'One Of The Last Things We'll Ever Do': Tex Perkins' On The Beasts' 35th Anniversary 'Black Milk' Celebration

When it comes to the vast history and the storied discography of the great Beasts Of Bourbon, it's hard to pick just one solitary album that helps to sum up the band's eclectically-dangerous sound.

Having first formed in the early '80s, the band's sporadic existence ran parallel to its members' other projects. While Tex Perkins was up the front, The Johnnys' Spencer P. Jones was on guitar, the Hoodoo Gurus' James Baker sat behind the kit, and The Scientists' mainstays Kim Salmon and Boris Sudjovic could be found on guitar and bass, respectively.

A reputation for frenetic live sets paired with a number of albums that would arrive over the years, with third album – 1990's Black Milk – becoming the band's first to hit the charts (albeit it at a not insignificant No. 142).

As the years faded away, however, priorities changed, the line-up shifted, other bands took precedence, and the Beasts Of Bourbon's sporadic existence became even more sporadic. By 2018, things began looking a little different. That year saw the passing of Jones and longtime bassist Brian Henry Hooper, and the seemingly-inactive outfit returned the following year, albeit under the name The Beasts.

While a new record under this moniker would arrive, the ensuing years would feature little more than occasional live dates, allowing fans to relive the experience of one of the country's most dangerous bands. 

But as the line-ups would change, so too would fans' belief that another show may take place, with each and every additional gig serving as something of a bonus to their dedicated fanbase. When it was announced in May 2025 that Baker had passed away at the age of 71, the door seemed all but shut given the dwindling membership of The Beasts.

However, this September will see The Beasts take to the stage once again, this time on September 12th at Melbourne’s Forum Theatre in support of 1990's Black Milk album and its 35th anniversary. Supported by Cash Savage, The Johnnys, Ezra Lee, and set to include some special guests, it's a celebratory event, though one that Perkins admits is a strange one, especially given that 35th anniversaries usually aren't the done thing.

"The reason why we did anything up until now in these latter years was usually to send off somebody or pay tribute to one of our ever-growing number of fallen members," Perkins explains. "The two last recordings that Kim, Boris, Charlie [Owen] and I, along with Tony Pola and James Baker – who's now gone – have literally been concept albums about the passing of our friends.

"It was kind of like a report from the Beasts Of Bourbon and we paid tribute to exiting members or recently exited members.

"But Black Milk's 35th anniversary; an unusual number, 35th," he continues. "It was instigated by our promoter, and will be essentially another chance for us to pay tribute to James, Spencer, Tony and Brian, but with the recent passing of James, we'll be taking the opportunity to directly pay tribute to him."

Of course, celebrating an album such as Black Milk in the shadow of recent loss might be a bit of a double-edged sword for both fans and the band; a bittersweet experience that is both nostalgic and – as Perkins agrees due to a misheard descriptor over the phone line – potentially risky. 

"I did think, 'Is this too soon to do?'" Perkins explains. "But wrapping in the context of James's passing, it's not sort of like, 'Oh, carry on,' it's more that this train doesn't stop. 

"I thought it was a good idea to speak to Cath, James's widow to see how she felt about it and she gave it her blessings on behalf of James."

Most importantly though, the show isn't solely a celebration of fallen comrades, but rather it presents an interesting opportunity for fans in that it's likely their last chance to catch these songs in a live capacity.

"To tell you the truth, it's very likely one of the last things we'll ever do," Perkins admits. "Even though the promoters approached us and said, 'How about 35th anniversary of Black Milk?' I would personally pick any number of them to pay tribute to.

"But maybe Black Milk is an interesting one. Because it when Spencer and James, who are both passed, were in the band and it's the last album that was made by that original group.

"I'm always wrapping it up as 'this is possibly the last time we'll do this,' and especially in this way," he continues. "Even though it's about Black Milk, it's going to be about much more than that. It's going to be specifically about change and it probably will be a celebration of what the Beasts Of Bourbon has meant to people."

While the likes of Dave Graney will join the group on stage for a rendition of Blue Stranger ("That was kind of our attempt to do a kind of '50s doo-wop soul thing," Perkins remembers), they'll also be joined by Helen Rose, who originally performed vocals on the likes of Words From A Woman To Her Man.

