The estate of Chris Bailey, the founding lead singer of iconic Australian punk band The Saints, has released a statement in response to a new line-up of the band announced earlier this week.
“Chris Bailey’s Family and the Chris Bailey Estate have questioned the decision to reform The Saints with Mark Arm from Mudhoney replacing Chris Bailey on vocals,” a statement issued overnight, Australian time, read.
“Neither the late singer’s family, nor the Chris Bailey Estate, were informed or consulted on this decision.
“We are surprised that Mark Arm agreed to do this without consultation.”
Bailey died in 2022. An Australian tour from a new version of the band, marketed as The Saints ’73-’78, was announced this week to coincide with a long-awaited box set reissue of the band’s seminal first album, (I’m) Stranded.
Founding members Ed Kuepper and Ivor Hay will appear in this latest iteration of the group. Guitarist Mick Harvey and bassist Peter Oxley are fellow newcomers, alongside Arm.
After Kuepper left the band in 1978, Chris Bailey retained the name The Saints. He toured and released new music under that name with various line-ups encompassing dozens of musicians, until his passing.
Tim Pittman of Feel Presents — who manages Kuepper and is promoting the upcoming The Saints ’73-’78 tour — said he wasn’t surprised to see the statement, but there was no requirement to clear this celebration of the band with the Bailey estate.
“We don’t need to ask anyone to use the name The Saints ’73-’78, and none of the members need to get anyone’s approval to perform the songs that they wrote and recorded,” he said.
“It might be different calling yourself The Saints – I don’t know – but we’re not doing that.”
There is a long history of discussion around the use of the name The Saints, leading Kuepper and Pittman to settle on using the elongated title some time ago.
“The Saints ’73–’78 as a name has been in use since about 2010, firstly as a fan Facebook page, and then the members from that period took it on as an official page,” Pittman said.
“After having agreed to terms with Chris prior to his death, and the other members of The Saints, we use it as the merchandise link to differentiate ourselves from the other Saints.
“The band is called The Saints ’73-’78. They requested of us to use that name moving forward in whatever manner we were using it to promote that era of the band.
“We were already using it anyway, so it was a no-brainer for us to say yes. It was a request, but we were already using it.
“There’s five people who have a stake in that band: Kym [Bradshaw, bassist from 1975-1977], Ed, Chris, Ivor and Algy [Ward, bassist from 1977-1980]. The Bailey estate took exception to the fact that Chris had agreed to everything prior.”
The estate also accused Kuepper and Feel Presents of issuing merchandise without permission.
“Ed Kuepper and his management team, Feel Presents, also recently put out unauthorised merchandise and reissues without any consultation with the Estate and were eventually forced to change the name to The Saints 1973-1978 and promised not to do anything else without consultation,” the statement read.
Pittman refuted those claims.
“The 7″ last year (a reissue of (I’m) Stranded, the band’s classic debut single) and the merchandise was approved by the Bailey estate: the artwork, the idea, and the bank details that they gave me for payment for the supposed unapproved releases,” he said.
Bailey’s estate said it was operating to “honour Chris Bailey’s memory and the Saints’ significant legacy with integrity”, and hit out at reported attempts to undermine Bailey’s role in the band.
“Furthermore, there have been attempts in interviews to reduce or negate the role Chris Bailey played in the original Saints,” the statement read.
The ABC contacted the estate for examples of this, but had not received a response at time of publication.
Speaking with the ABC last week, Mark Arm said paying respect to Chris Bailey was his top priority in this new gig.
“I want to be true to Chris and try to honour him,” he said.
The Saints ’73-’78 will tour Australia this November. The reissue of (I’m) Stranded will be out on November 15.