The Saints’ Ed Kuepper to have Oxley park named in his honour

A CO-FOUNDER of a pioneering Brisbane band is the latest local identity to have a landmark named in their honour.

Ed Kuepper is a veteran of the Brisbane music scene.

A CO-FOUNDER of pioneering punk band The Saints is the latest Brisbane identity to have a landmark named in their honour.

Ed Kuepper will be immortalised with the naming of a park on the corner of Lawson St and Oxley Rd, Oxley, which The Guardian reported was not far from his childhood home.

A spokeswoman for local councillor Steve Griffiths confirmed the honour today.

Guitarist-songwriter Kuepper, singer-songwriter Chris Bailey and drummer Ivor Hay were schoolmates at Oxley State High School when they formed The Saints in 1974, their later single (I’m) Stranded and subsequent album of the same name considered a key piece of global punk history.

Kuepper later formed post-punk outfit The Laughing Clowns (1979-85) and The Aints (1991-94).

The Saints (from left) Ed Kuepper, Chris Bailey, Ivor Hay and Kym Bradshaw in Brisbane in 1976.

Former Go-Betweens guitarist and current Queensland University of Technology lecturer John Willsteed said the naming of the park was due recognition for a state cultural icon.

“This town has few cultural icons, and he is definitely one of them,” Mr Willsteed said.

Asked if would he would be one of the first to congratulate Kuepper the next time he was in town, Willsteed jokingly said: “I will be going over there and trashing the place.”

Willsteed has embarked on a mission to start a “blue plaque” campaign, similar to one in the UK, to identify key cultural and historic locations around Brisbane.

One such place on his list is a house on the corner of Petrie Terrace and Milton Rd, Petrie Terrace, where the Saints rehearsed and held impromptu jam sessions.

“I’m working on a plan to start putting plaques on sites with popular cultural and subcultural significance to Brisbane… the idea of marking these places of very important and that’s one of them,” Mr Willsteed said.

Kuepper’s family emigrated to Australia from Germany in the early ’60s.

The 61-year-old told The Guardian he was flattered.

“When I was a kid, I liked being pointed towards where certain things happened,” he said.

“A friend of mine was living across the road from Tony Worsley, who was a local hero, a ’60s garage singer (with The Fabulous Blue Jays).

“That kind of thing really impressed me.

“So yes, I do think it’s nice having little plaques around to point out that such and such a person did this at a certain place, or this incident happened here or there. Be it arts or history, I like it.”

Kuepper’s honour follows other similar namings in the region in recent years, such as the Go Between Bridge in Brisbane’s CBD and Bee Gees Way at Redcliffe.