INXS Drummer Jon Farriss Embarks on Solo Endeavors

Jon Farriss at work in Los Angeles

Life On The Scene has long been a supporter of the iconic Australian band INXS, so today we were happy to hear from drummer Jon Farriss and learn that he’s currently in Los Angeles working on “solo creative endeavors- producing, songwriting, and collaborating”.

INXS announced an end to their touring days on stage in Perth, Western Australia in November of 2012 after more than 35 years of performing together. Not much has been heard from the band members since that time aside from an occasional appearance at social events around Australia.

Earlier in 2014, Jon Farriss launched his own website and has been making conscious effort to be more present on social media. You can connect with Jon on Twitter here and there’s also a place to sign up on his website to receive email updates from him. I’m looking forward to seeing where this next chapter in his musical career takes him!

In the meantime, tune in to some of your favorite INXS tracks from their vast catalog on iTunes. What’s your favorite INXS song? Tell us in the comments below!

Check back with us too, as we’ll be sure to let you know when more information is available about Jon’s upcoming solo work.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has been going on for a few weeks now, and to date, has raised more than $1.7 million dollars and international awareness of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, has skyrocketed!

For those who aren’t familiar with ALS, the ALS Association offers this brief description of the disease on their website – “ALS was first found in 1869 by French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot, but it wasn’t until 1939 that Lou Gehrig brought national and international attention to the disease. Ending the career of one of the most beloved baseball players of all time, the disease is still most closely associated with his name. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons  die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.”

With the joy of a successful fundraising campaign going viral also comes great backlash. There is no shortage of disparaging comments to go along with the great cheers for those raising funds for ALS and other charities of their choice this summer. Many aren’t happy to see water being so carelessly tossed around and the spotlight being taken away from other charitable organizations.

To be perfectly honest, I have enjoyed watching many, many videos of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in particular Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Shemar Moore, Aerosmith, Kate Hudson, Susan Sarandon and Tom Hiddleston to name a few. I’ve also enjoyed seeing several of my friends take part as well. It has been a welcome relief after the shocking news of the death of comedic genius Robin Williams last month. I needed the silliness and laughter.

In the true international fashion of today’s social media, I was nominated for the #ALSIceBucketChallenge by my friend Steve in England. I accepted – my daughter and my niece were thrilled to be armed with buckets of ice and water to douse me! I chose to stand in a vegetable garden so the water we used would also help our veggies grow. I used the challenge to donate to ALS, as well as some local animal rescue groups in California that I am familiar with and support, Treasured Tails Canine Rescue, and Precious Paws. I also donated to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in support of mental health awareness. I encourage everyone to donate to these organizations. Whether it’s a monetary donation, your time or needed supplies these charities or others in your area will appreciate your efforts to make your community a better place!

I nominated my friend Doug in California, my friend, guitarist Tim Farriss of the Australian band INXS and singer Billy Idol (who has a new album and autobiography out this autumn but we’ll get to that in another post!). We look forward to seeing your videos guys!

Here’s my video below

INXS Confirm End to Their Touring Days

In a statement released early Tuesday in Australia, iconic rock band INXS announce the end of their touring days after 35 years in the music business. From INXS.com,  “We understand that this must come as a blow to everybody, but all things must eventually come to an end. We have been performing as a band for 35 years, it’s time to step away from the touring arena”.

The confirmation comes after a confusing weekend that included a surprising teary goodbye on stage in Perth, Australia by INXS drummer, Jon Farriss at the end of the Matchbox 20/INXS tour of Australia which caused speculation of  a band split picked up by news outlets everywhere. Fans & friends of the band were further confused by personal emails and texts from band members to people around the globe denying the end of the band.

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The statement continued, “Our music will of course live on and we will always be a part of that.”

“We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to all the friends and family that have supported us throughout our extensive career. Our lives have been enriched by having you all as a part of the journey”

INXS forged their reputation as one of the world’s greatest live bands, relentlessly touring the US, Europe, South America, and the Far East constantly throughout the 80’s and early 90’s, fuelled by the success of records such as Listen Like Thieves, Kick, X, and Welcome To Wherever You Are.

