THE BEASTS OF BOURBON - The Axeman's Jazz

THE BEASTS OF BOURBON  The Axeman's Jazz  LP 1984 CD 1990/2009
Evil Ruby / Love & Death / Graveyard Train / Psycho / Drop Out / Save Me a Place / Lonesome Bones / The Day Marty Robbins Died / Ten Wheels for Jesus / Good Times (bonus)*/ Sometimes Goodguys...(bonus)*.
Recorded live at Paradise Studios by Tony Cohen & *Recorded live At The Old CivicTheatre (Perth).
The Beasts Of Bourbon: Boris Sujdovic: bass / Kim Salmon: guitar, slide / Tex Perkins: vocals / James Baker: drums / Spencer P. Jones: guitar + Tony Thewlis: guitar / Brett Rixon: drums.

The Beasts of Bourbon are an Australian alternative rock, blues rock band formed in August 1983, with James Baker on drums (ex-Hoodoo Gurus), Spencer P. Jones on guitar (The Johnnys), Tex Perkins on vocals (Dum Dums), Kim Salmon on guitar and Boris Sujdovic on bass guitar (both ex-The Scientists). Except for mainstays, Jones and Perkins, the line-up has changed as the group splintered and reformed several times. Their debut album, The Axeman's Jazz (July 1984), was the best selling Australian alternative rock album for 1984. Their debut single, "Psycho", is a cover version of the Leon Payne original, and was the best selling Australian alternative rock single for that year. However the group disbanded by mid-1985 and each member pursued other musical projects. They reformed in 1987 and issued a second album, Sour Mash, in December 1988 on Red Eye Records. According to rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, it "virtually redefined the parameters of guitar-based rock'n'roll. The Cramps-influenced swamp-rock of old had been discarded for a more adventurous slab of gutbucket blues and avant-garde weirdness. Perkins' voice had matured into an authentic blues growl". Their fifth studio album, Gone (January 1997), reached the Top 50 ARIA Albums Chart. Their seventh studio album, ''Little Animals (21 April 2007) on Albert Productions, which also peaked into the Top 50. Source

The first sonic blast from this Austral indie supergroup was recorded in one afternoon by members of the Scientists (Kim Salmon, Boris Sujdovic, and James Baker), Salamander Jim (Tex Perkins and Salmon), the Hoodoo Gurus (Baker), and the Johnnys (Spencer Jones). Although several hailed from remote Perth, the band was actually formed in Sydney, where all were based by the early-'80s (Perkins had migrated from Brisbane). Like the Scientists, they were influenced by Hank Williams, the Rolling Stones (see "Beast of Burden" on 1978's Some Girls), and the Cramps. The group wasn't necessarily meant to lead to a career, but for several of the musicians -- most notably Perkins (also of the Cruel Sea) -- it has. Considering how little time was actually spent on recording it, The Axeman's Jazz is a surprisingly accomplished debut. If not quite as successful as 1988's follow-up, Sour Mash, it remains an energetic collection of grungy swamp rock with a side of countrified blues. Things get off to such an auspicious start with lead track, Leon Payne's "Psycho," however, the rest of the album pales a little in comparison.

If Perkins sounds like a guilty man on the other songs, he sounds appropriately innocent on "Psycho," the twisted tale of a murderer lost in the depths of denial (as if in anticipation of Nick Cave's Murder Ballads, on which Jones would guest, the self-deluded narrator kills pretty much everyone he meets). "Psycho" was also released as a single backed with the Easybeats' "Good Times" and the Standells' "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White." "Good Times," which is featured on the full-length, was recorded live at the Old Civic Theatre in Perth with Tony Thewlis and Brett Rixon, from a later incarnation of the Scientists, on drums and guitar. If the U.S. were said to have an equivalent to the Beasts, it would have to be the Monkeywrench, which counts members of Mudhoney, the Big Boys, the U-Men, and Aussie band, Lubricated Goat, among its ranks (the Goat's Stu Spasm has even done some time in the Beasts' constantly-evolving lineup). Allmusic

In celebration of their 30th anniversary, Beasts of Bourbon are releasing a three-disc live album as well as performing six special shows in Sydney and Melbourne this August.
The band will play three dates in each city with a nightly rotating lineup. The formation will vary from the current incarnation, which includes Tex Perkins, Spencer P. Jones, Charlie Owen, Tony Pola and Brian Hooper, to the original lineup where Perkins and Jones will be joined by Kim Salmon, James Baker and Boris Sujdovic as the players who recorded their seminal 1991 record, "The Low Road".
The scheduled live album, titled "30 Years of Borrowed Time", features performances from three different sets that took place this year. It marks the band’s tumultuous 30-year career, which has seen them release six albums and tour Australia and Europe countless times and play at the inaugural Big Day Out Sydney in 1992.Source
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