The band needs no introduction. Since forming in Australia in 1977, INXS has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. The band’s most successful releases include 1987’s Kick, 1990’s X and 1992’s Welcome To Wherever You Are.
Lately, although quiet on the recording front since 2010’s Original Sin—an album of re-imaginings of some of their most notable songs—the band has been far from inert. Lead guitarist Tim Farriss tells us from somewhere in Charing Cross, London, just what he and the band have been up to: “You won’t believe it. Lot’s of touring, lots of media, and a lot of jet lag. It’s like watching an episode of Jet Trash.”
And here is one piece of news the men of INXS would like to share with their fans: The band is back with INXS Remastered, a 10-CD boxed set of all the band’s records right up to 1997’s Elegantly Wasted. Available in both digital and physical formats, the collection is on sale now. Of the decision to come up with the anthology, Tim, candid as ever, said, “It’s great for me to have, you know; over the years I used to give out signed records—people want signed albums—you’ve only got so many and end up giving your own albums away. I then realized I don’t own copies of my own records!”
The remastering process was naturally a nostalgic trip for the band, working through all the albums that had the presence of now-deceased Michael Hutchence. Asked about how he felt going through the band’s past material, Tim says, “Well it feels great! When you look back it’s an amazing amount of work and now it’s all just us looking at it. A lot of it is really interesting to hear. When I look at the boxed set, it’s got stuff from the time we were kids; it is also a best of what the band used to be called, The Farriss Brothers. At that time we were starting to take things more seriously—we were still playing in pubs, then going into the studio to record at midnight, recording from midnight to dawn. So it was an interesting period in our lives.”
He also mentions favorites. “Kick is obviously a very special record for us, in the way of success, and it debuted at number one (in Australia). It’s an album we’re very proud of from a musical point of view. Then I look at Elegantly Wasted, which I think is one of our most underrated records. And it’s soaked in sorrow because it’s the last we did with Michael (Hutchence) and we were touring that record when we lost Michael. And a lot of the direct content on that record was very personal to him.”
Previously on hiatus from touring except for a handful of shows, mostly in Australia, since 2007, the band is now back on the road beyond Down Under. But we notice Asia’s not on the band’s world tour schedule. When we quiz Tim about it, he tries to assure us, “Yet. It may well be. We’re only in phase one of the world tour. We’re still putting together dates, and we would dearly love to come back. We love playing there and I have great memories of being there; in fact I’ve had holidays there. It’s definitely on our radar. We look forward to going to Singapore, and Singapore Airlines is still one of my favorite airlines to fly; and believe me we’ve flown on a lot of airlines. But yeah basically, we look forward to touring Southeast Asia as soon as possible.”
Here’s hoping that Singapore will be added to the band’s tour calendar this year.