That hard earned and hard won live reputation took INXS to the very pinnacle of the live world touring circuit with such memorable performances headlining iconic venues across the world …  in the UK [Wembley Stadium 80,000], the US [Texas Stadium 60,000] and Rio De Janeiro [ Rock in Rio 120,000].

But with the high, came a bitter and cruel blow … the loss of their charismatic and irreplaceable front man Michael Hutchence in November 1997.

‘It’s been 35 years for INXS as a live touring band and unbelievably it’s been 15 years ago since we lost Michael’ said Jon Farriss.

We lived for each other in the trenches and we loved each other. It was the six of us against the world and then suddenly and inexplicably we were but five. We were lost right at the moment we were on top.’

The band struggled to deal with the enormity of it all and the easy solution was to just call it a day.

‘We never took a soft option, it was the adversity, the challenge and the struggle that forged us into the live working band we became. And this was as big as it could possibly get when it came to a challenge’ said Andrew Farriss, ‘and in the end we decided for a whole bunch of reasons to march forward. To us there was no other option . families always move forward’.

To live to 80 plus is a life well lived. To lose Michael so young was a tragedy for all of us. But with this band, their legacy, their music was just so damn good, it was always destined to live beyond all of us.

The last 3 years has seen a resurgence of INXS with their songs being hammered on radio and a rise in audience numbers with the live show. The song ‘Original Sin’, with Rob Thomas on vocals, reached number 1 on the Billboard dance charts.

As Jon Farriss says, ‘INXS’ touring days could never last forever. We wanted it to end on a high. And it has’

Music critics and fans alike have chided the band for years in their decision to continue making music after the death of Michael Hutchence. For the remaining members of INXS, it was the only job they had ever done, the job they truly loved and excelled at. Michael’s decision to leave this world didn’t mean they had to stop doing the only thing they had ever done – rock as an amazing live band. The band tried a succession of different singers in the last 15 years including Terence Trent D’ Arby, Noiseworks Jon Stevens, rebuilt a great fan momentum and had a hit with Rockstar INXS winner, J.D. Fortune  and the song Pretty Vegas and the last year with Irishman Ciaran Gribbin at the helm.

On a more personal note, I hope they choose to continue working in the music business in some fashion and remember to call their old friends if they visit the USA because hanging out with these Australians for drinks and laughs are some of the best times I’ve had.

INXS images courtesy of Cindy Robinson, Ciaran Gribbin images courtesy of Esther Oliver

2011 in Photos – A Look Back at Bruno Mars, Duran Duran, INXS and U2

by Cindy Robinson

Here we are at the end of the first week of 2012 and I wanted to do a post on my favorite photos of 2011 from the various rock & roll events I attended last year. While the list was small in comparison to years past, I still had the opportunity to see some great live bands.

I feel like I’ve conquered the technology mountain to get to this little post I want to share with the world. Laptop software issues continue to plague me as do the internet connectivity issues (do we hear a New Year’s resolution here?? Solve the tech issues in 2012!) and when I finally made it over these hurdles, I learned that WordPress blogs typically don’t support embedding slide shows from Picnik. Say what? I battled computer issues, stayed up until wee hours working on my slide show and my blog won’t host it?

Thankfully the information superhighway quickly led me to information that allowed me to solve this issue. I discovered Vodpod which allows you to embed your Picnik slide show into your WordPress blog. Shazam! It isn’t perfect, it’s much smaller in scale than the original so I feel some detail is lacking but I’m happy I was able to embed it and share with readers.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Let’s get down to the subject at hand – 2011 in photos. Wow, narrowing down a plethora of images shot over the past year turned out to be a daunting task. I intended to pull just one image from each event but soon found that impossible as image after image drew me in. So I grabbed my favorites and went from there.

