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Hoodoo Gurus
 The Hoodoo Gurus
represent a wonderful hybrid of trash pop culture, infectious songs, and
great live performances. Maybe in the beginning they were a bit of a
novelty, but a string of memorable singles changed that, and they became a
band everyone was happy to have around. They just made life and music a lot
more entertaining and colourful.
It
started when three relocated Perth musicians saw in the New Year of 1981 at a rooftop party in Sydney and
decided to form a new group with Sydney musician Kimble Rendall. Initially
they called themselves Le Hoodoo Gurus, and gave their first ever
performance on a segment of the kids' TV program 'Simon Townshend's
Wonderworld'. Then they backed a man and his singing dog on the national
Don Lane TV show. Hardly the beginning for a rock band desperate for
musical credibility. But definitely the beginning of a band with a sense of
humour and no pretentiousness.
What
music fans noticed about them when Le Hoodoo Gurus started doing 'real'
gigs was that the group didn't have a bass player - just three guitars and
drums. That grabbed people's attention. The songs did the rest. The music
echoed all the cartoon rock from the Troggs through the Ramones to The
Cramps. The lyrics were like scenes from B-grade movies. Their first single
'Leilani' told the story of a maiden sacrificed to the gods and an erupting
volcano while her true love looked on helplessly.
 Just before the
single came out Rendall left to concentrate on a film career. Ringleader
and main songwriter Dave Faulkner upset a lot of people by bringing in a
bass player, Clyde Bramley. Guitarist Roddy Radalj was one of those upset,
and he left to form the Johnnys. He was replaced by Brad Shepard, who had
been with Bramley in a bubblegum music tribute band, and they dropped the
awkward 'Le' in front of their name to become simply the Hoodoo Gurus.
This new
line-up recorded the band's first album, 'Stoneage Romeos'. The title came
from a Three Stooges short. The album was dedicated to characters from 'Get
Smart', 'F-Troop' and 'Petticoat Junction'. What really mattered was the
succession of happy, witty, entertaining singles which flowed from the
album - 'Tojo', 'My Girl', 'I Want You Back'
(YouTube). Almost as good as the songs were the clever, goofy videos that
came with them. The Hoodoo Gurus would have seen the humour in the
Countdown Awards cameras focusing on another band when they were announced
winners of the debut album of the year award. They were a people's band.
When
drummer James Baker was sacked in August 1984 there was nearly a
revolution. Fans of the band's live performances thought it was the end.
But the Hoodoo Gurus just went into the studio with Mark Kingsmill and
recorded another album, 'Mars Needs Guitars'. This time the title was a
twist on a B-grade sci fi movie title.
Almost
from the beginning the Hoodoo Gurus cast their eyes to America, source of
many of their music's kitsch fascinations. Dave Faulkner had been there on
his way from Perth to Sydney. Now he went back as part of the Hoodoo Gurus,
and saw both the group's albums top the college charts. These pockets of
support in America (and Europe too) maintained the group throughout the
rest of their career. Towards the end they found themselves with a
fanatical following in Brazil. Because of the international standing the
Hoodoo Gurus were never in a position where they had to be desperate for
success in Australia. They could be themselves without compromise.
The
third album 'Blow Your Cool' let go of some of the peripheral quirkiness
and just concentrated on the band's pop power. Members of their
international peer group The Bangles and Dream Syndicate contributed
backing vocals to several songs. Then, Hoodoo Gurus decided to opt out of
its record contract, tying the group up in legal wranglings for more than a
year. In the meantime Rick Grossman replaced Clyde Bramley on bass. This is
the line-up which saw the Hoodoo Gurus from 1989
to the end in 1997.
After
two albums under their new contract - 'Magnum Cum Louder' and 'Cranky' -
the band released two compilations at once. 'Electric Soup' contained the
hits. 'Gorilla Biscuits' was made up of B-sides and rarities. In 1996 the
band moved to Mushroom for 'Blue Cave'. Perhaps the single from the album,
'Waking Up Tired' said it all. In January 1997 Dave Faulkner announced the
band was breaking up, after 16 years and a quarter of a million album sales
worldwide, leaving behind a legacy of idiosyncratic pop songs. Gone, but
not completely. Dave Faulkner and the boys remained actively involved in
keeping the catalogue alive, whenever they felt like it they've still done
a gig here and there, and some of the Gurus spirit lives on in splinter
group The Persian Rugs. In 1998 Dave Faulkner and Kim Salmon of the
Surrealists realized a long-held plan to work together by recording an
album as part of eclectic group Antenna.
Finally
at the end of 2003, Hoodoo Gurus confirmed they were returning to the
studio. The result was 2004's 'Mach Shau'. The title means "make
show", the instructions given to the Beatles before their legendary pre-fame
Hamburg performances.
The
next “comeback” album didn’t surface for another five years, five years not
spent idly, but filled with live performance. Then, the album happened surprisingly
quickly. A jam session in a Sydney rehearsal studio early in 2009 found
them with eight songs they were happy with. After that, completing the
ninth studio album wasn’t a big stretch. Reuniting Hoodoo Gurus with ‘Mars
Needs Guitars’ producer Charles Fisher ‘Purity Of Essence’ was released in
March 2010, the first through Sony Music.
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