At age 60 INXS co-founder and principal songwriter Andrew Farriss is working on his first ever solo album. It’s a different direction for Andrew. He’s gone Country.
“I’ve always liked the music genre and especially liked the pre-Beatles era of the 40s, 50s and early 60s,” Andrew Farris tells Noise11.com. “Part of my thinking was to go back to what inspired those people, which was really the 19th century. That is where a lot of where my thinking about how I wanted to approach this album came from. I was struggling a little at first with how I take the genre on and if I belong in it. Then I thought why not go back to an earlier time when technology meant you were meant to have a motor car or an electric light”.
The first song released from the album is ‘Come Midnight’. The origins of the song date back to the INXS days. “What I was doing at that point was experimenting with different styles of music,” Andrew said. “I couldn’t think of a more polarized era. I was experimenting with synthesizers, dance grooves, fuck riffs … I was right into it. I could see where the next wave was going with dance and funk and EDM. I began to realize that if we were going to continue we had to do that. But with ‘Come Midnight’ the riffs I was messing around with I left. The guitar riffs, the chords. As time went on it was on my collection of music. My wife Marlina heard it and set it as her wake-up song. So I’d hear it all the time. I thought if she really likes it I need to finish. When I started working on this project I took those riffs and plonked them into 2018 or 19 when I recorded it. Basically that’s where the song is at. I also chose the song because it is a good representation of the direction my album is going. When then you hear the other songs on the album you’ll understand why I put ‘Come Midnight’ out first”.
Andrew is well aware of rock acts who also play country. The Stones did it with songs like ‘Dead Flowers’ and ‘Sweet Virginia’. “That was interesting,” he said. “I was watching a special last night on James Brown. Jagger was on it and he was talking how he had to go on stage after James Brown. Jagger was in awe of James Brown. Jagger said it was one of the most terrifying parts of his career. He was a dancer, a singer, he was extraordinary”.
Andrew recorded the album between his home in Australia and a studio in Nashville. He will perform solo this year at the Gympie Muster.
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