The Saints Announce 2024 Tour With All-Star Lineup

Ed Kuepper has announced a national Australian tour for November 2024, celebrating his original band The Saints. The tour will consist of Kuepper leading a supergroup of musicians playing selections from the band’s catalogue from between 1973 and 1978. A full run of tour dates, as well as ticketing information, can be found below.

On the tour, Kuepper will be joined by The Saints’ original drummer Ivor Hay – marking the first time the pair have played together since 2009. They will be joined by Mudhoney frontman Mark Arm on lead vocals, subbing in for the late Chris Bailey, as well as Sunnyboys bassist Peter Oxley. Also joining the line-up will be guitarist Mick Harvey, best known as Nick Cave‘s long-serving right-hand man in the Bad Seeds but also for his time with The Birthday Party and his collaborations with PJ Harvey.

The tour will coincide with the release of a deluxe box-set of The Saints’ seminal 1977 debut album (I’m) Stranded. The exhaustive four-LP set will include a previously-unreleased mix of the album, as well as all official recordings of the band – both live and in the studio – between 1976 and 1977. A 28-page photo essay will also be included.

The Saints – ‘(I’m) Stranded’

In a press statement, Kuepper noted that the assembly of the box-set was “an exhausting yet thrilling process”. “It’s been 51 years in the making, and has possibly turned out even better than I anticipated,” he said. “It’s by far the most extensive appraisal of the band, both aurally and visually, that has ever been made available.”

Hay and Arm, for their part, both noted their excitement at being part of the commemorative tour. “I’m really looking forward to having the chance to be playing these great songs again,” said Hay, ”and capturing the original excitement and energy of the first three albums.” Arm agreed, noting that he believed that those very albums by The Saints – (I’m) Stranded, Eternally Yours and Prehistoric Sounds – are “among the best records ever made”.

“They have been a part of my life since stumbling upon them in the early 80s, [and] their influence looms large in Mudhoney’s world,” he said. “I am stoked, stunned and humbled that I get to join in on this rock & roll reality camp.”

Kuepper left The Saints in 1979 to pursue other projects, including a solo career and forming the band Laughing Clowns. He rejoined the band for a series of shows in both 2004 and 2009, and later revived his 90s project The Aints – which featured Oxley, and largely performed the lesser-known material of The Saints from his time in the band. The 2020s have thus far seen Kuepper tour Australia extensively in duo mode with Dirty Three drummer Jim White, as well as releasing the compilation The Exploding Universe of Ed Kuepper in 2021 and touring in support of it.