Laughing Clowns
Along with The Birthday Party, The Go-Betweens, The Moodists and The Triffids, the Laughing Clowns also spent extended periods in Europe during the early 1980s, and gained an international cult status.
[1][2] In late 1978 Kuepper had quit punk rock band, The Saints, in London – where they had relocated from Brisbane – due to a rift with fellow founder, Chris Bailey regarding future direction .
[3][5] Each track appeared elsewhere: "On the Waterfront" on The Saints' first post-Kuepper EP, Paralytic Tonight, Dublin Tomorrow (March 1980) and "Laughing Clowns" provided Kuepper's new band's name and was included on their self-titled six-track mini-album in May that year.
[1] Laughing Clowns made their public debut in August 1979, immediately encountering both confusion and antipathy from The Saints' fans who expected a more abrasive punk sound.
[1] The Saints' Prehistoric Sounds had not received a local release via EMI until 1979, so Laughing Clowns performed various tracks from that album in their early sets – including "The Prisoner" and "Swing for the Crime".
Later in the year, Ben's cousin and former guitarist in the Melbourne-based version of Crime & the City Solution as well as The Love, Dan Wallace-Crabbe, joined the group on piano.
[8]: 101 The group's second release, a three-track EP, Sometimes, the Fire Dance...., appeared on the Prince Melon imprint in February 1981 – a label run by then-manager, Ken West, and Kuepper.
Jonathan Green of The Canberra Times felt the EP had "[s]uper songs, especially the A side, which strikes the odd emotional chord (sob), from one of the most challenging bands in the country.
[1][2][8]: 94 The line-up of Doyle, Kuepper and Wegener continued as a three-piece exploring much freer arrangements, and drawing from the band's mutual interest in free jazz.
[7] Jim Green, of TrouserPress, summarised the group's history and described this album as displaying "a shift in the lineup brought in a new saxman and bassist (playing acoustic stand-up) and dropped the pianist.
[1][2] By the end of 1982,[1][2] the group had temporarily split due to internal tensions, and Wegener joined The Birthday Party for a tour of the Netherlands early the following year.
It was recorded during the latter half of 1983 in Sydney and released in April 1984 on the newly formed label, Hot, and included contributions from pianist Chris Abrahams.
The Canberra Times reviewer, Debbie Muir, noted its "innovative, though frankly bitter, style that's not punk or new wave or straight rock but just its unpretentious self".
In September 2005 Tim Ritchie of Radio National reviewed their 3× CD compilation album, Cruel but Fair (The Complete Clowns Recordings), and described their style as "so singular, so 'not part of the trends' that they would either have people walking out of gigs in droves, or have them swear they were witness to something akin to greatness".
[15] The anthology was released on 3 October 2005 to further critical acclaim, Donat Tahiraj of Time Off magazine declared they were "the most inventive and innovative Australian band of the post-punk era".
Subsequently, Wegener joined Kuepper's touring band, The Kowalski Collective, and appeared on his concept album, Jean Lee and the Yellow Dog (September 2007).
