Come Anytime: The Hoodoo Gurus Rock On

Listening to the Hoodoo Gurus is very easy. The band’s energetic, hook-driven rock is instantly addictive. But when you try to tell someone else about it, describing the Australian band’s music is actually kinda tough. But, here at Garagerocktopia, that’s our job and we’ll do our best.

Yes, they’re definitely rock and roll. Yes, there are obvious touches of British Invasion, a more-than-discernible Power Pop strain, and even faint notes of punk and New Wave.  But to really nail down what the Hoodoo Gurus’ sound is all about isn’t all that easy. Of course, you can always listen and come to your own conclusions.

According to guitarist Brad Shepherd, that’s because growing up, the band members always sought out cool music, which in turn led to a perpetual search for even more cool music.

“We were all impressionable as children at a time when rock music was great,” explained Shepherd, talking to Garagerocktopia via FaceTime from his home in Sydney. “There were so many great songs on the radio. As our individual interests grew, we all became like archeologists, finding something we liked then finding some of the stuff around it.”

“If you hear the Beatles, soon you’re into the Stones, then the Stooges and so on. We had a lot of disparate influences, so we had this broad palette when we created our own songs. Then, we realized we didn’t have to be a pop group. As a teenager, I dreamed that I would be in a successful rock band.”

“I just wanted to be a big rock star and then I devoted a lot of time to making that happen. I never had a plan B.”

Any up-and-coming player looking to be a success his- or herself would do well to burrow into the Hoodoo Gurus, who have managed to make very cool music for more than 35 years. The band is fronted by singer/guitarist Dave Faulkner, with Richard Grossman on bass.

“We’re not a pop group – we’re a rock band who has toured our backsides off,” said Shepherd. “Between ’83 and ’94 we were relentless. We’d tour the U.S. and Europe, then we’d come back to Australia and do a national tour here. We’ve put in a lot of hard work, and that still pays dividends for us.”

“I think we’ve earned our way into the cultural DNA of our country. We have had younger bands who have been gracious enough to say we opened doors for them, not just artistically or creatively, but professionally as well.”

Australia has, as even the most infrequent listener of rock can tell you, contributed far more than its fair share of iconic rock music. Even in a country that has given us the likes of AC/DC, the Saints and the ridiculously maligned Bee Gees, the Hoodoo Gurus stand tall. They are members of the Australian Recording Industry Association Hall of Fame, amongst other honors.

  

The band really more deserves a book than an article, since their history as a big-league rock and roll group goes back to the early ‘80s, when they were first known as Le Hoodoo Gurus.  We won’t be exploring the band’s history exhaustively, but we’ll give you a thumbnail here.

The band was always popular in Australia, but by the mid-’80s also gained a sizable audience in the United States, particularly on college radio. By the early ‘90s, so-called “alternative” rock began to gain a more mainstream place on American radio, and the Hoodoo Gurus were very much a part of that wave.

The group had a string of college and FM radio hits, including “Bittersweet,” “I Want You Back,” “Come Anytime,” and the dandy “Miss Freelove ‘69.”  Albums such as “Magna Cum Louder” to this day remain 40-plus minutes of listening fun.

I can speak personally to the power of the Guru’s music. I was a metalhead – and musically, a meathead -- in the later part of the ‘80s, but the Guru’s knack for making melodic music that could still rock my socks off changed my own tastes dramatically.

But the music biz is, above all, most fickle. By the end of 1992, Nirvana’s Nevermind album dropped and, in the minds of the record execs at least, it was all about the grunge, or at least anything Seattle or sounding like anything Seattle.

The Hoodoo Guru’s audience never strayed very far, but on commercial radio at least, they quickly became yesterday’s news. The quality of their music, in the minds of fans and many critics, didn’t fade at all, but by 1998, the band called it quits. In retrospect, Shepherd says the breakup was utterly unnecessary.

“When we broke up in ’98 we felt a lot of pressure,” Shepherd recalled. “A lot of it came from the media in the post-Nirvana grunge era. There was pressure on us to just go away, and foolishly we capitulated. Now we can see that was preposterous. If you have something worthwhile to contribute, there’s always room. We really regretted that decision.”

It took almost no time for the band to see just how uncalled for that the split was. But it did have a silver lining. The band members quickly became less like co-workers and realized above all, they were actually friends, an understanding most rock bands never get to.

“We started just hanging out as friends,” revealed Shepherd, “and we joked ‘hey, maybe we should form a band’. And that’s exactly what we did.”

But that band wasn’t the Hoodoo Gurus. In 2002, Shepherd and company eased their way back onto the music scene as the Persian Rugs. The guys changed their sound slightly, with Faulkners vocals taking on a somewhat more sneery tone and making keyboards more prominent in music that could be described as full-on garage rock and freakbeat. The band -- never all that coy about its ‘60s leanings in the first place -- captured the vibe of bands like the Chocolate Watchband and the Standells quite well.

The band tried to say it wasn’t really the same, despite identical lineups. Few bought that, and by 2004, with the release of the album Mach Schau the group was back to calling itself the Hoodoo Gurus.

Shepherd says that, despite being a Hoodoo Guru the better part of four decades, the thrill is anything but gone.

“I’m still trying to get it right. I know it sounds cliché, but I still get a joy out of stepping on stage and creating music,” said Shepherd. “These days, it’s all about creating music with these guys. We’ve played together so long, it feels like telepathy – we just know instinctively what to do, and if we do screw up, we know what to do to fix it. We’re fortunate we’re in this position.”

One of the band’s most enviable qualities is that, after all these years, they can still produce songs with great hooks. Shepherd points out that this is another dividend of the band’s long history together.

“A large part of what you hear is Dave’s songwriting,” Shepherd explained, “which he has done the lion’s share of for the band. But the fact that we’ve spent so much time with our instruments is also a reason. I’m not a master by any means, but I’m a lot more familiar with the guitar than I was back in 1983. And with melodies, you just get better at that stuff. And really, there’s no reason for you to lose that talent to find a unique melody.”

There are so many excellent, even iconic, bands who have broken up in large part because of their inability to make it big in the United States market, influential bands such as the Jam and the Buzzcocks. The Hoodoo Gurus have had some stateside success but were never a threat to top any charts here. Thankfully, they have a longtime, loyal audience in Australia that ensures they won’t have to take day jobs any time soon.

“We have a fairly solid standing here in Australia,” said Shepherd. “We want to be successful, but we also appreciate the appeal of what we do. That allows us to follow our own muse. I’m certainly satisfied with what we’ve done here.”

Currently, the band is enjoying some airplay in the United States. “Crackin’ Up” is a characteristically upbeat rave-up from the band which Little Steven Van Zandt has added to the Underground Garage’s playlist. The funny thing is, it’s not a new song. It was originally released in 2010; that the song has resurfaced is a testament to what the personal touch can do in the music biz.

“We were playing in Melbourne, and Bruce Springsteen was also touring at the time,” said Shepherd. “There is an Australian journalist we know who is also very tight with Bruce’s band (of which Van Zandt is part) and who sort of became an unofficial liaison. Little Steven came to the show and liked what he saw.”

The Hoodoo Gurus are still very much in demand in Australia, touring regularly and headlining music festivals. Shepherd never once sounded weary or dissatisfied with being a part of this great band. It’s still a passion in his life.

“It’s difficult to find people in Sydney with whom you resonate,” said Shepherd. “For me, the other three Hoodoo Gurus are it.”