INXS
INXS on stage with J.D. Fortune (2007)
Background information
Origin	Sydney, Australia
Genres	Rock, alternative rock, New Wave, Australian rock, post-punk, dance rock, hard rock
Years active	1977–present
Labels	Atlantic, Epic, 101 Distribution
Associated acts	Jimmy Barnes, Max Q, Noiseworks, Ray Charles
Website	www.inxs.com
Members
Garry Gary Beers Andrew Farriss Jon Farriss Tim Farriss Kirk Pengilly Ciaran Gribbin
Past members
Michael Hutchence Jon Stevens J.D. Fortune

INXS (pronounced "in excess", In-XS) are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales.^[1][2] Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar and keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar and saxophone.^[3] For 20 years, INXS were fronted by Michael Hutchence on lead vocals, whose "sultry good looks" and magnetic stage presence made him the focal point of the band.^[1][3] Initially known for their New Wave/ska/pop style, they later developed a harder pub rock style,^[1] including funk and dance elements.

In the early 1980s, INXS first charted in their native Australia with their debut self-titled album, but later garnered moderate success elsewhere with Shabooh Shoobah and a single, "The One Thing". Though The Swing brought more success from around the world, its single "Original Sin" was even greater commercially, becoming their first number-one single. They would later achieve international success with a series of hit recordings through later in the 1980s and the 1990s, including the albums Listen Like Thieves, Kick, and X; and the singles "What You Need", "Need You Tonight", "Devil Inside", "New Sensation", and "Suicide Blonde".^[4][5][6][7]

In the 1990s, INXS brought a new audience following Hutchence's romance with pop singer Kylie Minogue, and achieved greater acclaim in the UK. However, starting with Welcome to Wherever You Are, in 1992, they achieved less success in the United States. A depressed Hutchence committed suicide by hanging in 1997 and INXS did not perform publicly for a year.^[1] They made appearances with several guest singers including Jimmy Barnes, Terence Trent D'Arby, and Jon Stevens; Stevens formally joined the band for a tour and recording session in 2002.^[2] In 2005, members of INXS participated in a reality television series, broadcast worldwide, culminating in the selection of their new lead singer, Canadian J.D. Fortune, and the release of "Pretty Vegas" and "Afterglow" as singles, and its album Switch.^[6][7][8] In late 2010, they recorded and released Original Sin, a tribute album, featuring guest artists such as Kavyen Temperley (of Eskimo Joe) and Ben Harper. In September 2011 the band announced that Northern Irish singer-songwriter Ciaran Gribbin had replaced Fortune as their lead vocalist ahead of a planned tour of South America, Australia & Europe later in the year.^[9]

INXS has won six Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) awards including three for 'Best Group' in 1987, 1989 and 1992,^[10] and was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2001.^[11][12] To date INXS have sold more than 30 million records.

History[link]

Early years[link]

The origins of the band began with Andrew Farriss convincing his fellow Davidson High School classmate, Michael Hutchence, to join his band, Doctor Dolphin.^[13] The band contained two other classmates, Kent Kerny and Neil Sanders and a bass player, Garry Beers and Geoff Kennely, from a nearby high school, Forest High School.^[13] In 1977, Tim Farriss, Andrew's older brother, invited Andrew, Hutchence and Beers to join him and his schoolmate Kirk Pengilly. Tim and Pengilly had been playing together since 1971 as either an acoustic duo or as a four-piece band called Guinness^[13] (named after their bass player's dog^[14]). Together with younger brother Jon Farriss they formed the Farriss Brothers, who consisted of Garry Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar, Geoff Kennelly on Drums, Michael Hutchence on lead vocals and Kirk Pengilly on guitar and saxophone.^[1][3][15] The band made their debut on 16 August 1977 at Whale Beach,^[16] 40 km (25 mi) north of Sydney. Andrew Farriss remembers:

I thought the show went really well, but I think my dad summed it up the next day: 'Great show, but everyone was asleep when we left.' I think everyone might have been stoned.

—Andrew Farriss^[16]

The parents of the Farriss boys relocated to Perth, Western Australia in 1978, taking Jon to continue his schooling and, as soon as Hutchence and Andrew finished school, the rest of the band followed.^[2][16] They briefly performed as The Vegetables, singing "We Are the Vegetables", before returning to Sydney ten months later,^[16] where they recorded a set of demos.^[13] At a chance meeting in the car park of the Narabeen Antler, a pub in North Narrabeen. Tim was approached by Gary Morris, the manager of Midnight Oil.^[13]

I remember him coming up to me and saying 'Who are you working for, mate?' and I kind of went, 'Oh, we have this band and we're called The Farriss Brothers'. He offered to give us some work supporting Midnight Oil on the spot.

