When you play as many shows and Kim Salmon, both with his bands The Scientists, The Surrealists, The Beasts of Bourbon or the many other guises Kim works under including his solo work, there will be ... special shows that you remember as being ... special.
One such show was a solo show Kim did in 1992 in Richmond, Melbourne. He set up his amp and guitar at the Central Club that night and ran through a kind of best of set of songs he'd written and co-written up to that point along with a couple of covers unaware that "Heppy", his sound guy was recording the set on DAT through the desk.
Andrew Hepburn gave Kim a cassette copy of the show explaining that it was a great show, a great performance, it was special.
Kim eventually dubbed some cassette copies to sell on merch stands of his shows. These cassettes eventually became legendary in Kim Salmon circles. Who got one originally? Who still had theirs? Was yours chewed up in the car stereo?
Fast forward 25 years and Kim and I are talking about another release after the Live at Tym guitars 12" released in March 2017. He mentioned "the cassette" and said he'd always thought it deserved a broader release.
As Kim only had one copy of the cassette he dropped it off next time he was in Brisbane. It was nerve-wracking process of getting Donnie Miller, who runs Tym studios (and works in the shop) to transfer this delicate analogue copy to digital so we could listen to it.
Kim's copy was corrupted so we went back to "Who still had theirs?" and eventually got another copy from a friend of Kims, Anthony, who graciously sent his copy, which also had issues (cassettes hey ...)
With some studio magic and mastery by Donnie we ended up with an excellent sounding "master" to press a vinyl version. However it was too long for a 12" at 30 mins a side. Paul at Zenith records in Melbourne went the extra mile (and more) to cut a master this length and it sounds GREAT. I can honestly say we wouldn't have this amazing piece of vinyl with Donnie and Paul.
So, 26 years later Hookline and Singer get's it's official vinyl release. The show that stopped the show. The night the planets aligned and Kim channeled all the greats (of which he is one) and performed a show that was, and will be remembered as "one of those shows" that we are all lucky enough was captured on the night at the desk.
Kim Salmon Hookline and Singer 12" contains 16 of Kim's favourites performed with an electric guitar and the swagger of Kim Salmon and is out exclusively through Tym records HERE and available straight from Kim on merch stands at his upcoming shows.