January 13, 2025 • 25 mins
Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians.
Catch the charismatic Dave Faulkner, the legendary lead singer and guitarist of the Hoodoo Gurus, as he takes us behind the scenes of the band's whirlwind "Back to the Stone Age" tour.
Dave shares his secrets for keeping his energy levels high and his performances top-notch, including why he skips alcohol and coffee on show days. Fans won't want to miss hearing about the band's unforgettable 40th-anniversary tour for "Stone Age Romeos," filled with sold-out shows and a tribute to a beloved manager who left an indelible mark on their journey.
Performing their 1984 debut album in its entirety to mixing in hits and taking special requests, Dave tells us how they kept every audience on their feet.
Discover the fascinating cultural exchanges as the band played across continents, catering to the diverse tastes of their international fans. An inside look at drummer Nick's impressive on-the-fly improvisations reveals the band's dynamic versatility and commitment to their craft.
Life on the road has its share of hurdles, and Dave gives us an honest look at how the band navigated challenges like the unexpected COVID-19 setbacks during their US tour.
As we wrap up, Dave hints at future plans, and the possibility of new releases that promise to keep the Hoodoo Gurus' legacy alive and thriving.
What have The Hoodoo Gurus been up to lately? Let's find out!!
Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!
Visit: ThatRadioChick.com.au
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Cheryl Lee (00:02):
That Radio Cheek Cheryl Lee here.
Welcome to the Still Rockin' itpodcast where we'll have music
news, reviews and interviewswith some of our favourite
Australian musicians and artists.
We've caught up with DaveFaulkner, lead singer, guitarist
, founding member of the HoodooGurus.
While they had a little bit ofdowntime between gigs on the
(00:24):
tour due to unprecedented demandand sellout concerts all over
the place, the gurus are excitedto announce a final run of
shows on the back to the stoneage tour.
Does what happen on tour?
Stay on tour?
Let's find out.
And let's find out what's.
What's next for the HoodooGurus To catch up on podcasts
from other favourite artists,simply go to that radio chick.
(00:46):
com.
au.
I'd like to welcome into theZoom room today friend of the
show, Dave Faulkner from theHoodoo Gurus.
Yay.
Dave Faulkner (00:58):
Hey, good to be here.
Cheryl Lee (00:59):
Nice to see you again, Dave.
Last time we spoke, back inJune last year, you were just
about to embark on a 20 plus daytour around Australia.
21 days later and most of thoseI think were sold out.
You're on the homeward stretch,but you're looking all right.
You're not looking any worsefor wear.
Dave Faulkner (01:18):
Well, it's good for me.
You know I don't drink when I'mon tour, unless I have a day
off.
I might have a couple of drinksafter a show, but, like on a
show day, don't drink alcohol.
Don't drink when I'm on tour,unless I have a day off.
I might have a couple of drinksafter a show, but, like on a
show day, don't drink alcohol.
Don't even drink coffee.
On a show day.
You're up on stage, you'rejumping around like a lunatic
and losing all this fluid, youknow, sweating everything out,
and also that the muscles areworking, including the diaphragm
.
So it's like a workout.
(01:39):
Aerobic fitness is what I thinkof it as.
Cheryl Lee (01:41):
So you're fitter when you're on tour than when
you're not.
Dave Faulkner (01:44):
Oh, a thousand percent, yeah, absolutely.
I, you know, stack on thecalories, go, you know, have too
many bevies and don't do enoughphysical activity.
I mean I do a bit of exerciseand stuff, but generally
speaking on tours is prettyrigorous you know.
Cheryl Lee (01:59):
So it's kind of like jungle training or something.
Dave Faulkner (02:00):
That's why you're looking so good, then, thank
you.
Thank you so much for your kindwords.
I'll take that, yeah you do.
Cheryl Lee (02:05):
You're having a little well-deserved break.
Dave Faulkner (02:09):
Yeah, of course.
Cheryl Lee (02:09):
And then you're going to kick off this year 2025
, with, is it seven final shows?
Dave Faulkner (02:15):
Eight, eight shows.
