The Saints RETRO ISSUE: (I'm) Stranded by: Tom Bradbury Mon:08-Oct-07 Label: Captain Oi! Year: 1977 WB rating 90 out of 100

Recently, a previously unknown Brisbane band has come out of nowhere to shock audiences with their unparalleled ferocity. They are called The Saints, and their debut album (I’m) Stranded is full of ‘Search and Destroy’ riffs and cynical snarl, possessing the sort of raw power unseen since, well, Raw Power. In a country that has never boasted a particularly innovative musical culture, The Saints are a demonstration of what happens when rampant mediocrity forces ambitious and alienated people to explode. This album is nothing less than an eruption – an external dullness mixing together, its claustrophobic pressure causing an unbridled emanation, and that emanation is The Saints.  Whoever thought that critical mass would be so pretty?

(I’m) Stranded is not a high quality recording, but the usual drawn out process may have robbed the album of its most important qualities: immediateness and heat. In any case, the ‘I’m Stranded’/‘No Time’ double side is simply one of the best singles to come out of Australia, and with the rest of the album should knock some sense into this country’s hippie hangover like a cold fish across the face. Unlike the poser London wannabes that this country passes for rock stars, The Saints are unmercifully and unapologetically themselves. Bailey’s cynical snarl and Kuepper’s white hot guitar sound are made for each other, and each would be the lesser for the loss of their respective partner.

Case in point, the blistering ‘No Time’. Overflowing with untainted talent and bursting at the seams with an uncontained feeling of resentment, this song is the peak of the aforementioned eruption. Bailey sounds as if her were being pushed forward against his will by the driving force of Kuepper’s guitar, so messy and angry are his vocal offerings. “I’ve got no time for messing around”, Bailey grumpily yells as Kuepper’s unrelenting wall of distortion threatens to drown him out. ‘No Time’ produces a feeling of continuous ecstasy, and if you have any feelings of pent up frustration, it is sure to draw them out.

In spite of the fact that The Saints are one of the fastest bands out there right now, they are not a one-paced act. Album highlights, ‘Messing with the Kid’ and ‘Story of Love’ are mid-paced, more swaggering than explosive. For all the shenanigans happening over in London right now, (I’m) Stranded is not some sort of Australian interpretation of punk, like when Australian bands started to catch on to rock ‘n’ roll in the ‘60s in some sort of delayed child-like imitative response. The Saints are a completely home-grown self-fuelling phenomenon, and that is what is so remarkable about them – in this sense, the tyranny of distance is irrelevant. Yet in another way, alienation is the most influential factor on The Saints. It is apparent in vocalist Bailey’s voice, in his passionately disaffected and beautifully disenfranchised growl, while Kuepper’s guitar work practically screams ‘Escape!’ Distaste for the prevailing culture may as well be the fifth Beatle for this band, so imbued is it in their music. 

(I’m) Stranded is the sound of Australian rock ‘n’ roll rediscovering itself. As the prog- rock dinosaurs noodle around with synthesizers and pretensions of artistic greatness, someone is again reminding the world what rock ‘n’ roll music is all about. Could this be the start of a bright future for the band and the country? It’s hard to say, but it’s something to talk about at least, and we haven’t had that in a while.