The Beasts of Bourbon's music has often been compared to that of a rougher Rolling Stones (whose 'Cocksucker Blues' they covered), The Gun Club (who they played with and who some Beasts filled in for) and The Birthday Party. In Germany, the band were described as 'Muddy Waters on crack'. Their music is a tough amalgam of country music, blues, rock and roll and punk parsed through the garage sound of The Stooges and the drunken mayhem of Australian pub rock. It often touches on themes of depravity, morbidity, despair, drug abuse and violence.
The group were initially thrown together by vocalist Tex Perkins to fulfill a booking his previous band, Tex Deadly and the Dum-Dums, could no longer make. The band began playing together in small venues in Sydney. The initial version of the group included Spencer P. Jones of The Johnnys, Boris Sudjovic and Kim Salmon of The Scientists and James Baker of The Hoodoo Gurus. Recruited in large part because they were often found in the Southern Cross, an inner-city Sydney bar, these members form what is considered by some to be the 'classic' line-up. This lineup was featured on the band's first album, The Axeman's Jazz, recorded in 1984 in a single afternoon for one hundred dollars by Tony Cohen. The album was an excursion into deranged Gothic country and western, with a strong sense of irony and irreverence toward country music's clichés. A cover of "Psycho" was a hit on alternative radio. Although the album became an underground success, the band continued, for the time being, to be just a side project for its members until 1988.
The Beasts of Bourbon grew from simply being a side project to become a true supergroup of the Australian pub rock scene. The original line-up fell apart in 1984 when the Scientists left Australia to tour overseas; fill-ins included Stu Spasm of Lubricated Goat and Brad Shepard of The Hoodoo Gurus. When both the Johnnys and the Scientists fell apart, however, the original line-up reunited in 1987, to record another album, Sour Mash in 1988. The swamp-rock of The Axeman's Jazz had given way to a fusion of blues-based pub rock and punk with great effect. Black Milk, recorded in 1990, expanded on this idea.
The band grew particularly confident and powerful while touring Europe on the back of Sour Mash and grew in popularity. In 1991, Baker and Sujdovic left to be replaced by Brian Hooper and Tony Pola - the bassist and drummer of Kim Salmon's new band, The Surrealists. This line-up (considered by other fans to be the 'classic' line-up) recorded the highly popular album The Low Road in 1991. The band disintegrated in Europe while touring to support the album.
A double album of live tracks and rarities, titled The Belly of the Beasts - Live '91 & '92 and shit we didn't put out the first time was released to mark the group's ten years together, and the group toured extensively in support of the album. Following the tour, it appeared as if the Beasts would announce their demise. Salmon left the group to concentrate on the Surrealists and Perkins' group The Cruel Sea was achieving huge success with their album The Honeymoon is Over.
In 1996, the group reformed with former Divinyl Charlie Owen on guitar and released Gone in 1997. The album received lukewarm reviews, but managed to produce a minor single in the form of Saturated. In 1997 the band went on hiatus.
In 2003, they reformed to record a live album, Low Life, released on Spooky Records. In 2006, they reformed to play in the Big Day Out Festival around Australia and New Zealand.
In late December 2006 it was announced that Albert Productions had signed an exclusive worldwide recording deal with the band and they are set to unleash their new album ‘Little Animals’ on April 21st 2007.
Tex Perkins said ” The Alberts label releases have been a huge influence on the Beasts of Bourbon, so to be signed to this legendary label is not only a great honour and the start of an exciting new chapter in the bands history, it feels like…..Destiny”
Recently the group played alongside other Autralian bands and artists at the [Rockin' for Rights] concert which protested the unfair Workchoices legislation of the Howard Government.
After a show in Berlin in April 2008, the group cancelled their remaining tour dates and ended the band. Rumours say that a heated drunken argument between Tex Perkins and Spencer P Jones forced Spencer to return to Australia immediately with no intention of continuing the Beasts project.
Fake
Beasts of Bourbon Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Who you say I am
I have no history
I'll always be the wrong man
Forgotten all my lessons
All my mistakes
I put my hand back into the fire
It's a fake
'Cause I don't know myself
In your search for truth
Don't bother lookin' in my eyes
To say the truth would blind me
I'm just another in a long line of lies
I'm a fake
Imitate
'Cause I don't know myself
What else?
I'm a fake
'Cause I don't know myself
Don't know what else
I'm a fake
In Beasts of Bourbon's song Fake, the lyrics speak of a distorted self-image and doubt. The opening line, "I can only be who you say I am," immediately sets the tone for the song. The singer is questioning his identity as it is defined by external factors, rather than his own self-reflection. As he says in the next line, "I have no history," indicating that he doesn't have a clear path or a knowledge of who he is beyond what others have told him. The line "I'll always be the wrong man" suggests that no matter what he does, he will never be able to please those around him.
The chorus "It's a fake, 'cause I don't know myself" emphasizes this lack of self-awareness. The lyrics "In your search for truth, don't bother looking in my eyes" further elaborate on this idea, suggesting that the singer is not comfortable with exposing his true self to others. To speak the truth would "blind" him, as it would confront him with his own lies and insecurities.
The song is a powerful commentary on the struggle for self-awareness, the pressure to conform to societal expectations, and the difficulty of living authentically in a world that often values conformity over individuality.
Line by Line Meaning
I can only be
I am limited to being someone that you allow me to be
Who you say I am
My identity is defined by your perception of me
I have no history
I have no past that I can take pride in or recall with significance
I'll always be the wrong man
No matter what I do or who I try to become, I will never be the right person
Forgotten all my lessons
I have disregarded all the valuable experiences and teachings that should have shaped me
All my mistakes
I have failed to learn anything from my errors and repeated them instead
I put my hand back into the fire
I knowingly engage in destructive behavior despite the consequences
My self portrait is a fake
The image I have of myself is a lie or an illusion
'Cause I don't know myself
I lack self-awareness and a clear understanding of who I am
In your search for truth
If you are looking for honesty and genuineness
Don't bother lookin' in my eyes
You won't find it in me, don't even try
To say the truth would blind me
Being honest would make me realize how much of a fraud I am
I'm just another in a long line of lies
I am just one of many deceptions that have been practiced
Imitate
I copy and pretend to be someone else to fit in or impress others
What else?
What more can be said or done when the situation seems impossible?
I'm a fake
I am a phony or a counterfeit
'Cause I don't know myself
I am fake because I lack introspection and truthful self-evaluation
Don't know what else
I am clueless about how to be authentic or find my true identity
I'm a fake
I continue to deceive myself and others by pretending to be someone I am not
Contributed by Claire T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.