Kim Salmon and the Surrealists

Kim Salmon and the Surrealists
Kim Salmon & the Surrealists, Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne, November 2008
Background information
Origin	Perth, Australia
Genres	Alternative rock, Indie rock
Years active	1987–1999, 2006–present
Labels	Black Eye, Red Eye, Sympathy for the Record Industry, Guilt Free, Echo Static, Half A Cow, LTI, Bang! Records
Members	Kim Salmon Stu Thomas Phil Collings
Past members	Brian Henry Hooper Tony Pola Greg Bainbridge

Kim Salmon and the Surrealists are an Australian indie rock band formed by Kim Salmon in 1987 when he was living in Perth between the final two tours by The Scientists. When the Scientists stopped, Salmon continued the Surrealists as his main band, while also playing in The Beasts Of Bourbon.

Salmon formed the first lineup of the Surrealists in mid-1987, with Brian Henry Hooper on bass and Tony Pola on drums. He formed the band to record the album Hit Me With The Surreal Feel, using minimalist lo-fi approaches to recording a basic trio: recording the band live with microphones around the studio capturing the entire sound, rather than one instrument per track. The recording and mixing cost was A$240 total. The band also played live around Perth in mid-1987. The album was released in October 1988.

The Surrealists did a few songs by the Scientists (particularly "Shine" from The Human Jukebox) and had a similar sound, in that Salmon remained the leader and primary songwriter, but the feel of the music was notably different: far less tense and confrontative.

The second album, Just Because You Can't See It ... Doesn't Mean It Isn't There, was recorded more conventionally in 1989 and released in early 1990. Comparing this album with The Human Jukebox, there is a similarity in songwriting but a difference in feel is readily apparent. The band's third album Essence was released in 1991, followed by Sin Factory in 1993, which arguably gained the most attention for the band. The sound by now was strong rock riffery, also blending their take on Blaxploitation music.

When The Beasts of Bourbon reformed in early 1988, Salmon started touring with that band too. When James Baker and Boris Sujdovic left The Beasts of Bourbon to go full-time with The Dubrovniks, Hooper and Pola joined to replace them.

Salmon fired Tony Pola from the Surrealists in 1993, replacing him with Greg Bainbridge. Brian Hooper later left as well, after the "Kim Salmon and the Surrealists" album, and was replaced by Stu Thomas in 1995. This new trio put out Ya Gotta Let Me Do My Thing in 1997, touring Australia and Europe once more, and USA for the first time. A horn section was added to the band soon after that included trumpet player Leon de Bruin and saxophonist Michael Redman.