And then there's one that's notactually on our website, but
it's actually a private thing ina pub somewhere.
It's kind of a thing they doevery year, a special thing.
They get a fancy band in andjust have it for their locals
and it's kind of fun.
Yeah, but eight shows and thenwe're off to New Zealand in
April for three shows andthat'll be the official end of
the Stone Age Romeo's 40thanniversary celebration, which
(02:38):
of course this.
Now it's up to 41 years.
Cheryl Lee (02:40):
You've been celebrating so long.
Dave Faulkner (02:42):
I know, I know.
Well, we started late.
What happened was the tourwasn't put together until the
last minute because our managerof many, many years standing
decades in fact was unwell andbasically he dropped the ball a
little bit in his final illness,which unfortunately took his
life.
So when all that was happeningin the beginning of last year,
like about March, is when hepassed away, we suddenly had to
(03:10):
say what the hell are we doingnow?
Um, you know, that's a big, bigdecision.
And, uh, our new manager, whowe've known for many years he
he's um was our tour managerback in the late 90s.
He basically, in the space ofthree days, put this whole tour
together and of course we justdidn't know what would happen,
whether it would be interest.
You know people would beinterested in this idea or not.
And of course the tickets wentout the window, you know, really
fast.
And out the door, isn't it?
I don't know, you throw thingsout the window, you march out
the door, I don't know.
Cheryl Lee (03:30):
They went like hotcakes.
They went like hotcakes, thankyou.
Dave Faulkner (03:33):
And so we added more shows, and of course, some
of those shows are what we'reabout to embark on now, just to
kind of wrap it all.
Cheryl Lee (03:39):
Magician he is yeah, yeah.
Dave Faulkner (03:41):
Well, as I say, we, we just thought, you know,
hopefully people find this, youknow, idea okay, and um, you
know, suddenly we had to addshow after show.
We ended up doing four, fourshows in perth and, you know,
extra in moors and had extravenues in melbourne and sydney.
It was just, it was amazing andthe shows have been incredible.
That's the best part about it,apart from the fact that you
know the excitement in theaudience, which obviously they
express through buying tickets.
(04:02):
But just the people that arethere.
I mean, we played at this venuein perth four nights in a row
and the people there uh, saidthis is the first time we've
ever had four concerts ever inour history without a single
complaint from anyone aboutanything.
So there wasn't anything aboutthe price of the beer or the
temperature of the beer or theyou know couldn't get to the
toilets or whatever it is.
(04:23):
People complain abouteverything.
Usually there's someone's gotsome gripe about something, but
not a single complaint over fournights.
They couldn't believe it.
Cheryl Lee (04:30):
That's a pretty big compliment it is.
Dave Faulkner (04:33):
It means that people were entertained and
they're enjoying themselves.
And we certainly wereentertained and enjoying
ourselves, and I think thatshowed too, you know, with the
way they're having too much funto sweat the small stuff Exactly
and worry about the temperatureof the beer.
And we also invited all theparty people.
So the you know the sticks inthe mud probably didn't get
there.
Cheryl Lee (04:51):
So you're finishing up with a big final show at
Selena's.
Is that going to go off or what?
Dave Faulkner (04:58):
One hopes.
You know, it's an old,traditional venue for us from
back in the day, way back whenin the late 80s and stuff, and
that was almost like our homebase in sydney and and, uh,
there's certainly been a hotticket.
I've got so many people tryingto get me to put them on the
guest list or something and it'sit's uh, mental, but, um, it's
not used very often as a venuethese days, once in a blue moon,
and so we're happy to put ourlittle uh, you know, once in a
(05:20):
in a 40 year anniversary alongwith you know, once every, you
know, six months.
Whatever they do, I'm not surehow many gigs they do a year,
but it's not many.
No, because they are basicallyin the process of knocking it
down and building an apartmentcomplex or something as their
plan.
So that's all still, you know,in the pipeline.
But right now they're saying,well, yeah, we'll have a Guru to
Guru's gig, why not?
Well, big, big party night.
