Project Description
Interview with
BRAD SHEPHERD
of the
HOODOO GURUS
Interviewer: Erika Miegel
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When Australian rock legends Hoodoo Gurus are buckling up to hit the road yet again in January 2019 to headline the Under The Southern Stars Tour, they’ll be in good company. Among the bill are crowd pullers like You Am I, Sheppard, and Eskimo Joe. I caught up with Hoodoo Gurus‘ guitarist Brad Shepherd to have a chat about his musical influences, his life pre Hoodoo Gurus and how it all came to be…
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Hello, this is Erika speaking.
Hi Erika
Hi Brad how are yah?
I’m good
That’s good, had a good morning so far?
Where are you today?
Oh I’m in Adelaide today.
Adelaide lovely.
Yup, you’re in Sydney?
I am in Sydney.
How’s the weather up there?
Eh seems like it’s okay at the moment, was a bit nasty this morning, but I can see some sun through the windows.
Fantastic, fantastic. Well-
I’ll wrap it up with you and I might go get a mudslide.
*laughs* Well I’ve got some questions for you today, are you ready to go?
Yeah, I’m good to go.
Fantastic. So just right off the bat Hoodoo Gurus are one of the most influential Australian rock bands, but I wanna know who influenced you in the beginning?
Me personally? Or the band?
How ’bout both?
Well I grew up through the 60s and 70s. So a lot of that is the normal kid stuff, and you know as a kid, it was just a mixture of what I could hear on AM radio at the time. Which-was the popular radio that you would hear, or the stuff that was on television a lot as well, because you know that whole post Beatles youth movement was so powerful and profound that television thought it was a good opportunity to exploit, so there was a lot of music on television at the time. That impacted on me a lot, but certainly the typical stuff that you might imagine when I was a child, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and a lot of Australian music that was played on the radio at the time. Like The Loved Ones and The Twilights, those kind of acts that actually had radio hits.
And then also my parents record collection, which was lots of Dylan and other things like, funk stuff as well. Like Peter Paul and Mary. And Jonathan, we had those records in the house. And other things like Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen. That was the record, or double album that I really enjoyed a lot. And at the time I didn’t realize that you know that he had this incredible band assembled around him by Leon Russel, Chris Stainton was there. They were all kind of the same musicians. All on that Joe Cocker record, so it was really kind of incredible sort of thing that was going on.
I wasn’t aware of those details at the time. I just realized wow, this is a great record. And then you know coming up in the 70s I became aware, probably just off of the radio, glam rock, like Bowie, and T-Rex, Slade…the first proper group I ever saw play live was Slade in 1974. Who were an enormous glam rock act out of the UK at the time. I had a good year that year, I saw Slade in February, then around about April or may I saw Suzie Quatro, on her first tour in Australia. Which was you know, wall to wall glam rock. She literally has a silver jumpsuit on, like a cat suit.
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Aha.
Like a leather cat suit. Then I saw Black Sabbath, it was their second tour of Australia, around about October or November of 1974. So all of this stuff has impacted on me, I had started to play guitar back then, so I would take a lot of guitar type music. You know the Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. As I was telling you I heard from Black Sabbath. And then I sort of simultaneously discovered a bunch of other music through Radio Birdman, because they even has a record out. I had read an interview with them where they name checked a bunch of bands. The Stooges, the MC5, The New York Dolls, The Blue Oyster Cult. I could go find those records even though I couldn’t rent a radio version I didn’t have any records out. But I saw a picture of them and they looked like a cool band. So I thought they probably know what they’re talking about.
*giggles*
So I went out and bought all those records, and then at the same time punk happened. So then The Ramones, and The Clash, and Television. You know all of that stuff, I just soaked it up. And then I started, I got tipped off by a friend who worked in a record store when I was listening to The Stooges and the MC5. And he just said causally you should listen to the stuff that influenced those bands. Well there were The Doors of course, they were in the house as well when I was a kid. And Big Brother and The Holding Company. But then also the kind of 60s underground music what we call garage now, or 60s punk. All of that stuff like The Count Five.
So by the time I ended up in the Hoodoo Gurus. I had a lot, I had a broad pallet, I had a lot of influences to draw on, and in many regards I was not the original guitar player of the band they lost a guy. But I think my like enthusiasm for music is what really got me noticed.
Absolutely.
He was impressed that I was able to draw on these you know different influences. And we would too, we would talk music, and I guess he could pick there was something that he related to as well. Cause he too is well, a deep music enthusiast. With a rich collection of influences that he draws upon.
So following on from that how did you actually incorporate into Hoodoo Gurus, how did you guys form together?
Yeah, as I say, I was not the original guitar player, so I was aware of them I was actually playing in a band called The Hitmen in the very early 80s. As a kid, I grew up in Brisbane, and I didn’t- I couldn’t really see myself going to uni, and studying to be a lawyer, or something like that. That just never made sense to me, I just, I was compelled to somehow pursue music in a fashion. I didn’t know how to do that, now you can do tertiary courses about how to become a working musician. None of that existed in Brisbane in the late 70s, so I just figured my best bet was to roll up in Sydney and hope for the best.
