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| label = | associated_acts = | website = | current_members = * Ed Kuepper * Jeffrey Wegener * Louise Elliott * Leslie 'Bif' Millar * Alister Spence | past_members = * Bob Farrell * Ben Wallace-Crabbe * Dan Wallace-Crabbe * Peter Milton Walsh * Dianne Spence * Glad Reed * Paul Smith * Peter Doyle }} Laughing Clowns, sometimes written as The Laughing Clowns, are a post punk band who formed in Sydney in 1979. In five years, the band released: three LPs, two mini albums, and various singles and compilations. Laughing Clowns' sound is free jazz, bluegrass and krautrock influenced. The band formed to accommodate Ed Kuepper's growing interest expanding the brass-driven sounds created on The Saints third album, ''Prehistoric Sounds'', and by adopting flattened fifth notes in a rock and roll setting while using a modern jazz styled band line-up. Along with The Birthday Party, The Go-Betweens, The Moodists and The Triffids, the Laughing Clowns also sought fame in Europe during the early '80s, and gained an international cult status. All four aforementioned groups have cited Laughing Clowns as an influence at some point in their respective careers. ==Early years 1979-81== Laughing Clowns were formed in April 1979 in Sydney as a rock, soul, avant-jazz group by Bob Farrell on saxophone, Ed Kuepper on lead guitar and lead vocals (ex-Kid Galahad and the Eternals, The Saints), Ben Wallace-Crabbe on bass guitar, and Jeffrey Wegener on drums (ex-The Saints, Last Words, Young Charlatans).〔〔 In late 1978 Kuepper had quit punk rock band, The Saints, in London – where they had relocated – due to a rift regarding future direction with fellow founder, Chris Bailey.〔〔 Kuepper preferred "less commercial, more cerebral material" as seen on the band's third album, ''Prehistoric Sounds'' (October 1978).〔〔 When Kuepper returned to Australia in 1978 he had contemplated musical retirement,〔 however he reconnected with two old school friends, Farrell and Wegener, at a party and they coaxed him into forming a new band. Both Farrell and Wegener had associations with The Saints: Wegener was an early member in 1975 and Farrell was one of the Flat Top Four, which performed backing vocals on "Kissin' Cousins" for that band's debut album, ''(I'm) Stranded'' (February 1977). Ben Wallace-Crabbe had played in a Melbourne band, The Love, with Wegener, and completed the initial line-up.〔 A proposed single by The Saints, "Laughing Clowns" / "On the Waterfront", through EG Records was not recorded by that group due to the difference of opinion between Kuepper and Bailey.〔〔 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 their self-titled six-track mini-album in May that year.〔 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. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, noted that "Part of the problem was that the band's sound defied categorisation. Having to overcome such ludicrous labels as 'jazz-punk' ... () was diverse yet moody, at turns melodic or dissonant. It ranged from rock and soul to avant-jazz".〔 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, Dan Wallace-Crabbe (also ex-The Love), joined the group on piano.〔〔〔 This five-piece incarnation recorded ''Laughing Clowns'' at Richmond Recorders in Melbourne with production by Kuepper,〔 and engineering by Tony Cohen. All six tracks were written by Kuepper.〔 Released via Missing Link, it gained favourable reviews in the Australian independent music press. McFarlane opined that the EP was "unlike any other () made in Australia to that point. The music's only parallel lay in latter-day Saints as a logical progression from ''Prehistoric Sounds'', but at the same time it was a departure, a foray into new territory. The open-ended song arrangements were stirring and provocative, but also disconcerting. The production values were cavernous and echoey; a fascinating sound, but very cold and detached".〔 A promotional video for one of its tracks, "Holy Joe", was provided; a rare feat from an Australian independent band of the ''Countdown'' era. Upon the EP's release, they expanded to a six-piece group with Peter Doyle on trumpet.〔〔 This configuration performed at the Paris Theatre in Sydney in November 1980, with The Birthday Party and The Go-Betweens; which marked the last gig with Farrell. Ben also left the group before the year's end and his cousin, Dan followed within a few months.〔 Ben subsequently formed Upside Down House, and later committed suicide.〔 The group were disenchanted with their former label, so their second release, a three-track EP, ''Sometimes, the Fire Dance....'', appeared under the Prince Melon imprint in February 1981 – a label run by then-manager, Ken West, and Kuepper. The label name 'Prince Melon' was the nickname the band had for West.〔 This EP had been recorded in mid-June 1980 with the six-piece line-up, again with Cohen engineering, but had the whole group producing. Jonathan Green of ''The Canberra Times'' felt the EP had "()uper songs, especially the A side, which strikes the odd emotional chord (sob), from one of the most challenging bands in the country. Apparently poppy, with an underlying and sinister atonality".〔 In March 1981 the band released a third EP, ''Laughing Clowns 3'', with five tracks.〔 In July the two Prince Melon EPs were combined to create their first compilation album, ''Throne of Blood/Reign of Terror''.〔〔〔 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. By mid-1981 they gained Louise Elliott on saxophone and flute; and Leslie 'Bif' Millar on fretless and upright bass guitar.〔〔 With this new line-up, the band delved further into jazz-inspired improvisation and experimentation. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Laughing Clowns」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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