(05:48):
I reckon it will be, and we havea lunch planned for the next
day for us, with our crew andeveryone, to celebrate.
You know, a job well done.
You are listening to StillRocking it the podcast with
Cheryl Lee.
Cheryl Lee (05:54):
Let's have a quick song from that album now, from
the Stone Age Romeo's album.
Let's All Turn On and thenwe're back to speak some more to
Dave Faulkner.
So when we spoke last, youwere sort of, I think, just
(06:15):
playing with the idea orconsidering the idea of playing
the Stone Age Romeo LP in itsentirety to celebrate, obviously
, its 40th anniversary.
So obviously you decided to dothat and some hits as well, and
that has worked immensely.
Dave Faulkner (06:31):
Yeah, I mean, the first thing we had to decide
was well, you know, we knew we'dhave to play a longer set
because there's people thatobviously they love Stoneage
Romeos, but there's a lot offans that you know they may like
a few songs but not know thewhole album, and we knew they'd
be coming on to see a HoodooGuru show and they'd want to
hear all the songs they know andplus, we want to throw in a few
extra things that kind of, youknow, spice up the mix as well.
So we extended our shows tothis.
(06:53):
Basically, we're playing anhour and 45 every night, which
is a lot, you know, for a rockand roll band that just jumps,
you know, pumps it out, andespecially for our drummer, nick
.
Yeah, it was funny when we did.
We we started this tour.
We first we went to brazil andwe weren't doing this don't know
is romeo sing there, becausethose fans they loved that album
, but they came aboard a bit.
Probably a couple of albumslater was more the era where the
(07:14):
brazilians got into the gurus.
So, um, we didn't worry aboutdoing it there, but in america
we decided to do that.
So the first show was funny.
I remember we were in austin,texas, and I started to get to
write the set list and Isuddenly realized what if this
doesn't work?
You know this might be.
You know this might be a.
You know we do this the firstalbum and it's a.
Either it it will just be, uh,you know what people won't be
(07:36):
excited.
And they won't because theywon't know it well enough, and
they'll be, they'll be bored.
Or else, for the opposite,it'll be people that love that
but don't like anything else,and the show falls flat.
You know, I just didn't knowhow it would work.
It was funny, you know, havingto never considered it really,
but you know, sort of tweakedthe set a little bit and figured
out how to do it.
You know, we're pretty much awell-oiled machine.
Now it's going great guns.
Cheryl Lee (07:57):
Do you guys play the same set list every night?
Dave Faulkner (08:05):
I mean, I guess the album part never changes.
That's right.
So that was a strange thing aswell.
You know where we were prettymuch locked in for these the
first 11 songs, that's it.
You know, and it's funny, itsort of flies by in terms of
time Before you know it.
It was like saying, okay, nowwe're going to side two and next
thing you know, the album'sover.
It's pretty, pretty amazing howfast it goes and you, you know
we've been doing it now quite alot, but it's still really
exciting and, um, you know, itdoesn't at all drag.
(08:27):
Yeah, at the end of the showwe've sort of tend to sort of
play the same songs as well,because there's some songs that
you know pick everyone'sexcitement as well, as you know
their bigger hits that peoplereally, you know everyone knows.
So we always do that.
So we kind of have the.
The top and the bottom of theset are all pretty set and it's
just the middle bit.
We get a chance to play aroundand we, we um, always do a.
On this tour we've been doing arequest spot as well, so that
(08:49):
something random can come in.
That we haven't thought of that.
You know, some fan is really,you know that's the one we want
to hear and play, and they gettheir chance to sort of you know
, one person out of a wholecrowd.
Cheryl Lee (08:58):
I suppose it's quite a lot, but you know so you do
get to mix it up a little bit.
Oh yeah, totally yeah, so we do.
Dave Faulkner (09:04):
Yeah, we do, but it's just the middle of the set
basically, and the encore, ofcourse.
Yeah, that's the random element.
We call it privately.
We sort of describe it as stumpthe band.
Sometimes I pull out a songthat's like, oh God, we haven't
played that one in forever.
