THE SAINTS - IVOR HAY
|
When
most people think of punk rock, they think of London in the
late 70s and bands like The Sex Pistols and The
Ramones. It’s a surprise to many Australians that there
was a band in
Brisbane
that was pioneering the punk sound even before it took off
in the UK: The Saints. Chris Bailey, Ed Kuepper,
Ivor Hay and
Kym Bradshaw played at parties, gigs (if they could get
them) and at their house on Petrie Terrace, dubbed Club 76,
before their first recording ‘(I’m) Stranded’ launched the
group into the international spotlight. The band travelled
to London before imploding not long after, but they had
achieved something special – the first Australian album to
be internationally recognised as a classic.
|
Ed
Kuepper, Chris Bailey and Ivor Hay will reform to
play the Pig City Festival on 14 July, 2007 a
celebration of Brisbane music from the 1970s to the present
that includes the likes of Brisbane indie royalty
Regurgitator, Screamfeeder and
Dave McCormick.
The Saints’ drummer Ivor Hay for one is looking forward
to the gig, the first for the band in over 10 years.
After The Saints, Hay went on to play in
The Hitmen, before leaving the music industry and working
(in very unpunk fashion) as a public servant, and later as a
consultant. Although he has clearly moved on from his days
in The Saints – after leaving the music scene he says
he “never really got back into it” - the drummer’s (and the
rest of the bands’) arms hardly had to be twisted when asked
to reform. “Ed, Chris and I were quite accommodating,” he
says, although he warns of some residual “tension” between
singer Chris Bailey and guitarist Ed Kuepper. The band will
have time to smooth things over as they travel to Brisbane
the week before the Pig City gig for rehearsals. The
Adelaide-based Hay is looking forward to returning to his
home town – “it will be great to catch up with people and do
all of that”. |
|
The Saints (early days) -
Above
photo provided by The Shock Factor |
Predictably
Hay is looking forward to the Pig City gig – “it will be a
fun night, we’re going to give it our best” he says. He doesn’t know
the other bands on the bill – they were still virtually in nappies
when The Saints were doing their thing – but is sure this
won’t take away from the night.
Although Hay
hasn’t read
Pig City
– Andrew Stafford’s excellent book about the
Brisbane
music scene’s evolution from the 1970s to the present day – The
Saints drummer affirms that politics was an influence on the
band in their day. “Although we weren’t overly political we were
aware of what was going on, of how gigs were getting shut down and
people weren’t allowed to march…so it did have an influence on us as
a band” he says (referring to Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s conservative
reign as premier of Queensland).
When told
about
Brisbane
being named one of the music hotspots of the world by American
Billboard magazine, Hay isn’t really surprised. “There’s some really
good music coming out of
Australia at
the moment” he enthuses. However, The Saints aren’t likely to
be included in the mix as it looks like the
Pig City
show will be a one-off. “So far there haven’t been any discussions
about getting back together…but we are really looking forward to the
gig, it will be a great night”.
Ivor Hay today
Article written by Miranda
Forster for AusNotebook, Music & Creative 9/7/07
Ivor Hay photo taken by Chrissy Layton, AusNotebook Music & Creative
Ivor Hay supports
Trees for Life
Associated article:
Pig City
|
