A Hoodoo Gurus History (well, through Kinky anyway)

Remember 1981? Remember the very first day of 1981? Maybe you were at a party in Sydney. Maybe the band thrown together to play in the living room was called Le Hoodoo Gurus. Maybe you can't remember being there but your friends told you the next day that you had a good time and the band was great. They looked a bit weird though and somehow they seem to have forgotten to get a bass player. There were three guitar players, Dave Faulkner (who also did most of the singing and songwriting), Rod Radalj and Kimble Rendall. The drummer was called James Baker.

People around inner city Sydney liked Le Hoodoo Gurus. They stated playing pubs - the sort that are about as big as a living room, and turned them into an instant party.

Everyone else was releasing independent singles in those days and Le Hoodoo Gurus figured they might as well do one too. They recorded a song called Leilani and the Phantom label put it out. Towards the end of 1982 Kimble and Rod decide to leave, their places being taken by ex Hit men, Brad Shepherd, on lead guitar. The Gurus decided at this time to get a bass player - enter Clyde Bramley.

The Hoodoo Gurus (the 'Le' having disappeared somewhere along the way) wore their influences heavily and proudly on their sleeves with songs like Let's All Turn On where they paid tribute to every 60s pop, garage and R& B band imaginable. Then there were examples of rue weirdness - Tojo about a hurricane that didn't make it to Darwin, Dig It Up, a tribute to a dead girlfriend, In The Echo Chamber about an episode of Get Smart, and the occasional love song such as My Girl.

Big Time records came, saw, listened and liked, signing the Hoodoo Gurus early in 1983. Big Time paid the bills for the Gurus to recorded Tojo. It did OK. Then came My Girl, released in October 1983. It did better, reaching the Top 20 in Sydney and Perth, and number 36 on the National charts, helping the Gurus to become a seriously viable live attraction right around the country.

Next it was album time and March 1983 saw the release of Stoneage Romeos, a virtual Gurus-Greatest-Hits-To-Date affair that had rock critics falling over themselves in the superlatives department. The word had started to spread overseas and the Gurus were signed to A & M Records in America, Stoneage Romeos being released there with a cover that had been redone by A & M. It is one of the worst covers in the history of recorded music. The Gurus had nothing to do with it.

There was a record out in America, so why not go over there and play? That sounded fine to three Gurus, but James Baker had had enough and decided to leave his bags unpacked, his place being taken by yet another ex-Hitman, Mark Kingsmill. This line-up was to remain intact for the next half decade.

After a short stopover to play their first shows in New Zealand, the Gurus found themselves in Los Angeles, and for the next few weeks did a real lot of driving, a real lot of playing, a lot of talking to interested journalists, visited radio stations - and did even more playing, a routine they were to become very familiar with over the next few years. Stoneage Romeos became the No 1 album on the College Radio chars and stayed there for seven weeks, and the single, I Want You Back, was the seventh most played single for the year on the college network. Among the many shows the Gurus played on the first US tour was at the prestigious Ritz in New York. They played at CBGB's. They played on a make-shift stage at lunchtime under the sun in Santa Barbara.

Returning to Australia there was no Gurus holiday. Less than 48 hours after arriving in Sydney the band was onstage at Sydney's Phonecian Club for two pre-Christmas shows. Then the Gurus embarked on a national tour supporting Lou Reed through January 1985. Come April and Stoneage Romeos was voted Debut Album Of The Year by the Australian press and media at the Countdown Awards.

That same month saw the Gurus back in the studio to commence the recoding of album number two, Mars Needs Guitars. With release of this album things really went through the roof. The album's first single, Bittersweet was picked up by every major radio station in the country and by August was well ensconced in the National Top 20, peaking at 16. The album entered the national chart at number four, was certified Gold within three weeks and went Platinum shortly thereafter. Again the critics were dribbling - and the fans were buying.

Touring - the Gurus love touring. Back they went to America and even did a first stint in Canada. At one show in Los Angeles the Gurus were joined onstage by two of their long standing rock'n'roll heroes, Roy Loney and Cyril Jordan from the Flamin' Groovies for a version of the Groovies' Shake Some Action. Backstage were Jack Cassady (Jefferson Airplane), Nina Hagen, Arthur Kane (New York Dolls), Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), Dweezel Zappa (son of Frank), and actress Molly Ringwald. The Gurus had arrived in a serious way.

Europe was next, the tour culminating with a show at London's Legendary Hammersmith Palais where the Gurus played to a capacity house and turned hundreds away.

England's hipper-than-thou New Musical Express described one Gurus show as "One of the greatest pop performances of the modern era."

During this period the Gurus embarked on a nine week tour as special guests to the Bangles (members of both band frequently hopping onstage with each other). So successful were these shows that in the middle of 1987 the Gurus and the Bangles did another few weeks of touring together.

The touring continued relentlessly unit mid 1986 when the Gurus took time off to write songs for album number three, Blow Your Cool, which contained their highest charting single What's My Scene (which came with a truly inspired video). This album presented some of the Gurus' greatest rock'n'roll, their trademark synthesis of Merseybeat, psychedelia, punk intensity and a deft pop touch that was as classic, yet contemporary, as a pair of vintage wraparound shades. The Bangles contributed soaring harmonies to Good Times and The Dream Syndicate crop up sing back-ups on Middle Of The Land.

Again the critics raved. America's Rock Express said, "In a fairer universe, the sales figures of U2 and the Gurus would be equal, or maybe even reversed."

England's Sounds decided that "To see live (the Gurus) are the missing link between the Lovin' Spoonful and the New York Dolls. These are the bands with and instinctive grasp of what makes a jukebox gather up its skirts and rock out…"

Back home the Gurus embarked on their first concert level tour with resoundingly successful results. The Blow Your Cool Concert Tour sold out every night in every capita city in Australia.

The Gurus' bout of globetrotting wound up in the American city of San Diego. The band had traveled more than 150,000 miles in the previous 12 months and played at 204 different venues in 19 countries around the world. Along the way they'd played a one hour live show simulcast to 6,000,000 viewers on the CSN Network, and sold out a show at New York's Ritz which was filmed my MTV. They'd been invited to march in the Mardis Gras parade in New Orleans and taken the opportunity while there to film a video for Good Times. The only place they hadn't played was mars - and even that was tentatively scheduled for the next tour!

By the time the Blow Our Cool touring was over in 1988 Clyde decided he's had enough of life as a Hoodoo Guru and left the band. His place was taken by Rick Grossman, a veteran of more bands than even he can remember (Matt Finish, Divinyls, etc, etc). Rick had also played in a throw together band with Mark back in the 70s.

Rick's first appearance on record with the Gurus was on 1989's Magnum Cum Louder, a scorcher of an album that contained songs like Come Anytime, Axegrinder, Hallucination, Where's That Hit?, and Death in the Afternoon.

What did the Gurus do after Magnum was released? Surprise, surprise, they toured through Europe, North America and Australasia and built on their already huge following. In a matter of weeks after playing in Berlin, the authorities, bowing to public demand for access to the next Gurus show, took down the infamous wall! Magnum followed the strong tradition of Hoodoo Gurus albums in America by going to the number one spot on the Alternative and College chars. By this time they were starting to turn truly kinky and took a break to work on songs for album number five, and to diversify their interest. Dave produced the Happen Thang's debut album and a soon to released platter for New York's coolest, The Fleshtones.

1990 also saw the Gurus achieve a long standing ambition - to play in Japan. During late March, early April, they took a break from songwriting and played two and a half weeks of club dates in Japan.

But his was just a diversion from the real business at hand - the completion of the Hoodoo Gurus' finest album to date - KINKY.