The Saints '73-'78 with Chimers

The Saints '73-'78 are playing the King Street Hotel on Thursday 21 January, part of a summer tour across Australia. It's a reunion project fronted by Mudhoney's Mark Arm, and they're touring the 50th anniversary of (I'm) Stranded, the band's debut album from 1977. The night starts at 7:00 pm, with Chimers opening for them.

If you're not familiar with the name, The Saints were one of the first punk bands out of Australia, and (I'm) Stranded is their epochal debut. Rat Scabies of The Damned put it in perspective: he said The Saints were doing in Australia at the same time what the Ramones were doing in New York, totally removed from anything else going on anywhere. That's a fair way to describe it — a loud, raw record that arrived when very little like it existed on this side of the world.

There's a new live album to go with the anniversary, The Saints: Live @ Club '76, recorded in September 1976 at the band's Petrie Terrace rehearsal space, which they used as an ad-hoc venue called Club '76. It catches the original line-up just weeks before the studio album came out, with much of (I'm) Stranded on it, along with songs that would end up on the follow-up Eternally Yours and many of their cover versions. The band also toured the UK as special guests to The Damned on their Final Damnation 50th anniversary tour.

So the set will draw on that early material, with Mark Arm taking the front. The gig is at the King Street Hotel, 15 Steel St, Newcastle, on Thursday 21 January, starting at 7:00 pm with Chimers opening.