Laughing Clowns, sometimes written as The Laughing Clowns, are a post punk band who formed in Sydney in 1979. In five years, the band released: three LPs, two mini albums, and various singles and compilations. Laughing Clowns' sound is free jazz, bluegrass and krautrock influenced. The band formed to accommodate Ed Kuepper's growing interest expanding the brass-driven sounds created on The Saints third album, Prehistoric Sounds, and by adopting flattened fifth notes in a rock and roll setting while using a modern jazz styled band line-up.