So that’s what I did, and I had a very lucky break. Cause a band called The Hitmen which was effectively half of Radio Birdman, who had already influenced me, they lost a guitar player, and they were aware that I was around, I had imbricated myself to them, in Brisbane when they would come play shows. They blew up an amp once on stage, and I had an amplifier in the back of my mom’s car I was driving around, because I had just been to rehearsal with my punk rock band in Brisbane. So I loaned them my amp, then they were sort of obligated to talk to me a little bit.
*Laughter*
At the end of the show when I got my amp back. But they knew of that kid in Brisbane. And he seemed to know about us and what we do. So I found myself in that band, which was an incredible sort of apprenticeship for me.
Yeah.
I got to do a lot of touring and play a lot of shows. And get better at my instruments. There was an opportunity where my old flatmate Clyde Bramley he had just joined the Hoodoo Gurus. I was aware of them, they played a couple of parties around Darlinghurst here in Sydney. I though it was, we had a mutual friend, and he had mentioned the band. I thought it was a great name for a band, I knew what that meant, it wasn’t just gobbledygook I knew what Hoodoo Gurus meant. I thought that was a great name for a band, and then I went and saw them. I loved the fact that they were playing a bunch of stuff that deemed kind of uncool, you’d think in 1981 or ’82, they were borrowing a lot from glam rock and 50’s rock and roll. And from 60s garage music, a lot of stuff that has sort of fallen off the trash heap of music history.
They were sort of gloriously reanimating it. That appealed to me a lot, so when Clyde told me to come to a rehearsal, they had lost a guitar player. I enthusiastically packed my guitar, and went down the road, we had a rehearsal, and I was in the band.
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That’s a good story. How do you think the industry has changed since then?
There was time before we even had a record out, before we even had a record deal. When we could just go out and work, we could get a gig people would see us, they’d like us. They’d come back, or they would go and see us somewhere else. In that, you know, at the peak of the pop rock circuit. But we could play four-five nights a week, without a record contract. And sustain ourselves, professionally. We weren’t doing huge business, but we were making enough to feed, and clothe ourselves, and pay our rent.
I just don’t know if that environment exists anymore, I could be wrong about that, but I feel like we were fortunate in that we were able to kind of surf that wave. Of huge public enthusiasm for local live music performance.
Absolutely absolutely, I think-
I think that’s probably the big difference, I guess now if it has more reliance on radio airplay, or some sort of online presence I suspect. But we were fortunate in that the environment kind od already existed, and if you were good enough that you could exploit that environment. Just by doing what you do, and we all hoped, because we were playing a lot, and we kinda got pretty good at what we were doing. We were doing a lot we were getting a lot of hours on the clock if you will.
Yeah, and just on your shows and on your gigs, you’ve toured a lot and you’ve toured with a lot of different big names of the industry. Who are the favorite performers that you’ve toured with?
My favorite performer, well, we will be going out with one of them within these shows of Under the Southern Stars, You Am I have always held my attention, I thought right from the very first time I saw them. I could see that they had something extraordinary going, I hadn’t heard the name of the band, and I hadn’t really heard much about them. But I went and saw Nirvana play here in Sydney and You and I were the opening act, and absolutely mopped the floor with Nirvana. Nirvana came out and they just seemed like they were beaten after You Am I. They were incapable of eclipsing what You Am I had just achieved. So that was pretty impressive, but they’re always on my radar.
I love the Sunnyboys in as much as they have some of the same influences. That they just it’s just two guitars, bass, and drums. That they had some extraordinary songs, and they’re all mates as well, in fact in that house, that I was in with Clyde Bramley who was the Hoodoo Gurus guitar player. One of our other flatmates was Richard Birdman who’s a guitar player in Sunnyboys, and Richard lives in Canada now. But when Sunnyboys threw one of their rare performances, Richard’s there. He flies in from Canada, and plays shows with them. I think that all three of those albums they made in the early 80s are extraordinary classics.
My other favorite is The Died Pretty and whenever I see them perform I have an out of body experience. The hair stands up on the back of my neck, and I am lost in time and space.
That’s a good feeling isn’t it.
They have an extraordinary impact on me whenever I see them. I haven’t seen them often because they don’t play as frequently. They know that I love them, and surely, I think, I’m not going to have that feeling that I used to have when I would go see them in the 80s. But yes, I do. They are extraordinary.
Yeah, so you mentioned just before the Under the Southern Stars tour which is in January. What can we expect from that show from the Hoodoo Gurus?
You expect that we will have to bring our A-game. Because there is a level of competition amongst bands. And when you’ve got six bands on the bill, and you’re the one on the end there’s a domino effect where everyone is trying to outdo everyone else. So I can guarantee you, You Am I will be on fire before we go on. So we can not suck.
