Artist

Kim Salmon and the Surrealists

Perth, Australia

Kim Salmon and the Surrealists is a music group from Perth, Australia. Their discography on Gatefold includes 8 records.

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Photo of Kim Salmon and the Surrealists

8

Albums tracked

0

In collections

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Since

Biography

The Surrealists didn't waste time on studio polish. They tracked their debut album, 'Hit Me With the Surreal Feel,' in a single afternoon at Melbourne's Richmond Recorders. No safety nets, no endless overdubs, just Kim Salmon's battered guitar wired into a cranked tube amp. Salmon had already done the high-octane punk thing with the Scientists. With the Surrealists, he wanted something uglier, looser, and deeply uncomfortable. By the time they cut 'Sin Factory' in 1993, the band was a lean, mean, terrifying unit. Brian Hooper's bass was a massive, distorted wall of concrete, and Tony Pola hit the drums like he was trying to break the heads. They weren't trying to please the indie charts or the major labels who kept sniffing around the Australian underground. They made noise that felt like a mugging in a wet Melbourne alley, and they did it with a sneer.

Bio from The Clerk

The Arc of Kim Salmon and the Surrealists

The pivots — what forced Kim Salmon and the Surrealists to reinvent.

  1. The Dirty Three-Piece

    The band started as a stripped-back power trio in 1988, built entirely around the tension between Kim, bassist Brian Hooper, and drummer Tony Pola. You hear this minimal, bone-dry production on 'Just Because You Can't See It...' where there are no studio tricks to hide behind. It was a reaction against the bloated, over-produced pub rock dominating Australian airwaves at the close of the eighties. They proved that a guitar, bass, and drums could sound more menacing than a whole rack of synthesizers.

  2. The European Expansion

    By 1995, the band signed with the European label Red Eye and brought in Warren Ellis on violin to expand their sonic palette. Ellis, who would soon join Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds full-time, brought a frantic, screeching element to the self-titled album 'Kim Salmon & The Surrealists'. This lineup pushed the band away from straight-up swamp rock and into a chaotic, avant-garde territory. The tracks became longer, more experimental, and loaded with feedback.

  3. The Soul-Groove Detour

    In 1997, Salmon threw a massive curveball with 'Ya Gotta Let Me Do My Thing,' dragging the band into a weird, greasy soul-funk hybrid. He hired a horn section and tried to channel Booker T. & the M.G.'s through a broken fuzz pedal. Purists hated it because it lacked the raw aggression of 'Sin Factory,' but it proved Salmon wasn't content to play the swamp-rock godfather forever. It was a bizarre, sweaty experiment that closed out the band's initial run.

Influences

  • The Stooges — Salmon has repeatedly cited Ron Asheton's primal, two-note guitar solos as his ultimate blueprint. You hear this heavy, repetitive down-stroke chug all over 'Just Because You Can't See It...'
  • Captain Beefheart — The Surrealists covered 'Beatle Bones 'n' Smokin' Stones' live and mirrored the Magic Band's disjointed, angular rhythms. The odd-time drum signatures Tony Pola used on 'Essence' come straight from 'Trout Mask Replica.'
  • Cramps — Salmon shared stages with them and openly lifted their trashy, B-movie rockabilly aesthetic for the Surrealists' early singles. The greasy, echo-drenched vocal delivery on 'Hit Me With the Surreal Feel' is a direct nod to Lux Interior.
  • The Gun Club — Jeffrey Lee Pierce's haunted, punk-blues hybrid was a massive touchstone for the Melbourne scene that birthed the Surrealists. Hooper's bass lines on 'Sin Factory' carry the same driving, dark-hearted momentum as 'Fire of Love.'
  • Howlin' Wolf — Salmon's slide guitar work is rooted in the distorted, menacing blues of Chess Records. He took the menacing, slow-burn tension of Hubert Sumlin's guitar work and fed it through a blown-out Australian fuzz box.

Discography

Their records — most-collected first.

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