The Scientists

The Australian group Scientists are guided by the rough-hewn voice and brawling guitar of Kim Salmon, a legendary figure on the continent's music scene. The band started out in the late '70s as besuited punks playing an energetic mix of New York Dolls-style glam and jangling power pop. Early singles like "Frantic Romantic" and "Last Night" are fine examples of just how good that particular blend can sound. After a brief split, they returned in the early '80s as post-punk noise rockers with one foot in the blues and one foot in the gutter. The Blood Red River EP announced their arrival and 1985's You Get What You Deserve cemented their place in the noise-rock firmament. After some disappointing time in London and a brief appearance on an American record label with 1986's Weird Love, Salmon broke up the band. After years spent pursuing a wide range of musical styles, Salmon re-formed the 1986 edition of Scientists on the heels of a career-spanning Numero Group box set. The band picked up where they left off, and after a few singles and an EP, delivered a vigorous comeback LP with 2021's Negativity. Salmon's first group, formed in 1976, was the Cheap Nasties -- which already gives some indication of his distinctive "trash" aesthetic (à la the Trashmen, the Ramones, etc.). The Nasties were the first punk band to emerge from the remote city of Perth in Western Australia. Salmon claimed they really weren't much good, but they did give birth to the Perth punk scene -- from which many of Australia's finest musicians would emerge. When the Nasties came to an end the following year, Salmon went on to join the Invaders. Scientists rose from the ashes of this (also unrecorded) band in 1978. The lineup included Salmon on guitar and vocals, Boris Sujdovic on bass, Rod Radalj on guitar, and James Baker, from the Victims, penned the lyrics and played drums. The name of the band came from Salmon's childhood interest in science, specifically nuclear physics. The first single was "Frantic Romantic"/"Shake (Together Tonight)," one side a heavy power pop ballad, the other a hectic rocker heavily indebted to the New Yorks Dolls. This version of the group toured Eastern Australia and followed up with a self-titled EP in 1980 (with Ian Sharples on bass and Ben Juniper on guitar). The next year, the band -- now a trio of Salmon, Baker, and Sharples -- released a self-titled LP that mixed jangling power pop with punk guitars and Salmon's indelible sneer. Shortly afterward, however, they broke up. Radalj and Baker left for Sydney -- where they hooked up with Dave Faulkner, another Perth refugee and ex-Victim, in a precursor to the Hoodoo Gurus -- and Salmon formed a band called Louie Louie with Kim Williams, who had produced the first Scientists album, but the project only lasted a few months. Salmon and Sujdovic then re-formed Scientists, and Salmon became the primary songwriter. In 1981, they also migrated to Sydney. Salmon's musical interests had since segued to American proto-punk like the Velvet Underground, Captain Beefheart, and Television, and his vision for the new incarnation of the band was minimalism, to pare things down to their primal essence and to avoid pretense at all costs -- to the extent of writing purposefully "dumb" lyrics, as Salmon has described them. The result was primitive, psychotic, feedback-drenched swamp blues with a hint of twang (Hank Williams' legacy had also worked its way into the equation). The new lineup (Salmon, Tony Thewlis, Brett Rixon [from Louie Louie], and Sujdovic) would release the EP Blood Red River in 1983 on Au-Go-Go, one of Australia's premiere punk labels. By this time, Salmon had also fallen under the sway of Suicide, and it showed: the band was growing heavier in the bass department, more rhythmically repetitive and hypnotic, more dissonant and distorted guitar-wise (à la Link Wray), and increasingly manic and malevolent vocally. Scientists soon developed a following in Sydney that surpassed their fan base in Perth. They continued to tour and made a video in support of Blood Red River. Their next release was the similarly tough and raucous EP This Heart Does Run on Blood, This Heart Doesn't Run on Love, followed by another tour. Just as the Birthday Party and the Go-Betweens had found success in London, Scientists would make the same move