Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).
(I'm) Stranded (1976)
When you think of punk pioneers, you might think of bands like the Ramones, Sex Pistols and the Damned. But there were others making similar sounds around the same time, such as the Australian band The Saints.
Formed in 1973 as Kid Galahad in Brisbane by singer Chris Bailey, guitarist Ed Kuepper and drummer Ivor Hay, the band was inspired by '50s rockers like Little Richard and Elvis Presley and proto-punk acts like the Stooges and MC5. Renamed the Saints in 1974, they played sped-up versions of covers by Del Shannon and Ike and Tina Turner and would often have their gigs raided by police in their very conservative state. Eventually, Bailey and Hay converted the house they lived in to a club so they had a venue they could play shows in.
In June 1976, the band recorded two self-produced songs, "(I'm) Stranded" and "No Time," but couldn't find a label to release them so they created their own label. The song was the first independently produced rock single in Australia, and it beat all the English punk acts to the market, although the Ramones released their first album a few months earlier.
They sent the single to radio stations and magazines in Australia and the U.K., and Sounds magazine's reviewer raved about the song, calling it the "single of this and every week." EMI reached out to its Sydney office and ordered that the Saints be signed to a three-album deal.
There's a reason that reviewer went nuts over "(I'm) Stranded)": It's a bona fide ripper, complete with buzzsaw guitars and Bailey's sneering delivery. Kuepper wrote the song while taking a midnight train ride home.
"Like a snake callin' on the phone/I've got no time to be alone/There is someone comin' at me all the time/Yeah babe, I think I'll lose my mind/'Cause I'm stranded on my own/Stranded far from home, all right."
The Saints recorded an iconic video that shows them playing in an abandoned building, in front of a fireplace that says "(I'm) Stranded" in red letters; the band would pose in front of the same fireplace for the cover of their 1977 debut album of the same name.
"I'm ridin' on a midnight train/But everybody just looks the same/A subway light, its dirty reflection/I'm lost babe, I got no direction/And I'm stranded on my own/Stranded far from home, all right/Stranded, I'm so far from home/Stranded, yeah I'm on my own/Stranded, you gotta leave me alone/'Cause I'm stranded on my own/Stranded far from home/Come on!"
After signing to EMI, the Saints opened for AC/DC in late '76 before relocating to Sydney and then to London. The label wanted them to dress "more punk," with spiky hair and ripped clothes, but the Saints refused. The band's second album, 1978's Eternally Yours, found them moving into R&B-influenced rock, and then their 1979 album Prehistoric Sounds was jazz-blues, which didn't sell well at all. EMI dropped the band, which was already splintering as Kuepper and Bailey were at odds over the group's sound; Bailey wanted to play rock and pop and Kuepper was interested in avant-garde music.
Kuepper, Hay and bassist Algy Ward left the Saints in early 1979. Bailey continued on with new members, while Kuepper played with Laughing Clowns and later, the punk-sounding Aints. Hay played in the Sydney-based the Hitmen before rejoining Bailey in the Saints. The Saints released five albums in the '80s, focusing on Australia, although the 1988 single "Grain of Sand" hit #11 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. The group went on hiatus in the '90s while Bailey released solo albums. The Saints released more albums over the years, but the original lineup reunited for occasional gigs as well. Bailey died in 2022 at the age of 65.
After announcing a box set of the first Saints album, Kuepper and Hay reformed the band for an Australian tour next month for the band's 50th anniversary with Mudhoney's Mark Arm on vocals and Mick Harvey (The Birthday Party/Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) on guitar.
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