_{The classic early Saints line-up with reformation participants, drummer Ivor Hay and guitarist Ed Kuepper at front, and Chris Bailey at the rear.}

The Saints reformation has turned ugly with the Estate of late frontman Chris Bailey going public with a condemnation.

In a tersely-worded media statement released overnight, Chris Bailey’s Family and Estate questioned the decision to reform The Saints with Mark Arm from Mudhoney replacing the late singer who passed away two years ago.

“Neither the late singer’s family, nor the Chris Bailey Estate, were informed or consulted, on this decision,” the statement said. “We are surprised that Mark Arm agreed to do this without consultation.”

The statement said the Estate owns “The Saints” name and its primary objective is “to honour Chris Bailey’s memory and the Saints significant legacy with integrity”.

It went on: “More importantly, Ed Kuepper and his management team, Feel Presents, also recently put out unauthorised merchandise and reissues without any consultation with the Estate and were eventually forced to change the name to The Saints 1973-1978  and promised not to do anything else without consultation.

“Furthermore, there have been attempts in interviews to reduce or negate the role Chris Bailey played in the original Saints.” 

Online reaction to the self-described reformation had been generally positive and in his only interview, Mark Arm paid tribute to Chris Bailey.

He told the ABC: "I'm kind of overwhelmed and super excited," he says. "I just hope to God that I do everyone proud. It's kind of frightening. It's a lot to take on. I don't want to fuck this up.

"I want to be true to Chris and try to honour him.

"I'm not going to just scream my way through Saints songs: That doesn't make sense. I'm focusing on trying to get the attitude and the delivery… I want to do it right.

“It's not about me. This isn't about me at all. I just get to participate in it."

Comment has been sought from the Kuepper camp. Tickets for the shows go on sale today at 0900 (AEST) here.

Meanwhile, the Bailey Estate revealed that Chris Bailey had been working on a new Saints album at the time of his death and has released a posthumous video single. A Saints website recently went online.