Songs such as those are indicative of just how eclectic this album is in the Beasts Of Bourbon's catalogue. While 1991's follow-up, The Low Road would feature Chase The Dragon, which would become arguably their best known song (and later inspire covers from acts as diverse as Machine Gun Fellatio and Civic), Black Milk remains a snapshot of a band who were pushing against the grain.

As Perkins remembers, much of the album was written during their 1989 tour of Europe with tracks like Bad Revisited being inspired by Jones' amusement with European traffic signs, and the record's softer side being – surprisingly – presented by the traditionally-loud Salmon.

"As a band, we were interested in exploring that other aspect of the Beasts Of Bourbon," Perkins remembers. "We'd grown to be known as being sort of loose and grungy, and the last album, Sour Mash was sort of deliberately hard – I mean, it had Hard For You on it.

"It was kind of this tough sort of sound; it was pre-grunge, but they were using that word. But we wanted to sort of say, 'Ah, well, you we're that? Well, check out Cool Fire' and these deliberately sort of jazzy, soft numbers that, had  a strange quality. I think Kim was quite influenced by David Lynch and the music that would appear in David Lynch's films."

The question is, then, for a band who had decided to effectively rebel against what had been expected of them, what was the reaction like? As Perkins remembers, the European response was quite succinct.

"The Europeans went, 'Oh, you're not as filthy and dirty as you used to be,'" he remembers, adopting a faux-European accent. "I mean, there were things on there like Let's Get Funky, which is a Hound Dog Taylor cover, but it was just our chance to do this insane kind of boogie thing. 

"So it has the 'dirty' stuff, and it's also got I'm So Happy I Could Cry which got this play out, which has this wild sort of feedback. I think with Black Milk, we gave them a bit of what they expected, and then a quite a bit of 'What the fuck?'"

Ultimately, a show such as this gives Perkins and his bandmates the chance to reflect on an album which stands tall in the group's catalogue as something of an oddity.

Their longest record (both in terms of time and song quantity), it's a record worth revisiting, though one which Perkins remembers as being "over-eclectic" and lacking a "real focus." This, however, can be largely chalked up to technological advancements, of all things.

"Back when it was released, I think there was supposed to be 14 songs on the main album, which is already a lot," he recalls. "But then in the CD format, which was the secondary format at the time; vinyl albums were still the thing, but there was this other thing called CDs are starting to emerge.

"To encourage people to buy that, you would put your B-sides on the CD as well. "So then it becomes sort of this 16-track album with these tracks that weren't even meant to go on there, or weren't considered quite up to scratch to go on the main album, but they ended up on the CD."

Indeed, if one were to track down an original vinyl copy of Black Milk, you'd find that the 14-song tracklisting omits both You Let Me Down and Blanc Garcon. An initial pressing in Germany did, however, include those tracks on a bonus single packaged with the record.

"I personally longed for a much more focused sort of thing," Perkins remembers. "That's why the next album [The Low Road] is 10 songs and it has a very deliberate… I mean, it's got lots of dynamic itself, but it's less sort of schizophrenic. 

"But having said that, Black Milk has more songs on it that we have played over the years. Despite its sort of eclectic and unfocused nature, we played a lot of those songs in our set for a long time."

Though "eclectic and unfocused" by his own admission, Black Milk also represents a point in the Beasts Of Bourbon's history when everyone was firing on all cylinders and making some of the best work of their career. 

"It was everybody's main game at that time," Perkins states. "Spencer wasn't writing his stuff; he hadn't started his solo thing yet, and The Johnnys were over by then, so all his writing was going towards the Beasts. 

"And same with Kim. There was a period of time where, before that, The Surrealists was taking a lot of his time, but there was this short period of time where we were all sort of focused on the Beasts, and Black Milk is the best of everyone's writing."

The Beasts will perform at Melbourne's Forum Theatre on Friday, September 12th. Tickets to the show are on sale now.

The Beasts – Black Milk 35th Anniversary

With Cash Savage, The Johnnys & Ezra Lee

Friday, September 12th – The Forum, Melbourne, VIC