For me, 2011  included live shows from the likes of  My Chemical Romance, Bruno Mars, Brian Setzer, Duran Duran, Honor Society (a band my daughter really enjoys who rose to fame as the opening band on the Jonas Brothers tour in 2009),   INXS , a book signing by Guns n’ Roses Duff McKagan and the long postponed U2 at Angels Stadium show finally came to fruition!

My Chemical Romance were incredible as their live show is always an intense throbbing mass of music loving people. This was our first time seeing Bruno Mars and it definitely won’t be our last. His live show was amazing, just non-stop energy from start to finish. The audience was also amazing – a complete mash-up of every type, size and age of concert goer imaginable. Brian Setzer always puts on a great live show too!

Duran Duran are my favorite band so my opinion of them will always be biased and I always enjoy seeing them live! Their Unstaged performance directed by David Lynch at the Mayan Theatre in Los Angeles in early 2011 really kicked it up a notch though when they added a list of special guests for their show that included Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance, Beth Ditto of the Gossip and super producer Mark Ronson.

INXS breezed through the USA for a short summer tour before singer J.D. Fortune departed the band for a second time. INXS look to be back on track for 2012 though with their new Irish singer, Ciaran Gribbin. Youtube footage shows his performances to be of a more mellow variety with awkward dance moves but I’ll wait to fully assess the new line up until I see it for myself. He’s got big shoes to fill and it takes time to grow into a role of that magnitude.

Then there was U2! I think there are few people who would dispute the awesome spectacle that is a live U2 show. This show seemed especially sweet to me as I had originally purchased my tickets in November 2009 and the show ended up being postponed due to Bono’s emergency back surgery and subsequent recovery. Finally, in June of 2011, they rolled back into town and blew us all away. U2 with Lenny Kravitz were worth the wait!

It’s always hard to narrow down the list of favorite shows, to choose just one for the top spot. Even though my list was much shorter than normal for 2011 (darn bad economy!) it didn’t make things any easier. I know I can cross My Chemical Romance off the contenders list because their record release show at the House of Blues in Hollywood in November of 2010 was their best to date that I have seen.

After thinking long and hard about it, I narrowed down my top choices to U2 and Bruno Mars. U2 live is so much more than just a rock & roll concert but ultimately I’d have to award the top slot to singer Bruno Mars. It was refreshing to see an artist I hadn’t seen before and to be thoroughly excited and energized by the set.

What were some of your favorite shows you saw in 2011? Who are you looking forward to seeing live in 2012? Are we all jazzed for the return of Van Halen in 2012? 80’s icon Adam Ant is due to tour the USA for the first time in 15 years! Preliminary tour buzz shows his fans are coming out of the woodwork like crazy. INXS are set to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their iconic Kick album. 2011 breakout band, Foster the People are scheduled to hit the road hard during 2012 moving up to larger venues as they trek across America. And it’s almost time for the big Coachella announcement! Who will they get for 2012?

2011 in Photos, posted with vodpod

INXS Shine in Los Angeles

by Cindy Robinson

A review in photos of the INXS concert at the Wiltern in Los Angeles on July 22, 2011.

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Lyric Culture Presents its ‘Electro Sexual’ collection With Private INXS Performance

by Cindy Robinson

Lyric Culture recently presented its ‘Electro Sexual’ collection during a private fashion show and intimate performance in Beverly Hills, CA at the Gibson showroom from iconic Australian band INXS.
Hanna Rochelle, founder of Lyric Culture, met the band in 2005 when they working at a recording studio in Los Angeles on their hit album, “Switch” with Rockstar: INXS winner J.D. Fortune. Rochelle was inspired by the colorful imagery, gritty and wildly expressive, often controversial lyrics in the songs penned by Andrew Farriss and the late Michael Hutchence. The ‘Electro Sexual’ collection of women’s apparel and accessories were unveiled in a runway show inspired by the INXS songs “Suicide Blonde,”  “Devil Inside,”  “New Sensation,” and “Beautiful Girl.”
Lyric Culture’s designs also capture memorable lyrics from the Beatles, Madonna, Rod Stewart, the Beach Boys, Miley Cyrus, Carrie Underwood and more on their stylish t-shirts and accessories. Their designs are available nationally at stores such as Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Wal-Mart, and Claire’s Accessories.