in 1984. They would next release the LP Weird Love -- one of their best -- and EPs Demolition Derby and Atom Bomb Baby (recorded live in London) and, as a single, "You Only Live Twice" (virtually unrecognizable from the James Bond original). But their timing, unfortunately, was off. With a few exceptions, the British press -- most notably NME -- did not welcome them as warmly as Salmon had hoped. By following in the wake of the Birthday Party, they were perceived by some critics as copycats, even though they'd been working on their sound for just as long and had a much different lyrical and geographical perspective. The next few releases consisted primarily of archival material. You Get What You Deserve (1985) combines Atom Bomb Baby, Demolition Derby, and the B-side from "You Only Live Twice" ("If It's the Last Thing I Do"), and Heading for a Trauma combines four new songs with Demolition Derby, a few older singles, and a radio session. Drummer Rixon and Sujdovic (whose visa had expired) had since left the band (Rixon would die in 1993 of drug-related causes). Rubber Never Sleeps, a tape-only release consisting of live material (from 1978 to 1983), came next. Then Weird Love (1986) was re-recorded as a three-piece (with Leanne Chock replacing Rixon) along with "Nitro" from the This Heart EP and the original version of "You Only Live Twice." It was the first Scientists recording to be released in the United States and Big Time did the honors. Scientists spent much of this time touring Europe with Alex Chilton, the Gun Club, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Alan Vega (from Suicide), and others. Their next full-length, The Human Jukebox (1987), consisted of new material, but only Salmon and Tony Thewlis remained from the lineup that had come from Sydney (they were joined by Nick Combe). It was the beginning of the end. Scientists broke up that year, and Salmon moved back to Perth. Gone but not forgotten, Scientists' excellent cover of Captain Beefheart's "Clear Spot" would be included on the 1988 tribute release Fast 'N' Bulbous. Although Scientists had called it quits, the irrepressible Kim Salmon most certainly had not. He went on to form a new, somewhat similar group that year, Kim Salmon & the Surrealists, who would incorporate soul and funk into the mix. Over the years that followed he worked in a number of different styles and configurations, including Salamander Jim (with Tex Perkins of the Beasts of Bourbon, a band Salmon had often performed with in the '80s), Kim Salmon's Human Jukebox, Kim Salmon's STM, Kim Salmon & the Business (an extension of the Surrealists -- similar approach, different lineup -- Antenna (a techno-pop project with old Perth mate Dave Faulkner), Darling Downs (a duo with Died Pretty singer Ronald Peno), an instrumental group called Salmon, and a duo project with former Scientists drummer Leanne Cowie. The Scientists legend spread with the help of a couple of compilations, 1990's Pissed on Another Planet, a set of early punk and power pop tracks, and 1991's Sub Pop-issued Absolute. Then, after years when they seemed destined to become a cult band that was lost to time, they reunited for a one-off show at 2010's ATP Festival in New York. After another few years of obscurity, in late 2016 Numero Group issued the comprehensive A Place Called Bad box set, which collected most of their work from the '80s. Inspired by the set, Salmon re-formed the band (the 1985/1986 lineup of Salmon, Thewlis, Sujdovic, and Cowie) for live shows in 2018. It went well enough that they decided to do some recording. The "Braindead (Resuscitated)"/"SurvivalsKills" single was issued in 2018, the 9H₂O.SiO₂ EP followed in 2019. Both were released by In the Red Records and showed that the band were just as abrasive and loose as ever, and the same lineup recorded 2021's Negativity album. Salmon switched up the writing process this time, recording drums parts himself, then sending them to Thewlis, who would come up with riffs. Next, the rest of the band would get together and work out the remainder. Regardless of the way it was made, the album is vintage Scientists, with a few twists, like the occasional female backing vocals, Baroque pop choruses, violins, and humorous lyrics thrown in along the way. The record was also released by In the Red.
© Tim Sendra /TiVo