The Australian Newspaper, 20th May, 1997
Written by: Jody Scott
INXS guitarist and songwriter Andrew Farriss has just learned that the band is declared an Australian icon in visa documentation in South Africa. "I'm flattered, but don't take it that seriously," he says, laughing.
Nevertheless, Farriss believes the group maintains it's distinctly Australian sound twenty years after its inception, a quality he says puts INXS ahead of their stadium-filling contemporaries U2 and REM. It's an interesting observation by Farriss that INXS's latest album, Elegantly Wasted, has been widely criticized for failing to experiment with new studio sounds, samples and dance grooves.
The American edition of Rolling Stone called the group's 10th studio album "an exercise in nostalgia" by "aging Aussie pin-up boys". Others ranged from calling the album a "dud" to declaring the lyrics "complete tosh", the group's melodic funk-rock style "archaic rock" and the group "a soulless dinosaur".
While both U2 and REM are renowned for reinventing themselves and their sound, some music critics complain INXS are still firmly entrenched in the mid-1980s. As soon as the point is raised, Farriss says he wishes he had not mentioned the two supergroups, but he does not shy away. "Really I think Staring at the Sun sounded exactly like other U2 songs," he says.
Farriss first met U2 - good friends of INXS frontman Michael Hutchence - last year in Dublin when the Irish band was recording its latest album, Pop. Farriss was writing Elegantly Wasted in hotel rooms around the world. "When I met them they were very, very friendly with me because I think for years they had been wondering who I was," he says. "As Edge put it, I am sort of the Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys - you don't see me, but I am there."
U2 invited him into the studio to hear what they were doing on the new record. "Do you understand what I am saying? I had a chance to listen to what they were going to do so if I was going to jump on the bandwagon and come up with a whole lot of music that sounded like U2, I could have done that. And I didn't because I had faith in our music."
Besides, Farriss says INXS discovered sampling, techno and drum loops a decade ago. "The irony of it is our Kick album, which came out in 1988; a lot was done with samples and sequences and that was 10 years ago." So were you ahead of your time? "I think so. I don't see any reason for us now, 10 years later, to suddenly start running around waving a flag saying : 'We're into jungle music, hello, we're into techno, hello, hello.' We feel that's pathetic - let's move on. Everyone else is like, 'Hey let's do techno', and we are like 'You're a bit slow.'"
Farriss says the group's Greatest Hits album, released in 1994 and which included some dance mixes of the hits, has also been overlooked. "What upsets the band a little but is the fact that no one realises or listens to music and can understand that you have been there."
Farriss is also confused by the latest reviews, which claim the group is not doing anything new, and simply says the critics are not listening hard enough. "I think what we have done is not irrelevant and in a way that is very subtle - especially the second half of our album - is very different to what anyone is doing. And that's kind of dangerous."
Despite a four year wait, the arrival of a 10th album was never in question, Farriss says. After the 1993 Full Moon, Dirty Hearts album and 16 years of non-stop touring, the group just felt like a rest. They also had some reorganizing to do after the departure of their manager of 15 years, Chris Murphy.
The new album received the highest praise in the United States because, he says, the Americans are more open-minded and understand INXS better than the trend-driven European market: "They understand us and they invented show business."
The tall poppy syndrome probably drives some members of the Australian music press - "I don't think people can believe how long we have been doing what we have been doing" - but overall everyone has been supportive, he says. The album debuted at 14 locally and the commercial stations have it on high rotation.
Farriss says another problem for INXS at home is that most Australians are unaware of the size of the group's success overseas. Kick had four top 10 singles in the US charts - Need You Tonight, Devil Inside, New Sensation and Never Tear Us Apart - making the group one of the biggest in the world. The group's first nine albums have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.
While the latest album has received its share of lukewarm reviews, it debuted at 16 in Britain, 14 in Canada, 41 in the US and No 1. in Argentina, Poland and Portugal.
INXS manager Paul Craig says the group is one of the few truly global acts : "From Helsinki to Rio, from Venezuela to Indonesia, they really do sell records."
Farriss says that when INXS joined Beck and Cake at the EdgeFest concert in Texas last month, the group drew an extra 10,000 people on top of the expected crowd of 15,000.
"It was a great lift for us as an indicator of what we have achieved." INXS had originally agreed to support Beck but were forced to headline the event after Beck refused to go last.
"We were delighted to be asked, thinking that is a great respect from the younger generation of bands asking us to come on to that scene and be part of it. But Beck said 'There is no way I am going to go on after you guys. I'd be terrified because I know what a great live band you are.'
"I think the thing that people should remember is that what we do is we make music and we entertain people."
This week the group begins a nine week tour of South Africa, England, Europe and the US to promote the new album before returning to Australia. Five out of six - Hutchence is still in London - have returned to settle in Sydney and a homecoming tour is in priority. But Farriss is not sure whether they will play stadiums or pubs.
"What I would love to know is what the Australian public, not the Australian media, would like us to do - where they would like us to play."