Music

INXS: "You have to let go of the past"

by Anne T. Donahue

To say INXS have endured their share of trials and tribulations is an understatement. Boasting an extensive 30-year history, the group made headlines again in early 2009 following revelations that JD Fortune had been ejected from the band, but together with confirmation that the frontman had permanently returned and that the group plans to tour and record in 2011, it seems any issues or alleged conflict has been resolved.

“You have to let go of the past,” begins guitarist and saxophonist Kirk Pengilly. “At the end of the day, you can’t please everyone.”

This ethos, in conjunction with the November release of Original Sin – the band’s twelfth studio album – has added further proof to INXS’ public desire to keep pushing forward. And having acknowledged the inevitable comparisons being made between who they are now and who they once were, the band stand confidently by their latest release and what it represents.

“I think some of the tracks that we recorded back in the olden days still stand up to [time],” maintains Pengilly. “[Original Sin] was just a really interesting, challenging project for us to take on, and I don’t think we really thought too hard about who was going to like it or who wasn’t. We just wanted to make a great record and show off how so many of the songs that me and Michael wrote over the years work [in] any way, really.”

“Kirk had a great point earlier today,” Fortune agrees. “Switch came out almost five years ago, and now that fanbase is five years older. And I [keep] thinking to myself ‘what was I doing between those ages?’ Original Sin is such an ethereal detachment from the norm . . . that it might catch [somebody off guard]. Because I know it does that for me. And now I’m into those songs.”

Following what can best be described as a turbulent period for Fortune and the Australian five-piece, the band have returned to the forefront surprisingly accepting of the media’s role in their public profile, acknowledging its tendency to embellish, but also its importance in maintaining a successful career.

“It’s a give and take thing,” explains Fortune. “There were some things that were said, and by the time it got back to it being a story . . . I had my mother [asking me about it]. But at the same time, without the media, we wouldn’t have the opportunity to come and sit and say that we are back together – and that we’re going to move forward as a band and take that step and do what we do best.”

Media machine aside, the band plan on using their rekindled unity to fuel their creative processes, building on their extensive legacy by moving forward and vying for new audiences who can identify with the current musical landscape.

“It’ll be a pretty sad, sorry tale if we weren’t picking up new fans along the way when we’ve been together for 30 years,” shares Pengilly. “So yeah, we are and that’s a positive thing – that’s a great thing. Most of our fans from the early 80s [would] all be in their late 40s now and what do you do? They’ve probably switched off from listening to anything new now anyways – they’re not even a contender for whatever we’re doing.”

“But we’re just thankful and grateful that along the way we’ve had a good fanbase on a worldwide basis,” he continues, [singing]: “Who could ask for anything more?”

“And you have to be relevant,” adds Fortune. “If you’re not relevant, you’re on the outside of the glass looking in kind of going, ‘wow, look at all those people eating in that restaurant’. You want to be holding that conversation at the dinner table. You want to be entertaining your guests.”

“And if you look at fans like guests in your world, then you better be relevant and have something important to say,” he concludes. “And if it’s not important, it better be fucking fun.”