Stereo Embers The Podcast 0189: Andrew Farriss (INXS)

Stereo Embers: The Podcast

"Love Makes The World" Well, he may live on a remote farm now, but back in the 80s there was nothing remote about Andrew Farris. The guy was everywhere. The Perth-born/Sydney-raised musician got his start in a band called Doctor Dolphin, but you probably know him best from his second band: INXS A multi-instrumentalist adept at piano, harmonica, and guitar, Farris and his brothers Tim and Jon along with Michael Hutchence, Kirk Pengilly and Garry Beers were at one point the biggest band on the planet. And that was at a really competitive time—you had U2, Depeche Mode, R.E.M., and DURAN DURAN--and INXS at their peak were bigger than all of them.They put out ten records with Hutchence and two others after his death and they were elected to the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2001. Pals since high school, Farris and Hutchence were a lethal songwriting combination and Farris really was the sonic architect of INXS’s sound. Not only that, but he co-wrote all but one of the band's top-40 hits in the U.S. Farris went on to produce for everyone from GUN to Yotu Yindhi and Jenny Morris and he snagged a Producer of the Year award at the ARIAS in 1990. He was inducted into the Australian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2016 and in 2020 he was awarded with the Member of the Order of Australia. His new EP "Love Makes The World” is a country-tinged offering that’s contemplative, captivating and comforting. It’s a thoughtful blend of rootsy rock and lush acoustic numbers that perfectly capture the wondrous things the world does to the human heart. It’s aching, it’s wistful and it’s utterly lovely work. In this conversation Farriss talks to Alex about the joys of hard work, what it’s like to live in such a remote location and what made him pick up a guitar and write this new batch of such inspired material.