Or you know, he didn't play onall the albums, obviously, and
(09:26):
so he doesn't know those songs.
He listens to them a lot.
He's actually a huge fan of theband before he joined, so he
knows a lot of the songs justfrom memory.
But it's one thing to sort ofknow how the song goes, another
thing to actually play the rightdrum, feel and get all the cues
where you stop, you know andstart different sections and all
all those sort of things.
They're quite complicated.
So it's a lot to expect Nick toknow every song backwards.
But he doesn't do a bad job, bythe way.
Cheryl Lee (09:47):
He must be obviously just a great musician.
So if he doesn't know it, hecan wing it.
Dave Faulkner (09:51):
Totally, absolutely.
He's a brilliant.
I mean, he probably gets it.
You know better than us.
Sometimes you know like Isometimes go what key is that in
?
Even you know I've had that onea little bit occasionally, but
mostly it's more the keys andthe.
You know like, does that startin G or an A?
You know like sometimes you'rejust not quite sure, Weird
things like that.
Cheryl Lee (10:09):
It probably actually doesn't matter, because all the
people out in the audience, allthe punters, they'll just be
singing along and enjoying it.
There's a lot of that going on,that's for sure.
Exactly right.
Dave Faulkner (10:20):
It's been funny One.
One of the songs that's becomeunbeknownst to us, you know, it
seems to become a realsing-along anthem is a song
called Bittersweet from oursecond album, marzi's Guitars.
Out of nowhere there seems tobe that one that people really
all want to sing along to, whichhas been amazing, quite a kind
of amazing feeling.
Yeah.
Cheryl Lee (10:38):
Because you can never really predict that.
You know it'll either happen orit won't.
You can't really plan it thatyou know it'll either happen or
it won't.
Dave Faulkner (10:43):
You can't really plan it, that's right.
I mean, they sing along to alot of songs, mind you, I've got
to say that, but for somereason that one seems to be kind
of almost yeah.
Cheryl Lee (10:51):
A bit of an anthem.
Yeah, it has.
Dave Faulkner (10:53):
And of course, we've had the other thing
happening, which is in the songmy Girl from Stoney's Romeo.
We seem to be getting a littlebit of a crowd call and response
moment, where I was going tosay have you got any angels
thing happening?
We have.
It's going on.
It's been kind of weird, youknow.
I mean it's not, it's not,there's no swearing, mind you.
But yeah, the song my Girl inthe bridge section I talk about.
(11:14):
You know, when I went out shewas alone.
She said I would like to gohome.
I said who were you with On out?
I said who were you with?
She said no one.
They yell that out too.
It's just like okay, I mean Iguess that's just you know.
I think it's because peoplewhen they hear the song you know
and they love it, that'ssomething that sticks in their
(11:34):
mind and they kind of in theirmind they can almost sing that
bit themselves without having tolearn it.
You know something, I knowbackwards, you know so that's so
.
Just, somehow it just pops outwhen they're in the show as well
, and everyone's doing it at thesame time.
Cheryl Lee (11:47):
Aussies, we tend to do that a little bit, don't we?
I love that and you know what?
It might even expand as timegoes on.
Dave Faulkner (11:56):
No swearing, though.
That's all I ask.
No swearing.
Cheryl Lee (12:00):
No, that's being done.
That's all I ask.
Dave Faulkner (12:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah Well you don't want to have
swearing in that song.
I mean other songs perhaps, butnot that one.
Cheryl Lee (12:06):
Yeah, no, no, Still rocking that podcast with that
radio chick, Cheryl Lee.
Okay, here it is now for yourlistening pleasure, my girl, and
feel free to sing your partwhen it comes up.
Then we're back to speak somemore to Dave, lead singer of the
(12:30):
Hoodoo Gurus the tour.
Fantastic as it is, everytour's got a good story.
Have you got a good story thatyou can tell us?
Dave Faulkner (12:39):
I'm trying to think.
I mean well, not really a goodstory, but I caught COVID in
America one week into our heavyUS schedule.
That was pretty hard work.
Both Nick and I caught itwithin a few days of each other.
