Beasts of Bourbon

Arriving hot on the trail of fellow countrymen, The Birthday Party’s, chaotic path of destruction, came another Australian band with an appetite for excess and a fascination with morbidity.  Their hard-living attitude lived up to the moniker - Beasts of Bourbon.   Their path would prove to be slightly more conventional than Nick Cave and co., but it was no less thrilling.  Stylistically their sound sat well alongside the emerging sludgy American grunge scene of the 1980's.  However, in adopting elements of country and blues, then making it louder and sleazier, Beasts of Bourbon created a potent concoction they could call their own.

Conceived by happy accident, Beasts developed into something much greater, rightfully earning their place in Australian rock ‘n’ roll mythology.  It began when Tex Perkins' band left Sydney without explanation to return to Brisbane in 1983. Perkins had to honour bookings made for Tex Deadly and the Dum-Dums.  He set about recruiting new members, which wasn’t too difficult as many bands knew each other in a close-knit Sydney scene.  Assured of a fun-time playing covers (Alice Cooper, The Gun Club, The Stooges, Creedence Clearwater Revival) and drinking beers, he acquired the services of James Baker of Hoodoo Gurus on drums (Richard Ploog of ‘The Church’ played one show before him), Spencer P. Jones of The Johnnys on guitar, Kim Salmon on guitar and Boris Sudjovic on bass guitar: both of The Scientists.  They began playing in small venues in Sydney in what would become the inaugural and most celebrated incarnation of the group. 

Starting out Tex borrowed from luminaries, employing Lux Interior’s (The Cramps) outlandish vocal style, before seemingly embarking on a strict glass and hard liquor diet to carve a larynx rougher than sandstone.  His voice would evolve over time to become a defining feature of the band’s swamp rock sound.  Debut album, The Axeman’s Jazz, recorded in 1983, captured the raw intensity of a band of hard-living Aussies tearing it up and having a good time. Sharing their love of all things country and psychobilly, they created aggressive garage rock.  It proved to be the best-selling Australian alternative rock album of 1984.  Moreover, first single "Psycho" (a cover version of the Leon Payne original), attracted a lot of attention from alternative radio stations and became the best selling Australian alternative rock single for that year.

“We took a lot of beer in there and other substances and had a party. It was done in about six hours.  Maybe it was a surprise the recording turned out OK.  It was a strange, debauched day! But it came out good!” (James Baker – Beasts of Bourbon)

Their journey was tumultuous, operating under what seemed like an open door system, members would come and go.  Using the Beasts name, members funded European tours for other projects, namely The Scientists and to a lesser extent The Johnny’s.  The Scientists were a more established band at the time, which understandably prompted Salmon and Sudjuvic to leave in search of success.  Unfortunately this amounted to the continual fracturing and reformation of Beasts of Bourbon.  After the Axeman’s Jazz there was a long period of stagnation due to affiliations and commitments to other bands.  Following the demise of The Scientists and Perkins’ dalliance in the Black Eye scene with Salamander Jim and Thug (Electronic/Noise), the original band members found themselves back in Sydney.

“When Kim and Boris came back to Australia, things changed. That was a really creative point, I thought, because in the intervening period there’d been a lot of artistic growth. So instead of being some garage band doing covers, we were now contenders.” (Spencer P. Jones – Beasts of Bourbon/The Johnny’s)

Sour Mash (1988) and Black Milk (1990) would be the projection of this growth; it depicted mature artists, strengthened by good and bad music industry experiences.  Above all, they had three serious songwriters in Perkins, Salmon and Jones with similar influences but contrasting styles, which made for eclectically combustible albums.  They established a clear direction for the band, and with no distractions were able to focus all their energy and efforts on ensuring Beasts of Bourbon became the fearsome animal it had once threatened to be.  Sour Mash allowed them to flex their hard rock muscles, while Black Milk was a more thoughtful avant-garde affair.  But they always knew how far to take it, always retaining their dark sense of humour and appetite for a nasty riff. 

Instead of playing for beer, this time round they actually spent (a minimal amount of) time rehearsing and could afford to tour after recording Sour Mash.  An eager European crowd had been waiting in anticipation since the release of The Axeman’s Jazz, which had gained significant notoriety amongst underground audiences.  The band exceeded expectations on arrival, thrilling sweaty packed clubs around Europe with their brand of sleazy hard-hitting rock.

Having toured Sour Mash they returned home and didn’t waste any time organising a studio to record the more experimental Black Milk.  Eventually, the same problems as before resurfaced, with Baker and Sudjuvic leaving to pursue different avenues with The Dubrovniks - who's reputation was soaring at the time.  Beasts of Bourbon would re-convene with different line-ups and continued to record some fine albums; The Low Road (1991)(on which they do a great cover of The Rolling Stones' Cocksucker Blues), Gone (1997) and Little Animals (2007).  Song titles from the last album include; 'I Don't Care About Nothing Any More' and 'The Beast I Came to Be'.  Titles that suggest an invigorated band with plenty left to say.  Although these albums aren't as highly regarded as the first three, they prove no amount of time can tame the Beasts. Guitar lines are plucked straight from the gutter, Perkins' trademark snarl endures and their lyrics would make your parents wince, they are still as mean and belligerent as ever.

www.facebook.com/DarkandDirtySounds

By Garrett Hargan