Vegemite Bomb--What's Halloween in Australian? Scientists--Blood Red River 1982-1984

If You Want To Be Sad
Do It Somewhere Else

I've been putting up these posts for a little while now, and it just occurred to me that it has until now been a Scientists-free blog. That is about to change. I just found out that the reunited band performed at All Tomorrow's Parties in Monticello New York, their first New York gig ever only last month. I bet that they are still an awesome live band.
Originally the Scientists were a punk band from Perth, Australia that played a form of pop-punk. Some people are pretty dismissive of this lineup, possibly because of the contrast with their future musical directions. But I would disagree with the naysayers. That music of their first incarnation is compiled on the Pissed On Another Planet Cd, and I think the music is very good, in most cases great. In any event the band was not particularly well received and they split up in early 1981.

Later in the year things got interesting, as a new Scientists formed with a radically different sound. This was the celebrated classic lineup of Kim Salmon (vocals,guitar), Brett Rixon (drums), Boris Sujdovic (Bass),Tony Thewlis (guitar). This is an album more informed by bands like the Stooges and the Cramps. The music is sludgy swampy blues stomp, with Kim Salmon chanting like a demented preacher. There is a certain tendency I like about some of these great Australian Bands. I'm not sure if you call it having a chip on your shoulder, but it certainly may have been a response to swimming upstream, having to deal with people who had preconceived ideas about music. It's combative, like the Sex Pistols; don't like us? sod off. like us? ah, you, sod off too. We like what we do, and we don't care what anybody thinks. Punks have short hair? Well, then we'll grow our hair long and play punk. Like your music fast? Well we'll chug along at our own pace, thank you. Let's alienate everyone--maybe they'll get it someday. There is so many instances of pandering to tastes in the music industry; it's nice when you see people take risks, toss a few sacred cows in the blender. You can also witness this musical defiance with bands like The Saints and the Birthday Party. But these bands stuck to their guns and changed music forever.

Blood Red River is the first disc of a two disc Scientists anthology. For a long time this music was only available on vinyl. There was a greatest hits collection on long defunct Big Time Records called Weird Love, where they rerecorded their songs for the album. There was also a greatest hits collection, Absolute, which was released by Sub Pop in the US. But it was Sympathy For The Record Industry who did the job right, 29 songs all told. Because these guys are stylistically in the neighborhood of bands like the Detroit proto-punk bands, but musically and vocally, they are just to idiosyncratic to be anything but their own creature. For one thing, there is a tendency for bands to get more melodious as they mature, you play your instruments better and learn new tricks. But these guys got noisier and more abrasive, to the point where they made even the Stooges sound baroque in their later period. When I hear Kim Salmon croon and shout, I am reminded of Jim Thompson pulp novels, and 50's culture themes, dancing around a bonfire. And there is no kitsch factor here--it's all done with complete conviction, purposeful.

This collection start off with the electric anarchic Set It On Fire and proceeds off road from there into the remote wilderness. I feel like I'm driving down back roads when I hear this stuff--it's great music to drive around to. And in fact a lot of the songs have hot rod themes to them. They seem to have created their own Australian mythology here. Swampland is one of the monster tracks on this anthology. "In my heart, is a place called Swampland, nine parts water, one part sand..." Equally powerful is the bluesy testimony of When Fate Meets Its Mortal Blow. Nitro is like Bo Diddly meeting the Night Of The Living Dead.

We Had Love is another great Australian classic song, a truly manic love anthem with great riffs. A true antecedent to the Seattle grunge movement. Clear Spot is Scientist styled send up of a Captain Beefheart song. Revhead is an energetic high speed car chase of song, with a kinetic bassline. My personal favorite is This Is My Happy Hour, a grim Australian version of the Stooges No Fun. It always feels appropriate to listen to when I've had a less than pleasant day. The collection ends with the Crampsy Demolition Derby which is another exhilaratingly grinding lo-fi ranting mess.

You might get this album and think, what's so special about this? Well, this music came out 25 years ago and a lot of bands have followed in their footsteps. At the time, there was nothing to compare it to, really. If you are a fan of Grunge bands like Mudhoney or Green River, there is a whole lot to recommend here. Certainly comparisons can also be made with the Cramps and the mighty Gun Club. But this is music that has its own special style, its own singular lunacy, a mudslide trapped in a bottle. They seem to take that aesthetic to even greater extremes.One of my favorite Australian bands of all time. And I haven't even covered the second anthology The Human Jukebox 1984-1986 here, where things get even messier.