Posted on Thu, Jun. 08, 2006

email this

print this

Fortune still smiling

REALITY-SHOW GAMBLE BRINGS INXS NEW ATTENTION IN U.S.

By Yoshi Kato

Special to the Mercury News

A short list of the bands that arrived on the scene just as MTV videos were revolutionizing music includes Duran Duran, Culture Club, probably a Flock of Seagulls and a group less commonly identified with music TV but definitely one of its beneficiaries: Australia's INXS.

INXS guitarist Tim Farriss recalls, ``When we released `The One Thing' '' in the United States in 1983 ``with the video, MTV had just started. We pretty much became one of their pets and virtually broke in America on the strength of the videos and songs.''

Those aware of the INXS-MTV connection may not have been surprised when the band again turned to television 22 years later. Last summer, the group's search for a new lead vocalist was documented on the 13-week CBS reality-TV series ``Rock Star: INXS,'' and viewers had an opportunity to observe the process.

``This time around, it was just like we made a 32-hour video,'' Farriss says with a chuckle during a stop on the tour that brings INXS to Berkeley on Saturday.

Since the 1997 suicide of original vocalist Michael Hutchence, the remaining members of INXS -- Tim's brothers Andrew (keyboards, guitar) and Jon (drums) Farriss, Garry Beers (bass guitar) and Kirk Pengilly (saxophone, guitar, vocals) -- had performed with three other singers, including British neo-soul pioneer Terence Trent D'Arby.

It was Pengilly's idea to make last summer's search public by using reality TV. The other musicians were skeptical at first but finally agreed when the decision was made not to involve the TV audience in the selection process. The quintet chose Nova Scotia native J.D. Fortune from a field of 15 finalists.

A high school dropout who was inspired to take up music after seeing an INXS video on TV, Fortune had had mixed success in the field, working for a while as an Elvis impersonator and living out of his car at the time of the ``Rock Star'' auditions. The feel-good story of his success has done a lot to heighten the visibility of the band in the States again.

``Life, I think, hadn't been all that great for him,'' Farriss says, ``so that was one of the reasons why I think he was so focused on getting to be the singer for us.''

After his selection, the band spent five weeks with Fortune recording its 11th album, ``Switch,'' released in late November.

The flurry of activity ``was pretty tense,'' Farriss says. ``We had four studios going at the same time. Somebody would be overdubbing in one, and somebody would be writing in another. We'd be doing band tracks in another, and J.D. would be doing vocals in one. It was a real hive of activity.''

The 11 tracks on ``Switch'' give a fresh perspective on the classic INXS sound. The band's trademark techno-tinged dance-rock style can be heard on ``Devil's Party,'' ``Hot Girls'' and the disc's first single, ``Pretty Vegas,'' co-written by Fortune (who also contributed to two other tracks). ``Afterglow'' revisits the power-ballad territory first explored on the 1991 INXS single ``Never Tear Us Apart.''

All the band members except Tim Farriss contributed to the songwriting process, and the band also enlisted Desmond Child (who as collaborated with Bon Jovi, LeAnn Rimes) the Matrix (Avril Lavigne, Liz Phair), and former New Radicals member Gregg Alexander (Rod Stewart).

INXS made a 29-city North American tour in January and February, and the sold-out date at Oakland's Paramount Theatre became the first of the Bay Area's hot tickets of 2006. This Saturday's show at Berkeley's Greek Theatre marks the band's second 2006 visit to the Bay Area. Former Creed singer and leader Scott Stapp opens.

``It is different, obviously, without Michael, but I think J.D. is doing a great job,'' says Stapp, who first heard INXS in 1987, at age 13. ``He's really finding himself within the band and becoming an artist in his own right.''

Farriss says that, though Fortune quickly settled in to the touring life, he still brings a sense of wonder to the job. ``We've been playing since we were in high school, and we've only really ever had one new (long-term) member,'' he adds. ``That sort of thing is kind of wild to think about. But J.D. is almost like a hardened road warrior now. You would never know this was only his first real touring experience.''INXS

With Scott Stapp

Where: Greek Theatre, Gayley Road and Stadium Rim Way, University of California-Berkeley

When: 8 p.m. Saturday

Tickets: $35-$85

Call: (408) 998-8497, or see www.ticketmaster.com