Cheryl Lee (12:48):
So what happens now?
Dave Faulkner (12:50):
I'd had the actual vaccine a week before and
so had Nick, but I managed to.
Basically I went negative in 24hours.
It was amazing because I alsohad the antivirals in my
suitcase just for just such aneventuality.
But it affects my voice and infact that made life tough for me
.
You know, the falsetto part ofmy voice has a couple of little
potholes where I have to singsome songs that are really kind
(13:12):
of drilling on those notes andit's quite awkward.
So I have to leave those songsout for a while while that's all
happening.
Cheryl Lee (13:19):
So these days you didn't have to cancel anything,
you didn't have to isolate, youjust had to be sensible no, and
obviously we took all thesesafeguards and you know the
people are pretty safe from us.
Dave Faulkner (13:28):
You know we're a long way from them and all that
and our crew and everyone.
You know we're masking up andwe're, you know, no one's using
the same microphones.
Being sensible, even now, youknow, without anyone, you know
everyone's healthy.
Our road crew, he's setting upthe microphones.
He uses a different microphoneto mine when he's setting the
sound up on the monitors, sohe'll take that mic off and put
mine on.
(13:48):
So only I use that one, thingslike that.
So we just practice kind ofsensible things.
Cheryl Lee (13:53):
Yeah, just conversation as far as crazy
stories.
Dave Faulkner (13:55):
I'm trying to think if there's any on this
tour, because we were so damnbusy.
Cheryl Lee (13:59):
I bet you didn't have time.
Or is it what happens on tour?
Stays on tour.
No, no, no.
Dave Faulkner (14:05):
Because the thing was, you know, we're a little
bit, we're not idiots, we'vebeen doing this a long time and
you'd kill yourself if you livedthat sort of fantasy lifestyle
that people imagine, you know,of sex, drugs and rock and roll.
I mean, the rock and roll isthere, that's pretty much the
other things in their place, notso much.
Cheryl Lee (14:22):
You've grown up now.
Dave Faulkner (14:23):
Yeah, but also, you know, like, as I say, I
don't even drink on a show day,so you know, that's hardly a
recipe for me going out andcreating mayhem after a show.
You know, because I'm back inbed having a cup of tea, you
know, before I go to sleep, andthat's for real.
I mean, you know, angus Young.
Cup of tea, you know, and acigarette in his case.
I'm a non-smoker, so just a cupof tea will do me.
(14:46):
I can't think of anythingspecifically, you know, that
stands out as being oh, that wasan amazing experience that
wasn't unrelated to the show.
The shows themselves are alwayswhat it's all about.
You know Everything else iskind of mundane, to be honest,
you know you're checking in andout of hotels, figuring out how
soon to have your meals beforeyou go on stage, so you don't
feel like you know shucking up,you know because you've got to
(15:09):
have several hours to digest it.
You know, basically, otherwiseit's a bit awkward.
Cheryl Lee (15:12):
Like you say, it'd be a bit like working out on a
full stomach.
Yeah, it's being an athletereally.
Dave Faulkner (15:18):
I mean you are and you're training yourself and
you get poised just to give thebest performance and that's
what it's all about, just thatmoment and everything else is
just lead up and and you knowyou don't go.
Okay, I've done my show now,where it's the fun?
I mean, it's the opposite theshow is the fun for us.
Yeah, that's why we're stilldoing it and loving it, you know
, because that's right.
Cheryl Lee (15:34):
You're here for a long time, not a good time now.
Dave Faulkner (15:36):
Well, no, we're also here because we love
playing music.
That's actually, you know, youactually wouldn't do the rest of
it.
It's kind of boring and kind of, you know, it's a drag, you
know, not being at home andbeing able to sort of relax and
do things, I mean, you know, Imean I don't need to work
financially.
Obviously no one ever says noto making more money, being, you
know, feeling a bit morecomfortable, but but, um, the
(15:57):
reason we all are doing it isbecause we love music and that's
a part of ourselves that wedon't get to express in any
other way.
