A lunchtime interview with Tim Farriss turns out to be a really incredible conversation about how easy it is to get what you want - when you've got the right attitude. It's hard to believe that anyone is so positive about life! But that's why INXS is one of the hottest bands in the world. Tim shares his secrets with Daphne Sider.
Strong words. And he believes them. Well, how do you think INXS became so popular? Tim says they wanted to be number one in the world, so they went to bed at night believing that they would be ... and now they are. Before I get into the lifestyles of the rich and famous, you've got to hear more about this amazing attitude.
"It's all in the way you program your mind to believe something to be true," says Tim. "In other words, there's no God unless you believe there is, and then there is a God."
Sure, I kind of agree. But there are some things you can't change, such as the beliefs and opinions of other people.
"I think there's a fine line between facts and beliefs. I believe everyone makes things happen for themselves. That's my whole philosphopy on life."
OK, it might be easy for Tim to get everything he wants, but why don't other people?
"Because they don't believe they will. I wanted to win a fishing tournament this year - so I did. I went to bed at night and pictured myself winning a trophy. It's not hope, it's knowing. And another thing, nobody does anything they don't want to do."
What about work? Aren't people forced to work?
"Forced by what? Chains? They want to contribute to society so they work. Don't you see what I am getting at? It's a belief in the self and that's the way INXS works. We don't sit around just talking to each other for hours and hours on end.
"We're a team of guys. People call us 'The League Force'. We jet off or drive into another city, do the biz (live shows and interviews) and then jet off to the next place. It's a continual thing around the world. We try to direct everybody around us to think the same way as we do - and it works! It's magnetic."
This guy works like a computer!
"You can program your mind. (This guy is a computer) Just imagine you have a computer in your head. When you want something to happen in your life you program it into the computer, push the 'go' button and then forget about it. It just happens. It just works! If you believe this then you'll find it a lot easier to achieve the things you want."
Let's talk about emotional things like love and relationships. What if you love someone and they don't feel the same way about you?
"There have been very few people in the world who have felt the same way about each other. Everyone thinks differently. With love and stuff like that, it depends on the people. I can't say because I'm not some Romeo running around trying to score girls. I don't know what that's like. I've had a steady relationship for years"."
So you don't know what it's like to be rejected?
"No, not really. But I imagine rejection would be a horrible thing - the worst thing in the world."
LOVE AND GIRLS
"Girls get to meet their idols all the time, the ones who are really persistent, that is. The ones that have always thought they would get to meet us usually do, and the first thing they say is, 'I never believed I'd ever get to do this'."
What about the girls who always thought they would marry you?
"Well, they couldn't have. Do you think they want to marry me or just sleep with me?"
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's beside the point. When you get down to it, don't you think that the idea of some girl wanting to marry you is just as wild a suggestion as you guys from Western Australia thinking that one day you'll be the hottest rock band in the world?
"I don't believe a girl would have the same conviction about marrying me as I have about being number one in the universe. But if that was so ... I don't want to meet her!"
AMERICA IS NUTS!
"When we meet fans in the US, it's usually backstage because we're completely sheltered from the public. We travel under different names and when we get back to the hotel room after a show, it's swamped with security guards. On our floor, there are five guys patrolling the stairs and elevators.
"It's nuts! If there's a party after the show, it usually means we're just standing there signing autographs for an hour and a half until we get out of there. It always happens. By the end of a tour no one from the band hangs around backstage. We just go home and crash out in front of the television or something.
"Sometimes at the hotel afterwards we'd have a party room. If you want to know what it's like, you walk into a room and all around the walls there are girls (probably models) just swarming around. They may as well have numbers on them and you can say, I'll take 18 and 20."
You're kidding! Am I naive or does this stuff really happen?
"Yeah, it's like a welcome, you know what I mean? Every night!
"That sort of thing has been going on for years. It's just an accepted part of life in the rock business. But none of us is into it. We're far more down-to-earth people. Most of us are completely and utterly revolted by that sort of thing. In the past we may have taken advantage of it on a few occassions but we're all ... past it, I supposed. Anyway, the guys in the band would rather meet girls in a different sort of situation.
"Being on the road is just wild. Everyone wants their photo take with you and there are radio people for you to meet every night, local journalists and even huge retail chain outlet owners. I couldn't give a damn about meeting them, but for these people, it's highly important that they meet us.
"The stories I've heard of what people go through to meet us are unbelievable. The richest man in America went through an intense ordeal to try to get his kids to meet us. He was offering us his yacht - the biggest one in New York Harbour - so we could spend as much time on it as we wanted. But we declined the offer ... because he's the richest man in America.
