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Disclaimer: If you are easily offended by sheer honesty, or you think me having my own opinions is "being negative", then this is not the place for you, and I suggest you leave and head elsewhere. I call a spade a spade, and I don't sugarcoat anything.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Interview With Dylan Howard

More INXS news!! Garry did an interview with a man named Dylan Howard in LA. He spoke a little more in detail about the break-up with JD and the new album on the way. Seems he says the door is always open to JD, and vice-versa. But the band found JD's comments on TV offensive. Well. At least he didn't say they are cutting JD out forever. Sorry as I am they didn't like what JD said.

Seems a lot of other bands were influenced by INXS. Well, who in their right mind wouldn't be? Andrew is a damn good songwriter!! Even hard rockers like Marty Casey have confessed to being inspired by INXS. I cannot write songs and I cannot sing, but my inspiration from INXS comes out in my stories. Because they write about what they believe in, and so do I. Well, I will always love these guys (gotta keep reminding them!! LOL!) Garry said Brandon Flowers is a beautiful man, and very shy. Who'd have guessed? But he too was inspired by INXS for his band. Face it, INXS are damn GOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!

Anyway, here is the article:

They are one of the music industry’s great survivors. But INXS are also dignified. When reality TV winner J.D. Fortune ignited a scandal, with sensational claims he’d been sacked - forcing him to live in a car - the band remained silent. Now, for the first time, a band member responds. Bassist Garry Gary Beers spoke to Dylan Howard, in Los Angeles.

DH: There was talk J.D. Fortune’s departure may well have been the final straw for INXS. Was it ever a possibility?

GB: No. Never. We were always going to go on. I wish JD all the best. He is a good guy and we did really well, for a while. I think he just opened his mouth too far. He got caught out. But regardless, I – and the band – wish him well. He is a great front man and good luck to him.

DH: How did you learn about J.D.’s comments?

GB: It popped up in my inbox on a Google alert and I thought, ‘Oh, here we go!’ Look, J.D. is a nice bloke, but he is one of those people who just likes to talk. But it was unnecessary, because we parted on pretty good terms. He says he misquoted himself, which is an interesting way of explaining yourself!

DH: Did the band find the comments offensive?

GB: Well, we weren’t too pleased with it! When someone says they were fired, which wasn’t the case at all, it is disappointing. We tried to contact him. We even had him on the phone, but he claimed he was too busy to talk to us. It was unfortunate that the media jumped all over J.D.’s comments, but the bottom line was that it was inappropriate.

DH: He admitted he took cocaine while with the band. What was your reaction to that?

GB: It was just unnecessary for J.D. to make comment about that. People don’t want to know about that. But J.D. is a very honest person in what he says. He wears his heart on his sleeve – and that can be a good thing. But sometimes it can be a bad thing.

DH: Have you spoken to him since?

GB: No.

DH: Would the band ever work with JD again?

GB: The door is always open. He is a great singer and a front man. We had two very successful years touring with him and made a great record. He is doing his own thing, a solo album, and we’re doing our own thing. Let’s see what happens down the track.

DH: What’s on the horizon for the band now?

GB: We are re-recording some of our hits. Some of the band member’s more popular songs. The idea, from our perspective, is to get all top-notch singers who we have a musical connection to through the mutual admiration society. I guess we have influenced a lot of bands and they are showing their appreciation for what we do.

DH: What’s on the play list?

GB: ‘The Stairs’, but I don’t want to get into that too much!

DH: Come on – give us something!

GB: Well, we have re-recorded ‘Beautiful Girl’ and we got Brandon Flowers from The Killers to sing the vocal. He is a big fan. The Killers were touring Australia and he came into the studio to work with us. We all then went to his show that night.

DH: What was it like to work with Brandon?

GB: To get Brandon was a big thing. He was very shy, to be honest.

DH: Shy?

GB: Well, The Killers have only made two albums and he has always sung with his band. But he is such a beautiful guy. A sweetheart. Really quiet. Which is bizarre when you see him live. After working with him, I do see the INXS influence on their music. I love the band.

DH: How does the track sound?

GB: It sounds incredible. All I have is a rough version with drums, bass, one guitar, some rough keyboard and Brandon singing. It sounds amazing. Hopefully it will be released before the end of this year.

DH: So, what about ‘The Stairs’ – who will sing vocals on that?

GB: Gary from Snow Patrol – we hope. They are in the UK right now, but we are hoping to secure that in the next few days.

DH: What do you think Michael Hutchence’s reaction would be?

GB: He’d love it. He’d love it. This is exactly the kind of project that he would love. Michael would always come to us and say, ‘Have you heard this band’, or, ‘Have you heard this singer?’ He was the one who always tried to bring new influences and an inspiration to the band, so I think he would be in awe of this project. It is a great thing. “If anyone of us left a mortal coil, like Michael did, I would certainly want the band to go on. I love the guys and we still make great music together.

DH: Will you eventually look for a new front man?

GB: Don’t know. We are really enjoying working with individual singers who are like-minded and whom we admire and have influenced. It is really artistic. Inspiring. It is fun to be working with these people, as opposed ot churning out another record and going on tour. We have done that. Now we are doing some artistic projects.

DH: Is another tour on the cards?

GB: We don’t know. We’ll just see how it goes. We will do this project and see. We are just having a great time.

DH: You live in Los Angeles now, with your new wife Jourdan. How do you manage living in Los Angeles, while still with the band?

GB: I have been living here for three years now, but I just get on a plane when the band calls. People here think it takes forever to return to Australia, but for me, it is just dinner, a few drinks, sleep and breakfast – and I’m there. I am concentrating on my song writing here in LA. I have a backlog of songs as big as a cricket field. When you work with Andrew Farris, one of the best songwriters in music history, it is hard to get a guernsey. So I have a backlog of songs that never made it onto an INXS record. I just got a song on Scott Weiland’s (Stone Temple Pilots) new solo album – so that’s a pretty good start.

DH: Do you realise you are a member of one the world’s great surviving musical acts?

GB: We try! We love what we do. We are really good friends. It is like family. We have been together as a band for over 30 years and as friends, we have been together all our lives.

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