Ep485: Kim Salmon - The Scientists, The Beasts, Smoked Salmon and more
The Vinyl Guide - Artist Interviews for Record Collectors and Music Nerds
Nate Goyer
4.7 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 10 February 2025
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Australian punk pioneer Kim Salmon details his journey from discovering punk in isolated Perth to making extraordinarily rare and collectible records with The Scientists, The Beasts of Bourbon, Smoked Salmon and more!
Topics Include:
- Kim Salmon has new "Smoked Salmon" album coming February 2025
- Discovered punk through NME magazine articles in 1975
- First heard Ramones after ordering album from Perth record store
- Formed The Cheap Nasties, one of Perth's first punk bands
- The Victims formed after watching Cheap Nasties perform
- Scientists formed when James Baker joined after Victims broke up
- "Frantic Romantic" single: 1000 copies made on DNA Records
- Bomp Records in USA ordered 500 copies, never paid
- Chris Robinson paid $800 for "Frantic Romantic" copy
- Scientists gained popularity touring Australia's east coast
- Band appeared on Countdown TV show, refused staged motorcycles
- Salmon painted original Scientists logo by hand
- Early Perth punk scene was isolated from eastern Australia
- Creedence Clearwater Revival influenced young Salmon's musical development
- Scientists' "Pink Album" recorded as band was breaking up
- "Weird Love" album re-recorded songs due to copyright issues
- Numero Group now handles Scientists' reissue campaign
- More archival Scientists recordings planned for future release
- Salmon stopped writing songs during Melbourne's 2020 lockdown
- Recorded pandemic song "Self Replicator" within 5km radius
- Smoked Salmon started as bushfire fundraiser project
- Recent Beasts album "Ultimo" features collaborative songwriting
- James Baker and Salmon still write songs together
- "Ballad of Rock and Roll" inspired by Mott The Hoople
- Creates watercolor artwork for Smoked Salmon releases
- Perth's isolation affected access to new music
- Scientists performed different styles before settling on sound
- Currently balancing multiple bands and visual art career
Order the new "Smoked Salmon" album from Cheersquad Records
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, record nerds. Have you seen the goat? |
| 0:02.8 | I mean the goat hair wet and dry record brush from Groove washer. |
| 0:07.2 | Clean and care for your records with the true goat of the game, the Groove washer. |
| 0:12.0 | Ask your store or go to groove washer.com. |
| 0:14.7 | Stock up on cleaning supplies and get the goat. |
| 0:17.2 | 10% off with discount code vinyl guide 10. |
| 0:20.9 | Get the goat hair record brush at Groove washer. |
| 0:24.2 | And now on with the show. |
| 0:27.5 | Welcome to the Vinyl Guide, the podcast for record collectors and music nerds. |
| 0:32.3 | Here's your host, the biggest record nerd of them all, Nate Goyer. |
| 0:35.8 | Hey, everyone, it's Nate. |
| 0:38.2 | Welcome to episode 485 of the Vinyl Guide, the podcast for record collectors and music nerds. |
| 0:45.9 | Ladies and gentlemen, I know your time is limited. |
| 0:49.0 | I know it's very valuable, very precious, which is why I very much appreciate it when you |
| 0:53.7 | spend a bit of it with me |
| 0:55.4 | and allow us to talk a little bit of record nerd nonsense into your earholes. And I think again today |
| 1:01.1 | you're going to be glad you tuned in. We are talking with Kim Salmon, who you may know from |
| 1:07.1 | the scientists, from the B-Suburban, from Kim Salmon and the Surrealist. |
| 1:12.7 | He's been an Australian punk pioneer for many, many decades. |
| 1:16.9 | Now, I won't betray his age, but let's just say in the mid-70s, he was ordering Ramon's |
| 1:22.4 | records sight unseen. |
| 1:24.6 | And forming those fantastic bands, like I said said the scientists and the cheap nasties. |
... |
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