Things are heating up between Hoodoo Gurus and You Am I as the two legendary, Australian bands get ready for the massive A Fist Full Of Rock tour with Jebediah and Adalita.
Hoodoo Gurus frontman Dave Faulkner says a fierce, but friendly competition has emerged between them and Tim Rogers’ band You Am I. “They’re going to give us hell, we know that,” Dave laughs about the upcoming shows.
“They’re fearsome on stage and they have a lot of followers and there’s going to be a bit of a turf war; we’ll each be trying to blow each other off stage but it’s all for the better, you know. It makes a good night for the crowd and keeps the musicians on their toes.”
The A Fist Full Of Rock tour brings together four great Australian rock acts on one bill and comes as an extension of the You-Do Gurus joint national tour by, you guessed it, You Am I and Hoodoo Gurus. “It’s funny,” Dave recalls, “we played a show about a month ago maybe in the Hunter Valley for A Day On The Green together and Tim and the boys all stayed around to watch our set, because they were on a little bit earlier.
"Rather than drive back to Sydney… they made a point of staying to watch the show. It was all very palsy-walsy, but at the same time I had a very strong suspicion they were just trying to see what they were in for and how good we are right now and whether they would have an easy job of it or not, and I don’t think they found it was going to be that easy.
"They did a great show that day as well, so there were shots fired over the bow from both bands,” he laughs.
With gauntlets laid down and guitars at the ready, Dave says he and the Gurus are ready to storm the stage in a full-frontal assault of pure, concentrated rock. “We have no tricks,” he says. “We know Tim’s tricks, which are all very well-established. He’s a bit of a personality; he’ll be gagging and being a bit of a wise guy, making people laugh and getting them on his side.
“We don’t do that because I’m not a comedian or a personality in that regard. All we do is play songs as well as we can and make it a good noise.”
What Hoodoo Gurus will be armed with is an arsenal of classic tunes from a career spanning 35 years with 9 studio albums between 1984 and 2010, plus a small hoard of B-sides and singles.
Needless to say, fans will not be leaving the show disappointed. “Obviously there are some songs we have to do that people would almost go to Trade Practices if we didn’t play,” Dave laughs.
“‘You misled me; it wasn’t the Hoodoo Gurus at all it was another band.' At the same time, we’re going to be trying to fight fire with fire with You Am I, so we won’t be playing it safe.”
Hoodoo Gurus play A Day On The Green at Robert Oatley Vineyards (Mudgee, NSW) with Baby Animals and Jebediah 4 November, 2017.
A Fist Full Of Rock Tour Dates
Fri 25 Aug - Thebarton Theatre (Adelaide)Sat 26 Aug - Forum Theatre (Melbourne)
Thu 31 Aug - Enmore Theatre (Sydney)
Fri 1 Sep - NightQuarter (Gold Coast)
Sat 2 Sep - Eaton Hills Hotel (Brisbane)