No *giggles*
Can not suck, so for people that come and see these shows that’s what’s happening, no one is going to suck. We’re all trying outdo each other, so I think that rock and roll is the winner at the end of the day.
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AUSMUSICTSHIRTDAY – 16th November this year
“We’ve got ours on – and now we’re heading to
http://
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What’s your favorite Hoodoo Gurus song to perform?
I like Echo Chamber off the first album. I like Be My Guru, which is like our first unofficial anthem, which was b side of My Girl. I like a song called Bring The Hoodoo Down, which is a tune that that Dave wrote, but I sing it. Which is kind of like a, almost like a scary, almost like a Creedence kind of thing. Like scary Voodoo tinge kind of thing, I like that stuff, and I also like the exercises in minimalism. Like Heart of Darkness, I don’t even know where that come- I don’t even know where that is, I think that’s a beat right. I like those kinds of songs too . I like performing those songs, I think that they are challenging for audiences, and so we don’t play them that much. We acknowledge that you can’t land entire sets just made up of those songs.
That folks will demand to hear some of more sophisticated writing that has occurred within the band, like What’s My Scene, or I Want You Back, or even Waking Up Tired. But I always get huge kick out of playing those songs. I like a lot of the songs on the first album, because they are so really unique in many regards. Things like Death Ship, and I almost said, Echo Chamber that really is an all time favorite for me. It’s about an episode of Get Smart which is the show that we used to watch in the 70s and 80s. Still makes me laugh when I stumble upon it on cable from time to time.
Can we be promised Miss Free Love?
Miss Free Love, there will be a lynching mob that will hunt us down with torches and pitchforks if we don’t play Miss Free Love. You can be guaranteed you know Miss Free Love, and Come Anytime, certainly What’s My Scene, and Like Wow Wipeout, and Bittersweet, and almost always I Want You Back. And Death Defying, things like that. It’s a fine line we walk to play all the songs that folks expect to hear and then also address some of the other side of it which is the songs that we, the deeper cups in our repertoire that we’re also capable to perform.
Mm-hmm (affirmative) I can’t wait. It sounds great.
We got a couple of them in there, and the set is never the same twice. I know a lot of bands who are like that. They write the set at the beginning of the tour and then they’ll tour the world for a year, and they predicatively play the same thing night after night after night, we don’t operate like that. And yeah I guess maybe some of that’s to do programming as well. Well that’s not something that the Hoodoo Gurus have to consider, because its four blokes playing their instruments on stage. There’s no hard drives over the sound playing in half of what you’re hearing. That it’s we do it old school, like jazz it’s like a purist medium. That’s part of the thrill, to actually play out instruments. So that does afford us something that is increasingly unique in this day and age. And that is we can make sh*t up on the spot, and if someone yells for a request we can do that. Because we play those songs it’s not on a hard drive somewhere.
Yeah, I’ll definitely be at the Adelaide show, if you see a young girl with blonde hair waving up at you it’s me all right.
All right good deal.
That’s actually all my questions today, but I really enjoyed talking to you.
Thanks Erica it’s been a great pleasure for me.
Thank you so much.
Looking forward to seeing you in Adelaide.
For sure. You have a good day.
Bye Bye
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Don’t miss the Hoodoo Gurus experience when they headline the upcoming Under the Southern Stars tour this January alongside You Am I, Eskimo Joe, Sheppard, The Superjesus, British India, The Getaway Plan and Scott Darlow.
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UNDER THE SOUTHERN STARS 2019
Saturday, January 12: Hastings Foreshore Reserve VIC
Lineup: Hoodoo Gurus, You Am I, Eskimo Joe, The Superjesus,
British India, The Getaway Plan & Scott Darlow
Saturday, January 19: Broadwater Parklands, Gold Coast QLD
Lineup: Hoodoo Gurus, You Am I, Sheppard, The Superjesus,
British India, The Getaway Plan & Scott Darlow
Sunday, January 20: Sunshine Coast Stadium, QLD
Lineup: Hoodoo Gurus, You Am I, Sheppard, The Superjesus,
British India, The Getaway Plan & Scott Darlow
Friday, January 25: Harts Mill, Port Adelaide, SA
Lineup: Hoodoo Gurus, You Am I, Eskimo Joe, The Superjesus,
British India, The Getaway Plan & Scott Darlow
Saturday, January 26: Shoalhaven Turf Club, Nowra, NSW
Lineup: Hoodoo Gurus, You Am I, Eskimo Joe, The Superjesus,
British India, The Getaway Plan & Scott Darlow
Sunday, January 27: Westport Park, Port Macquarie, NSW
Lineup: Hoodoo Gurus, You Am I, Eskimo Joe, The Superjesus,
British India, The Getaway Plan & Scott Darlow
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Tickets for all events available from:
HERE and HERE
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