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The fashion show culminated with a private performance by INXS as a preview to their concert at the Wiltern Theatre. The semi-acoustic set show cased the talents of INXS band members Kirk Pengilly, Jon Farriss, Garry Beers and Andrew Farriss (guitarist Tim Farriss had the night off) but lacked in the frontman department as the performance went off with a big surprise – singer J.D. Fortune wasn’t in the house as the band opted to have their back-up singers perform lead vocals for the short set. The event was attended by music and fashion industry guests. Panda Express and Monster Energy Drink  sponsored snacks & beverages for the guests. Please enjoy a semi-acoustic performance if the INXS classic, “Don’t Change”:

INXS to Play the Wiltern this Friday

Garry Beers image courtesy of Esther Oliver

by Cindy Robinson

Legendary Australian band INXS are currently in the midst of their first North American tour in nearly four years which has them crisscrossing Canada and the United States this summer on “The Original Sin Tour.”

The coast to coast tour brings the band to the historic Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles this Friday July 22^nd, the Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms in Las Vegas on July 23rd. It’s amazing to me that these shows aren’t sold out yet! INXS are one of the best live bands out there, churning out a powerful live set with Canadian frontman, J.D. Fortune who has been singing with them since he won the Rockstar: INXS competition in 2005.

Don’t delay, grab your ticket today! Here are some incentives and perks for the Los Angeles show. Social savings site Groupon had an amazing  deal of the day on tickets to the show, which were quickly snapped up. Don’t despair, another great option is still out there! INXS is running a competition on their site where you can win an upgrade to watch the entire show from the side of the stage (right next to the band as they walk on & off the stage!) along with a meet & greet with INXS at the show. Enter to win today before the competition closes!

80’s alternative new wave band, Malcolm McClaren proteges, Adam & the Ants cohorts, Bow Wow Wow fronted by the stunning Annabella Lwin will open the night. Who could forget their classic hit “I Want Candy”? INXS has been a hit machine for more than thirty years now so don’t miss out on what is sure to be a set chock full of hits like “New Sensation”, “Need You Tonight”, “Suicide Blonde” and more.

Remaining tour dates are listed below and tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster.

After thirty years, INXS still consists of original band members Tim, Jon and Andrew Farriss along with Kirk Pengilly and Garry Gary Beers (original front-man Michael Hutchence passed away in 1997). They are touring in support of their latest release, “Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas on the album’s title track, “Original Sin”, a song which just reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Dance charts.

To see the latest on INXS, check in with them via their Facebook page, and you can also catch up with sax man, guitarist Kirk Pengilly on Twitter as well as singer J.D. Fortune

Date               Venue                                              Location            

July 22 2011    the Wiltern                                        Los Angeles,CA 

July 23 2011    the Pearl Concert Theater (The Palms Casino)               Las Vegas,NV

July 25 2011    Ogden Theatre                                   Denver, CO         

July 28 2011    Mystic Lake Casino Hotel                  Prior Lake,MN                        

July 29 2011    the Venue at Horseshoe Casino         Hammond,IN                          

July 30 2011    Fox Theatre                                      Detroit,MI                              

August 02 2011 the National                                    Richmond,VA     

August 03 2011 Wellmont Theatre                            Montclair,NJ       

August 04 2011 Beacon Theatre                               New York, NY     

August 06 2011 House of Blues                               Atlantic City,NJ  

August 07 2011 Mohegan Sun                                 Wilkes-Barre,PA

August 08 2011 Filene Center at Wolf Trap                Vienna, VA         

August 10 2011 Pier Six Concert Pavilion                  Baltimore,MD     

August 12 2011 nTelos Pavilion                                 Portsmouth, VA  

August 13 2011 House of Blues                               Myrtle Beach,SC

August 14 2011 Chastain Park Amphitheatre        Atlanta, GA

Have You Seen U2 on the 360 Tour?

by Cindy Robinson

Life On The Scene readers, I have been moonlighting, for a site called Tree.com doing some writing for their entertainment section and covering a variety of live events for them. One of the recent ones was the massive, long-awaited return of U2 to Anaheim, California where they took over Angel’s Stadium for two shows. They put on an incredible show, as one would expect from U2 with fine support from Lenny Kravitz to kick off the evening.

