What's their Scene? - its The Guru's

GEEZ, its been a while since I done an aussie act, HUH?...so I best get another one posted, and i'll go with the Hoodoo Gurus..and I'll be the first to admit that they werent my style musically and they looked funny back in 82 when I first heard of them.

 The first tune I heard of them was probably the greyhound song ( or My Girl if you like), me being covered in denim and leather and listening to Rose Tattoo, Iron Maiden and Saxon and them wearing paisley shirts with their hair standing straight up, WELL, we didn't exactly see eye to eye, stylelistically speaking, to be honest..then one day I was at Cronulla footy oval for an outdoor gig and the Gurus came on and blew the top of my f**king head off, awesome stuff indeed and then began a serious liking of Dave and the boys that has maintained up to this very day..ladies and gents may I present the MIGHTY Hoodoo Gurus...

The legendary Hoodoo Gurus. By any measure, one of Australia's greatest, best loved, most enduring rock bands of all time....2013 marks an extraordinary milestone for the Hoodoo Gurus (let alone any band); 31 years since the release of the band's debut single, "Leilani".

Hoodoo Gurus (referred to as the Gurus by fans) formed in Sydney in 1981 by the mainstay Dave Faulkner (songwriter, lead singer and guitarist) and later joined by Richard Grossman (bass), Mark Kingsmill (drums), and Brad Shepherd (guitar, vocals, harmonica).....It could be argued that their popularity peaked in the mid to late 1980s with albums Mars Needs Guitars!, Blow Your Cool! and Magnum Cum Louder...but, they still drawing crowds and no one is selling records today anyway...so its hard to judge when their popularity peaked or didnt

Hoodoo Gurus had a string of bonza singles including "Leilani" (1982), "Tojo" (1983), "My Girl" (1983), "I Want You Back" (1984), "Bittersweet", "Like Wow - Wipeout!", and "What's My Scene?"...... After touring the United States from 1984 onwards they got HUGE on the U.S. college rock circuit with singles "Come Anytime" (1989) reaching No. 1 and "Miss Freelove '69" (1991) reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.

 Gurus’ biggest Australian hit single was their 1987 Top 3 hit song "What's My Scene?" or, as modified for those knuckle draggers over at the National Rugby League for the 2000 season "That's My Team".

Hoodoo Gurus learned the hard way exactly how difficult it is to keep the old band together. Back in 1998, still at the peak of their of their powers, Faulkner and his fellow Gurus - guitarist Brad Shepherd, bassist Rick Grossman and drummer Mark Kingsmill - decided it was time to call it a day and broke up the band. They all went off to perform and record with other people, but soon missed each other so much that they formed a new band together, the Persian Rugs, which they insisted for years had nothing to do with the Hoodoo Gurus, except that the two bands coincidentally shared exactly the same line-up for a time.

Thankfully, in 2003, they put an end to that charade and reformed as the Hoodoo Gurus.....

Since reforming, the Gurus have recorded two more critically-acclaimed studio albums, Mach Schau [2004] and Purity Of Essence [2010], which now sit seamlessly alongside the band's pre-split classic recordings: Stoneage Romeos [1984]; Mars Needs Guitars! [1985]; Blow Your Cool! [1987]; Magnum Cum Louder [1989]; Kinky [1991]; Crank [1994] and In Blue Cave [1996].

Hoodoo Gurus' iconic status on the Australian rock scene was acknowledged when they were inducted into the 2007 ARIA Hall of Fame.the lads were inducted 18 July 2007 at the Plaza Ballroom, Melbourne. The ceremony was hosted by Julia Zemiro of SBS Television's RocKwiz. The band were inducted by HG Nelson of Triple J's This Sporting Life. They performed "The Right Time" and "I Want You Back" at the ceremony and subsequently toured with fellow inductees Radio Birdman.

Their induction announcement stated that the Gurus were one of the most "inventive, lyrically smart and exciting" bands from Australia.From 1960s power pop, and wild garage punk to hard driving rock and funky psychedelic kitsch their music stood out from Sydney's Detroit-inspired bands

Dave Faulkner says he remains amazed and eternally thankful that, three decades on, the music of the Hoodoo Gurus still holds such resonance with the Australian public. "I'm very grateful that we've got away with it for so long,' he says with a laugh. "Obviously, I'm proud of the songs and, as a writer, I'm so chuffed they've been adopted by people as part of their lives. They're not really my songs anymore; they're everyone else's. I just played a part in the beginning in raising them."

Since their debut recordings as Le Hoodoo Gurus at the start of the 1980s, through to their chart-topping successes throughout the '80s and '90s, their international triumphs and countless sold-out local tours, from their break-up through to their comeback, the Hoodoo Gurus have been and remain one of the most popular and successful musical acts Australia has ever produced.

The Gurus homepage

Like WOW what a band...