2012 marks 30 years since Sydney band the Hoodoo Gurus (then known as Le Hoodoo Gurus) released their first single, the stomping caveman beat-driven “Leilani”. In the years since that first release, the band has released some of Australia’s most enduring rock songs. To mark the anniversary, the band is bringing together some of their favourite acts for the Dig It Up Invitational.
As guitarist Brad Shepherd explains, the band had wanted to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their formation but had almost put it in the too hard basket until they were given an offer that was hard to pass up.
“Our promoter came to us with his concept for just doing one show in Sydney. We almost laughed it off and sort of went, ‘Sure, if you can make that work, best of luck to you’. He said, ‘You guys send me your wish list’, which we did and within about a week he said that The Fleshtones, Died Pretty and Redd Kross had all said yes and we kind of had half a festival. We really didn’t hold much faith that he could pull it together because it just seemed too good to be true, frankly,” Brad says.
The acts on the final bill encompass several generations of bands that all have roots in garage, punk and psychedelia. However, Shepherd says there was no grand philosophy to who was asked or who ended up on the bill.
“It was just about who we like. It really stopped there. That’s probably just a nice fringe benefit that’s going to occur. It was really more about what we like, who we can get for the show that’s still playing, that we dig.”
Given the opportunity to put together a line-up of some of their favourite acts, the band didn’t hold back with who they would have liked to have playing.
“I actually put The Dream Syndicate right at the top of my list and Steve Wynn from The Dream Syndicate is going to come out and perform. Really, the cream of the lists that we submitted actually found their way onto the bill.”
One of the most surprising names on the bill is that of The Sonics, the seminal American garage band who have influences countless generations of bands that have followed. Having reunited in 2007, the band is making their first ever trip to Australia to appear at the events.
“I think Dave [Faulkner, Hoodoo Guru’s singer] saw them at a Cavestomp or something like that in New York a number of years ago. They too were at the top of our lists. They never had any hit songs, no hit singles at all. They’re just one of those bands. For me, I discovered them when I discovered Radio Birdman. From there I went backwards and I became like an archaeologist and started digging back into music culture. So then I discovered the Stooges and the MC5 and the New York Dolls. Then I started digging back into the bands that influenced them and I discovered all that 60s garage music. This is all stuff I did as a teenager, growing up in Brisbane,” he says.
“The first time you hear The Sonics, because they are so raw and Gerry Roslie’s scream, which is incorporated into almost every song, is so ferocious and paint peeling, you just never forget it. They’re completely unique. There are very few bands that are even in the same realm. There are literally acts that model themselves almost exclusively on The Sonics. If you think of a band like the Mummies, they are like 95% The Sonics.”
At the other end of the spectrum Shepherd mentions that there were a few acts the group had put on their respective lists that didn’t pull through. “I did have the Blue Oyster Cult on there but I knew that was a long shot. They actually still play but they’ve never been to Australia and I’ve never seen them perform. I would love to see them,” he says.
“The Dictators were on a couple of the lists. They were certainly on my list and on Dave’s list as well. They’ve been here; they’re a phenomenal live act too. But I think maybe there’s some personal politics going on; they’re a little acrimonious so they don’t really perform as The Dictators anymore, unfortunately.”
There were also a number of Australian bands Shepherd would have loved to have added to the bill.
“It would have been nice for me to have someone like The Zoot or The Masters Apprentices on the show,” he says. “The Masters, they play infrequently but for me it would have been nice to have my actual favourite line-up, which would be Jim [Keays], Doug Ford, Glenn Wheatley and Colin Burgess. That’s what I would have loved to see. The Zoot actually played last year. They didn’t play here, I wish they would. Rick Springfield curated a cruise around the Florida Keys or something and so he kind of had his own Dig It Up on a ship and he had the original Zoot perform. Rick Brewer, Daryl Cotton and Beeb Bertles went over and they played.”
Hoodoo Gurus will be playing their debut album Stoneage Romeos in full at every date. Released in 1984, the album includes some of the band’s stone-cold classics, including “My Girl”, “I Want You Back”, “Tojo” and the aforementioned “Leilani”. Shepherd says that for him, that album’s creation is greatly tied in with memories of his youth.
“It’s hard for me to divorce strictly the recording process from what I was experiencing as a young man. I was 22 when we recorded that album,” he says.
“I actually had a couple of albums under my belt. I was kind of a ‘seasoned professional’ going in there. I’d made two albums with The Hitmen, which was sort of half of Radio Birdman. For me personally, I just thought we were doing something quite fresh and new. It certainly was miles away from what I was doing with The Hitmen. It felt really quite unique what we were doing.”
“There was sort of a pragmatic approach to it as well, initiated by the record company, where we’d just go in and do a single go out and tour and then do another single when we came back from the tour. The album was kind of recorded just in bits and pieces and almost compiled at the end.”
He adds: “We did feel a bit like mad scientists making that record and it was a good feeling. It seems to have held up fairly well.”
Way to understate it Brad. The Dig It Up Invitational events are kicking off in Sydney on April 22nd. We’ve got the full lineup and set times all sorted for you.
