Ed Kuepper: Real Wild Life

Following an overseas tour as guitarist with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Ed Kuepper is hitting the roads of Australia in solo mode armed with his voice, acoustic guitar and stomp box to present songs requested by fans. West German-born Kuepper first came to fame with legendary Brisbane band The Saints before going on to lead such eclectic groups as Laughing Clowns and The Aints as well as having assorted other projects on the go such as Oxley Creek Playboys, The Institute Of Nude Wrestling and The Kowalski Collective. He has also released a remarkable number of solo albums over the last 30 years including Electrical Storm, Black Ticket Day and Honey Steel’s Gold. Kuepper begins by saying a request show is something he’s only ever undertaken once before. “I was doing a big tour with (drummer) Mark Dawson for our album Second Winter and got offered a show on the Gold Coast,” he explains. “For some reason Mark couldn’t do it but rather than blow out the gig I decided to go ahead and do it completely solo as a request show. “So I quickly asked people to request songs via my Facebook page and it kind of went from there,” Kuepper adds. “The problem is you get some people who make the typical silly request for Led Zeppelin songs. Rather than ignore that though, I said that if someone came up on stage and mimed the song and people guessed what it was, then I would actually attempt to play it. It was all in good fun so I’ll keep with that for any silly request of that type.” The musician has an extensive back catalogue of dozens of albums from which songs can be requested. “And it’s all up for grabs,” Kuepper states. “There will no doubt be a couple that I’ve forgotten the words to, but using the Gold Coast show as an example, if people call out for something and I think I can do it, I will. But if don’t think I can do it I’ll just say they wouldn’t really want to hear& me mumble my way through it. Everyone seems to understand that and is cool with it.” New songs from a soon to be released offering – the artist’s first album of original material since 2008 – will also not be forsaken. “If people want to hear any of the new songs, I’ll quite happily play them,” Kuepper reveals. “It’s a request show so people can ask to hear whatever they want that I’ve recorded over the years.” Talk then briefly turns to Kuepper’s recent overseas venture with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds of which he now seems a little ambivalent. “When I first took that job on I said I wasn’t going to be just a session player and merely recreate Mick Harvey’s guitar parts,” he says. “So, will my association with The Bad Seeds continue? No, I wouldn’t really think so.” Ed Kuepper Governor Hindmarsh Hotel Saturday, August 17