Back in 2004, INXS raised more than a few eyebrows when it announced Rock Star: INXS, a competition reality show in which the band held high-profile auditions for a new frontman to replace the late Michael Hutchence, who died tragically in 1997.
Shortly after the conclusion of the show, which resulted in the hiring of J. D. Fortune as the band's new singer, all three of the band's guitarists – brothers Tim and Andrew Farriss, and Kirk Pengilly – sat down for a chat with Guitar Player.
Questioned first, with a fair bit of skepticism, about Rock Star: INXS, Tim Farriss was more than happy to defend the televised audition process, contrasting it with other music-centered reality shows of the time.
“We knew that doing the show would be like going into the dentist’s chair,” Farriss explained to GP. “You know it’s going to hurt, but you’ll come out with much better teeth.
“We figured our old fans would be pissed off, but, in the end, we finally had great rock and roll on television, and someone had to come along and knock that American Idol crap out of the way. That show is destroying music.”
Farriss also took the time to detail the studio rig he used for the band's then-new comeback album, Switch, citing his love for electric guitars both traditional and unusual for an arena-rocker, and one of his great tonal touchstones.
“My favorite guitars are Telecasters,” Farriss revealed. “I also love the clone Strats and Teles that Tokai made – illegally – in the ’80s. Nile Rogers turned me on to those when we were recording Original Sin for The Swing in 1984.
“I asked him how he got that sound on David Bowie's version of China Girl, and he pulled out a Tokai Strat and said, ‘This is it.’ I loved the teardrop-shaped Talbo aluminum guitars that Tokai made for a while, too.”
Though slightly unique in his choice of Tokai, Farriss, of course, is far from the only arena-rocking guitarist to wield a cheap guitar onstage...
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