DIDGERIDOO - Andrew Farris, INXS Founding Member and Solo Artist

An Interview

“I’ve learned that if you’re singing about real things, real people, real experiences, you have a much better chance of people liking the music and the songs that you’re writing… How can you write songs that appeal to people unless you’re living with normal people?”

INXS began in 1977 as The Farriss Brothers. Three members of the Farriss family took part, with Andrew Farriss as its main composer and keyboardist, brother Jon on drums, and Tim Farriss playing guitar. They were joined by bassist Garry Gary Beers, guitarist and saxophonist Kirk Pengilly, and Andrew’s close friend, lead singer and main lyricist, Michael Hutchence.

Through the late 1980s and early 1990s INXS became an international phenomenon with their albums, Listen Like Thieves, Kick, and X, which included the hits, “Need You Tonight,” “Never Tear Us Apart,” “New Sensation,” and many others. The height of their popularity coincided with the MTV era and few will ever forget charismatic lead singer Michael Hutchence’s enthralling video and stage performances. When Hutchence committed suicide in 1997 INXS began slowly to dissolve.

Andrew Farriss, who had been responsible for the band’s hit tunes (with Hutchence writing the lyrics), then began to find his own way as a solo artist.

In this interview he speaks about how INXS emerged out of Australia’s pub scene; the frenetic years of INXS’s global touring; the “wilderness” period that followed, and his reemergence as a country artist.

The interview was conducted by phone, with Andrew Farriss speaking from his farm in New South Wales. It followed the release of his self-titled album, Andrew Farriss.

Harold Fickett: In INXS, you guys toured like 300 nights a year for a while.  What has the transition been like from being a rockstar to a working musician with more stable life. Was that a difficult transition? Was it one you welcomed or resisted?

Andrew Farris: Well, it’s a bit of both. You know, I take nothing away from anything that INXS did. I’m really proud of the work we did. Unlike a lot of other acts that had these sort of sad bust ups and weird things going on, these guys are my brothers; these are actually my friends. People probably think that I’m full of it, but that’s the truth. I mean, we still see each other socially, obviously. We’re family.

It’s interesting to me because the way I would answer that question is simply: the INXS thing wasn’t all about me.