"Also, Jean-Paul Gaultier (top French designer) came to our show in Paris and wanted to meet us afterwards. When we heard the record company had given him the tickets we were furious. The guys in the band, collectively, would have spent close to $50,000 buying Jean-Paul Gaultier clothes - and he didn't even pay for his ticket to see us! They were $20 each. The jacket I'm wearing is worth $1200."
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
If you're a member of a rock band that can afford to spend $50,000 on clothes, exactly how do you rock around the world?
"Are we flying on a Concord? Does the hotel bathroom have a spa? When you spend so much time touring and you're away from a comfortable home, you don't want to hate it by spending nights in dives."
And who can argue with Tim? Most of the guys in INXS like Australia more than anywhere else in the world. The exception is Jon who's more into living in America these days. It probably has a lot to do with his American girlfriend Lisa. Tim adds that Jon's pretty well into a high standard of living and, in a place like Dallas, you can buy a Porsche for around $30,000.
ENGLAND'S NOT MUCH FUN
"I couldn't stand living in a place like England. To me, the quality of life and the standard of living both suck. We've been touring America for five years and England for only two. The late success in England is because we've kind of had a grudge about the place.
"The fact of the matter is that we haven't done that well on the record charts but we sell an enormous amount of tickets. We can sell out Wembley shows - I don't think Terence Trent DArby's ever done that and he's had the number one album there for months. It really makes me sick that English journalists think we're a lot more hip now.
"That nauseates me because I don't particularly want the English press to like us. I really couldn't care less ... or at all. And I mean that in all sincerity. If there's one thing I've gained from the success of the band, it's a total disregard for what the press thinks anyway."
IS MICHAEL A SEX SYMBOL?
The INXS guys have learned to be very careful about where they go and who they're with. As Tim explains, "If you're a girl and you've been seen talking to Michael, then it's an affair."
A strange thing to have to live with, but Tim reckons Michael was basically ready for it. But the whole "sex symbol" bit has changed him a little - he's definately grown up.
"Michael's a completely different person to the Michael that came to Perth to sing with The Farriss Brothers a long time ago. He wasn't some singer we picked up, he was just a friend of Andrew's from school.
"I've seen changes in Michael all his life and I think he's settling down. For all the success and the references to being a sex symbol her gets, he seems to be far more at peace with himself than he was before and that makes him a happier person.
"I know he went through a lot of pain. And his split last year from his long term girlfriend really hurt him a lot. I know it hurt her a lot too, but it was inevitable. Michael would probably agree that she's better off now. as Michael's been quoted as saying before, "I wouldn't want to go out with me'."
Would anyone really want to be the girlfriend of one of you guys?
"It depends. I think so. Because we're a family, you know."
We've had more than a decade of INXS. Since The Farriss Brothers formed in 1977, the line up of Michael Hutchence (vocals), Tim Farriss (guitar), Jon Farriss (drums), Andrew Farriss (keyboards, guitar), Kirk Pengilly (guitar, saxophone) and Garry Gary Beers (bass guitar) has remained unchanged.
They became INXS in 1979 and played their first live show at the Oceanview Hotel in Toukley, NSW. The beginning of an incredible recording career came in 1980 with the debut single, "Simple Simon / We Are The Vegetables", no doubt a collectors item by now. And then came the tours: Fear And Loathing, The Campus Tour, Stay Young Tour ... right up to the present Kick Tour which includes heaps of dates around Australia in October.
Currently INXS is working on a live album as well as another studio album. And just for the record, the songs you listen to are from the writing team of Michael and Andrew. That's not to say the other's can't do it, but as Tim says, Michael and Andrew write hits.
How long will all this last?
"For as long as we make it last," says Tim. "As long as everyone in the band is totally aware of each other's necessities and desires like we always have been, it will last.
"After this tour, I think we may put an end to the incessant touring and go the other way for the first time in our career. We'll make albums and tour just for fun. It's not like we need to tour the world of more experience or anything like that. An INXS gig may soon become more like an event.
"We won't really fade out, it's just that we won't be working on the road constantly. Most probably we'll be working in the studio doing solo stuff, and still trying to make better albums together, producing records for other people, writing songs for other people, making shark videos ... "
Making shark videos is for real! Tim Farriss is a very keen fisherman. He plans to make rock 'n' roll shark fishing movies. No one's going to get attacked by them but it may get a little horrific in places, just for fun.
But for the moment, INXS is playing in America and the guys are coming home via Japan and New Zealand. If you're reading this on August 10, say happy birthday to Jon. If it's the 16th, it's happy birthday time for Tim.