye Records * ''Just Because You Can't See It ... Doesn't Mean It Isn't There'' (1989), Black Eye Records * ''Essence'' (1991), Red Eye/

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

* ''Sin Factory'' (1993), Red Eye Records/Polydor Records * ''Kim Salmon and the Surrealists'' (1995), Red Eye/Polydor Records * ''Ya Gotta Let Me Do My Thing'' (1997), Half a Cow Records/

Citadel Records Citadel Records is an independent record label from Sydney, Australia. It was established in the early 1980s by John Needham. Bands released through Citadel include Died Pretty, Deniz Tek, Kim Salmon and the Surrealists, The Trilobites, Porcelain ...

* ''Grand Unifying Theory'' (2010), LTI/

Bang! Records Bang! Records is a Spanish label from Basque Country formed in 1998 by Gorka Munster and Juan-Mari Iturrarte. The label has a primary focus on artists from Melbourne, Australia and New York City's swamp, noise and punk blues music scene. Acts ...

* ''Ya Gotta Let Me Do My Thing'' (2015), vinyl re-issue, Bang! Records * ''Rantings From The Book of Swamp'' (2020)

References

External links

Kim Salmon and the Surrealists
(

Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop ''The Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop'' or ''Rock and Pop'' by Australian music journalist Ian McFarlane is a guide to Australian popular music from the 1950s to the late 1990s. The book has a similar title to the 1978 work by Noel McGra ...

by Ian McFarlane)
Story behind The Surreal Feel album and fish cover art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim Salmon and the Surrealists Western Australian musical groups Musical groups established in 1987 Australian indie rock groups Low Transit Industries artists Sympathy for the Record Industry artists