Hoodoo Gurus bring surf-rock sound back to New Zealand

It was the mid-1990s when the Hoodoo Gurus last played live in New Zealand. Jim Bolger was prime minister, some were dabbling in the “World Wide Web”, and Charles and Diana got divorced.

Nearly three decades later the beloved Australian surf-rock band is set to return to our shores to headline music festivals Selwyn Sounds in Lincoln, and Hutt Sounds in Upper Hutt, in March next year.

Best known for their 60s and 70s inspired hits What’s my Scene, Like Wow – Wipe Out, Bittersweet and 1000 Miles Away, the Gurus will join Sir Dave Dobbyn, Gin Wigmore, Mi-Sex, Greg Johnson and Blam Blam Blam for the festivals.

Forming in the early 1980s, the band came to prominence through their live performances on the Australian pub circuits.

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A couple of years after their last tour here in 1996, the Gurus broke up but reformed six years later after they had made “a big mistake”, frontman Dave Faulkner said.

The band toured to New Zealand several times in the 1980s, playing at smaller venues including The Gluepot in Ponsonby, Auckland.

“It was just one of the riotous gigs that we did back in the day, people slam dancing and that was all part of the madness.”

Faulkner, 64, said a lot had changed in the intervening 26 years, including the demise of the legendary pub circuit, where bands performed live gigs seven days a week.

The change was not driven by audiences falling out of love with live music, but the rise of dating apps, he said.

“Back in those days there were no cellphones, no social media, so if you wanted to meet someone on a Tuesday night there was no swiping left or right – there was maybe go and see a band, and you might meet someone you liked.”

The exit of a long-time band member, drummer Mark Kingsmill, in 2015 and the entry of Nik Reith to the role was a tumultuous period but gave the group a renewed passion to make music, Faulkner said.

“What that means of course is we’re not just going to milk it and get money and do gigs, and do the oldies circuit, we want to make a new record and show that we have something to say now.”

Faulkner said the Gurus’ 10th studio album – Chariot of the Gods, released in March – was one of the more personal records he had made.

He described the song Answered Prayers as “quite an ugly song” about an abusive relationship.

“It wasn’t one I was in personally but was people in my orbit, people I knew very well, and it was almost like purging in a way.”

In Hung out to Dry – on the vinyl version of the album only – Faulkner recorded his hatred for then United States President Donald Trump and now regrets not including it in the digital album.

“We thought well, we don’t really want to be thinking about Donald Trump in 10 years time when we’re listening to it … so we left it off the album, but we ought not to have. He’s part of our history, and we’re going to be dealing with his horrifying legacy regardless of what happens in his next presidential bid.”

The band will head to Brazil – where they have a strong following among the surfing community – and the United States for two months after the New Zealand tour.

Faulkner said the band would stop at numerous venues in both countries, sleeping on a bus between gigs. It was going to be “tough”.

“Luckily when we’re on stage we don’t have to talk to each other, and as musicians that’s how we relate to each other.”

He and the band clearly have no thoughts of retiring anytime soon. Performing live was like being a musical instrument, he said.

“And that is such a special place to be, it’s hard to give that up – you know I probably never will.”

*Tickets for Selwyn Sounds, Hutt Sounds, and the band’s Auckland shows go on sale from 7am on August 25 at selwynsounds.co.nz, huttsounds.co.nz and plus1.co.nz respectively.