OFF: The Scientists

[Peter Sondergeld]

I missed this one the other day when I looked. I hope it's not too long for
everyone.
The URL is <http://www.roughguides.com/rock/entries/THE_SCIENTISTS.html>
Pete.

                                  [Image]

                          THE ROUGH GUIDE TO ROCK

                              THE SCIENTISTS

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                Formed Perth, Australia, 1978; split 1981;
                  re-formed 1982; finally disbanded 1987.
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Perth is the most isolated city in the world - 2000 miles of desert
separate it from its closest neighbour, and as that's Adelaide the drive is
hardly worth it. Emerging from a music scene as barren as its environs, The
Scientists - James Baker (drums), Kim Salmon (guitar/vocals), Boris
Sujdovic (bass) and Rod Radalj (guitar) - drew on the power and attitude of
the New York Dolls, Heartbreakers and early Flamin' Groovies, and the
earthy R&B melodies of the Troggs, Kinks and Stones. Their songs were Larry
Page-esque: "Kinda Girl", "Pretty Girl", "That Girl", "Girl", and the
two-chord epic, "Baby, You're Not For Sale".

Squabbles about clothing led to Sujdovic's departure during the recording
of "Frantic Romantic" (1979), the debut single. Radalj left out of loyalty
to Sujdovic and probably, judging by Salmon's penchant for pink Peter Noone
shirts, sympathy for his cause. Denis Byrne filled in on bass and the
record received glowing reviews in the UK and US. Greg Shaw bought a few
hundred for his fledgling BOMP label.

A revamped line-up of Salmon, Baker, Ian Sharples (bass) and Ben Juniper
(guitar) subsequently billed themselves as 'The Legendary Scientists: BOMP
Recording Artists'. Juniper brought tough, Kinky, Beatle-ish harmonies to
such tunes as "She Said She Loves Me" and "We'll Get Back Together Again"
and augmented them with neat guitar pieces on the group's EP Last Night,
particularly the title track, which the group performed on Countdown
(Australia's chart show).

When Juniper departed in 1980, The Scientists continued as a three-piece
with Salmon amply filling the guitar gap on the feedback-teetering rousers:
"Teenage Dreamer", "It'll Never Happen Again" and "High Noon". However, the
band finally split later that year and issued The Scientists (the 'Pink'
album) posthumously. Baker joined Rod Radalj in The Hoodoo Gurus, and
Salmon formed Louie Louie with drummer Brett Rixon.

In 1982 the Scientists Mark 2 appeared in Sydney, comprising Salmon,
Sujdovic, Brett Rixon and Tony Thewlis (guitar). They began again playing
raucous pop - "The Land That Time Forgot", "Swampland" and "Teenage
Dreamer"- but this soon mutated into a truly wild, pop-tinged raucousness.
Giving these guys songs like "When Worlds Collide" and "Rev Head" was like
giving The Stooges arc-welders for Christmas. With a fashion sense
plummeting into the crater left by the music (they had the longest hair,
lowest-slung trousers and tackiest shirts in town), they were difficult to
ignore.

Although live shows teetered on the brink of chaotic implosion, the new
band's first single, "This Is My Happy Hour"/"Swampland" (1982) harked back
to the R&B/pop roots they seemed to be abandoning. On their EP, Blood Red
River, and single, "We Had Love" (1983), they hinted at their erratic best:
Salmon whispered and howled like some schizoid scanner with the jitters;
Sujdovic got monomaniacally fixed on a two-note riff; Rixon, once described
as 'an assembly line misfit blankly contemplating murder', sounded like he
was punching the holes in Monaro head-gaskets; and Thewlis seemed to be
test-driving a nuclear Hoover to clear up the mess.

Moving to London, the band recorded You Get What You Deserve (1985), an
organized, crystallized, pure record. Each song had the unique Scientists
imprint: mountains of fuzz guitar, John Fogerty-inspired twang, and
inventive, deceptively simple rhythms. Success loomed and Rixon, with
impeccable timing, quit. With drummer Leanne Chock, the band released an LP
of re-recordings, Weird Love (1986), with one 'new' song, a version of
Nancy Sinatra's "You Only Live Twice". Then, when Sujdovic also quit,
Salmon, Thewlis and drummer Nick Combe recorded a final LP, The Human
Jukebox (1987), toured Australia with Rixon playing bass, and called it a
day.

Salmon formed Kim Salmon & The Surrealists; Boris Sujdovic formed the
Dubrovniks with James Baker and Rod Radalj; Tony Thewlis formed The
Interstellar Villains; Brett Rixon died of a heroin overdose on Christmas
Eve 1993.

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[Image] Absolute (1991; Sub Pop). A comprehensive selection of The
        Scientists (MK II) from "Swampland" to The Human Jukebox, including
the magnificent, sprawling "Backwards Man". At some desert crossroad, the
weedy, high-speed drill bit of "Rev Head" screams towards collision with
the Mack truck roo-bar of "Demolition Derby". Who would argue with these
guys?

Danella Taylor

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Taken from the Rough Guide to Rock. © Rough Guides Ltd. First edition
published Aug 96 / Nov 96 (USA). Distributed by Penguin.
WEB MASTER: Al Spicer. DESIGN AND SCRIPTING Henry Iles & Ben Rudder.


**************************
Peter Sondergeld
p.sondergeld at qut.edu.au

"I'm no stranger to hard work - more of a nodding acquaintance"   - D.G. Harris