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Here is a sampling of images from the evening and if you’d like to check out the entire review, slideshow and alternate set of images, please enjoy them here: http://www.tree.com/entertainment/blog-blog/archive-2011-06-22-u2-at-angels-stadium-worth-the-wait.aspx 

I’ve also been covering events such as Bruno Mars, Duran Duran (who we were lucky enough to see before lead singer Simon le Bon suffered vocal cord injuries which led to cancellation of the band’s European summer tour), Honor Society and My Chemical Romance recently. I hope to get some links and images from those reviews posted for you soon.

Looking ahead, we hope to bring you coverage on INXS, Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers as he launches his first solo album, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part II (I can’t believe we’re at the end of the series!), Comic-Con and some projects Robert Downey Jr. is working on and Katy Perry.

Your comments and feedback are always appreciated!

Win Tickets To See INXS In Toronto

Sony Music Canada would like to give Canadian fans the chance to win a pair of tickets to see  Australian band INXS live at The Sound Academy in Toronto on March 2, 2011!

Enter to win by submitting your details before February 24th on Sony’s contest form here. You must be a resident of Canada (excluding Quebec), aged 19+ and have transportation to the show.

This is the only concert INXS currently have scheduled for Canada, promoting their latest album, Original Sin, so don’t miss your chance to see Kirk Pengilly, Jon Farriss, Garry Beers, Andrew Farriss, and Tim Farriss perform live with Canadian frontman, J.D. Fortune!

Good luck to all who enter, Sony is giving away three pairs of tickets!

INXS & Train Wrap Up A Day On The Green Concert Series

INXS, Train & the Models courtesy of INXS.com

by Cindy Robinson

INXS & Train are currently wrapping up their A Day On The Green summer concert tour of Australia which has become the most successful run of this concert series so far.

Original INXS members Kirk Pengilly, Garry Beers and brothers Tim, Jon & Andrew Farriss are currently promoting their latest offering, Original Sin, which features their own songs completely reworked and sung by a host of different international singers, including RockStar: INXS winner, J.D. Fortune, Train’s Pat Monahan and Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty.

INXS back with singer J.D. Fortune and Train are at the end of a 2 week concert run across Australia with Pat Monahan joining INXS on stage during their song, Beautiful Girl. The band with guest Pat Monahan recently stopped by the Sunrise Entertainment morning show in Australia to perform a moving rendition of Beautiful Girl live on TV.

INXS have a handful of international tour dates on their roster. Let’s hope we see more dates from this great live band as the northern hemisphere moves forward into their summer concert series.

• February 12 2011, All Saints Estate, Rutherglen, VIC, Australia             
• February 16 2011, Luna Park, Buenos Aires, Argentina
• February 18 2011, Movistar Arena, Santiago de Chile, Chile
• February 20 2011, Iquique Summer Festival, Tierra de Campeones, Iquique, Chile
• March 02 2011, Sound Academy, Toronto, ON, Canada
• March 12 2011, Enlighten Festival, Commonwealth Place, Canberra, Australia

Train also have a long list of international tour dates ahead of them including stops in New Zealand, Mexico, Dubai, dates throughout South America and the USA. Full tour informati0n can be found on Train’s website.

INXS and Train have all signed a Fender electric guitar which is currently up for auction on eBay. It comes with a road case and a photograph of all the artists with the guitar to aid victims of the Australian floods. The auction runs through February 17th and can be viewed on eBay with full information also available on the INXS site.