Laughing Clowns

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Laughing Clowns were an Australian post punk rock band fronted by vocalist and guitarist Ed Kuepper and backed by drummer Jeff Wegener.

[edit] History

Formed in Sydney in 1979 after the break-up of Kuepper's punk rock band The Saints. Where The Saints were a bass/drums/guitar rock band, Laughing Clowns' various line-ups included double bass, piano, tenor saxophone and trumpet. Often referred to as "jazz punk" by critics, the group's songs were often constructed around difficult time signatures and sometimes "off-key" melodies. Kuepper passionately disagreed with the assertion that the music was jazz-like, but rather thought of the music as being soul-like. This is evidenced by the fact that, in amongst the cachophony, many of the songs have strong melodic hooks, epic progressions and emotionally charged lyrics.

They released several albums, singles and EPs, including Holy Joe, Mr Uddich-Smuddich goes to town, Ghosts of an ideal wife and Law of nature. They disbanded in 1985 with Kuepper continuing to record and perform under his own name.

In 1995, the Hot label released a compilation of Laughing Clowns songs with the title Golden Days: When Giants Walked the Earth.

In 2004, Kuepper and Wegener began performing together on Ed Kuepper's MFLL project, a live performance of soundtracks to short films, and have toured Australia as a duo since.

Another anthology of Laughing Clowns material, Cruel but fair, was released on 3 October 2005 by the Hot label.