—Tim Farriss^[13]

The band began to regularly support Midnight Oil and other local bands. Morris advised that a member of the Oils crew had come up with a new name and suggested they change it to INXS.^[13] The name INXS was inspired by English band XTC and Australian jam makers IXL.^[2][16]

"I saw a commercial for a brand of jam called IXL. Their ad featured a guy who said, 'I excel in all I do.' I'd recently seen the English band XTC when they toured Australia, and I loved their name: XTC – Ecstasy. In that moment, I put all those thoughts together. The name needed to be letters, but make a word. I put the IXL jam commercial together with XTC and the concept of a band that was inaccessible and I had it: INXS

—Gary Morris^[14]

Pengilly explained that Morris had some other ideas:

Gary [Morris] was a great marketer, and I think he also had this idea of us being 'inaccessible'. He said we could be on stage in a cage of lights. It was a mystery thing ... He told us that unless we wanted to change our ways and become the world's biggest Christian band, he could no longer manage us ... He wanted us to write songs about Christ and to promote a drug-and-alcohol-free and no-sex-before-marriage, proper Christian lifestyle. He was very convincing and for a moment I think we might have done it. Then he got on to strange terrain.

—Kirk Pengilly^[14][16]

We thought that would be a bit much – but it was a good name.

—Tim Farriss^[13]

The band's first performance as INXS was on 1 September 1979 at the Oceanview Hotel in Toukley^[17] on the Central Coast of New South Wales and by the end of 1979, after passing on the Christian band image, they hired Chris Murphy as their manager and continued taking on the Oz pub circuit.^{[2][14][16][18]}

The night Morris offered them to me, I told him I'd take them midway through their third song. I stood there thinking, "This is pretty funky.' This kid up front is pretty weird. This band plays really, really well ... What Morris didn't realise was that I only intended to take them on as their booking agent. I didn't want to be their manager.

—Chris Murphy^[14]

Murphy was an adept business manager and negotiator. By early 1980 the band had signed a five-album record deal with a Sydney independent label, Deluxe Records, run by Michael Browning, a former manager of AC/DC.^[1][2][13]

1980s[link]

[edit] From "Simple Simon" to Shabooh Shoobah

INXS released their first single, "Simple Simon"/"We Are the Vegetables", in Australia and France in May 1980.^[1][14][19] The single had its debut TV performance on Simon Townsend's Wonder World.^[16] Their self-titled debut album, INXS, was recorded at Trafalgar Studios in Annandale, Sydney, it was co-produced by the band and Duncan McGuire (ex-Ayers Rock), with all songs attributed to the entire band, at the insistence of Murphy.^[13][14] Deluxe gave them a budget of $10,000 to record the album, so to keep within the budget they had to record from midnight to dawn, usually after doing one or more performances earlier that night.^[14] The album was released in October 1980. It featured "Just Keep Walking" which was their first Australian Top 40 single,^[1][4] with the album peaking in the Top 30 of the Kent Music Report for Australian albums.^[1][3][4] The album eventually went gold (selling over 35,000 units) but it took a number of years to do so.^[13]

I'm not a great fan of the first album. It's naïve and kinda cute, almost. It's these young guys struggling for a sound. All I can hear is what was going to happen later and it's probably an interesting album because of that. "Just Keep Walking" was the first time we thought we'd written a song. And that became an anthem around town. It's funny, I remember kids in pubs saying it and hearing it on the radio the first time. We'd never heard that before.

—Michael Hutchence^[13]

These early records demonstrated their New Wave/ska/pop style, and were followed by near constant touring with almost 300 shows during 1981 as the band developed their status as a live act.^[1][2]

After a year of playing pub gigs, I made sure that INXS only did tours, whether it was just a few cities or across the whole of Australia. We choose a theme, made posters, printed T-shirts, and gave it a mood that created excitement. It made an INXS show into an event, not just another pub gig.

—Chris Murphy^[14]

In 1981, they signed Gary Grant as their tour manager, who then became co-manager a year later.^[13] Between touring commitments, the band released their third single in May 1981, "The Loved One", which was a cover of a 1966 song by Australian group The Loved Ones. The song was recorded at Studios 301 in Sydney,^[13] produced by Richard Clapton,^[3] and peaked in the Top 20.^[1][4][19]