Interview: Fiona Peterman
Source: Music Press (Australia) - October, 1997
Editor: Ed St John
Twenty years is a long time in anyone's book - and it's a particularly long time to be in a rock & roll band with the same bunch of guys you've known since high school. But that's INXS for you - and for better or worse, the bands still with us, still making great music and still playing live. On the eve of their first Australian tour in three years, Kirk Pengilly spoke to Fiona Peterman.
Kirk Pengilly is in an upbeat mood. INXS's guitarist, sax player and backing vocalist has interrupted a bout of dish washing on his farm outside Sydney to talk to Music Press about the bands recent US tour and the upcoming Australian dates.
"I reckon we're playing better now than we ever have before," says Pengilly with infectious enthusiasm. "We've had great ticket sales, great reviews and fantastic audience response. We've been through a lot of adversity these past few years, but it has actually worked at bringing the band closer together. We're playing really well, and Michael is more confident onstage than I've ever seen him. It's still the same six of us, six against the world."
It's hard for any member of INXS to do an interview with the Australian media without mentioning the incredible backlash that has knocked the band for six in their country of origin. Where once the band was lauded as conquering heroes, they are now regularly trounced virtually at any time they stick their heads above ground. For a band that has poured incredible amounts of work into actually achieving enormous worldwide success, the climate of negativity is perplexing, saddening and well, just a little unfair.
"We've all had to deal with it in our different ways," says Pengilly. "Obviously you deal with the fact that not every album you release is going to be super successful, but some of the nasty stuff that gets written is hard to bear. Andrew (Farriss) particularly, is really hurt by it and takes it very much to heart.
"Ironically, we get our worst coverage in Australia. In America right now, we're very well regarded and the shows have gone really well. We have a great profile in Europe and the UK, although Michael tends to get hounded by the paparazzi."
Kirk Pengilly readily admits that INXS's number one problem, from a media perception point of view, is the way the singer Michael Hutchence has become an international celebrity. While Hutchence natural charisma is one of the principle reasons for the band success, it has now reached the point where the band is now better known for the daily goings-on of their lead singer than they are for their music.
"When you start out in this business, you tell yourself that your private life and your personal life will be two completely separate things - and you go on thinking that these two lines will never cross, but of course they do. Michael's fame is not something we have a lot of control over now, and it does make things hard. He lives in London, in the full view of the paparazzi, and it's really tough for him and many of the people around him."
Such issues aside, the main thing that keeps INXS together these days - despite all their trials and tribulations - is their music. "That's the thing," confirms Pengilly. "We are still really proud of the music we make, regardless of whether it's a hit or not. We're not discouraged by some of the bad things that have happened because at the end of the day, we think that the last album, the last few for that matter, are pretty damn good. That means we'll do whatever we have to, to get our message across."
With the unexpected lucky break of the band's single Don't Lose Your Head being used in the new hit movie Face Off, the band is emboldened with new energy. "It was nice to get a break like that," agrees Pengilly. "To get involved in such a high profile, high calibre movie was a real bonus."
The band has spent the best part of a year promoting their tenth studio album, Elegantly Wasted - and their Australian dates will bring this cycle of activity to a close. "After that," Pengilly says, "it'll be time to take a short break from life as a member of INXS."
"Everyone will give you a different answer on what comes next," he laughs. "I know Michael wants to finish his solo album and get into some film work. We've all got solo projects we're developing, but we don't want to take too long a break. I'd say we'll be back making music by the end of next year."