You know, you're in this specialplace of you know, in the world
of music and you are, in asense, yourself a musical
instrument.
You're singing, you're playingand you're.
All your other problems dropaway, including, you know, if
you've got covid or any otherillnesses.
You completely don't evennotice those those things, any
(16:19):
little aches and pains orwhatever.
They just don't, they disappearbecause you're just in this
other strange, you know mentalstate and you know, immersed in
that thing that you'vepassionately devoted yourself to
all your life and being, in asense, the most best version of
yourself.
Cheryl Lee (16:36):
You do it for the passion and then it makes all of
that, like you say waitingaround in airports and hotels
and sound checks.
That makes all of thatworthwhile.
When you get on the stage, theboredom, the loneliness, you
know the isolation, all thosethings.
Dave Faulkner (16:48):
You know being disconnected from your normal
life and all that.
And you know I mean as amusician.
You know we obviously got usedto it long ago.
But like, for example, we justplayed New Year's Eve and we
don't normally do that, as amusician you're missing birthday
parties, weddings that all yourfamily and friends go to, that
you can't be a part of becauseyou've got to work and be
(17:09):
somewhere else.
You know halfway around theworld sometimes.
You know.
So those are things we get usedto and it can be a bit
disorienting because you feeldisconnected in some ways from
normal life.
You know you get back into itwhen you get some time off,
which we get.
You know big chunks of time offas well, which other people
don't get to do, so that's allright as well.
Cheryl Lee (17:26):
So you do it for the love of it, yeah.
Tommy Kaye (17:29):
You are listening to Still Rocking it.
The podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Cheryl Lee (17:35):
Let's have another quick song now.
What about Bittersweet, a songthat Dave said is quite the
crowd favourite at the moment?
Then we're back to speak somemore today, faulkner from the
Hoodoo Gurus.
When this last bit of the touris over, what's next?
Dave Faulkner (18:03):
Ah yes, Well, next is definitely going to be
some relaxation.
So when this tour finishesthese next few shows in
Australia, that finishes in thebeginning of Feb and then we
have nothing until the beginningof April.
So that's like seven weeks off,maybe six weeks, and we're
going to be playing in NewZealand for a few days and then
we're going to go to Vietnam fora special show that someone's
(18:24):
booked us for, a private event,and that's an unusual thing that
sometimes happens, you know, inthis music world we're in, then
we have nothing then untilAugust, a couple of things in
September, but basically it'sgoing to be pretty much.
It's pretty sparse, in facthardly anything at all for the
rest of the year.
Cheryl Lee (18:39):
You had earned a good rest.
Dave Faulkner (18:41):
Yeah, yeah, and people have probably earned a
good rest from us as well, sowe're going to give them that as
well as give ourselves thatluxury.
Yeah, so we're probably lookingback, you know, more to 2026,
and we have some vague ideas,some things we'd like to do,
perhaps try to get back toEurope and do something over
there, things like that, butthey're, you know, all in the
(19:01):
hypothetical basket at themoment.
The R word no Retirement no no,no, I mean, retirement is only
when people tell us that theydon't want to come and see us
anymore, or when we feel wecan't deliver Because I don't.
I mean, I will not do a showthat I don't enjoy, and
enjoyment for me is doing itwell.
It's not just about, you know,oh, we got paid well.
(19:21):
It's all about playing well andfeeling, you know, excited by
what you're doing Right now.
I mean, on this tour especially, people have been saying to us
this is the best they've everseen us.
Wow, you know, these are peoplethat have seen us from the
beginning of our career.
We're playing really well, theshows just work, and there's a
great energy and a great feelingin the audience as well.
So it's whatever reason, it'sall come together in an amazing
(19:43):
way right now.
Why don't we stop doing that?
You know just when we got good.
Cheryl Lee (19:48):
Yeah, exactly right.
You don't want to go out now,when you're on top of your game,
that's right when we're feelinggood and playing well.
Dave Faulkner (19:56):
When that starts to slip, then maybe you have to,
you know, drag us kicking andscreaming off the stage, but I
think we'll probably takeourselves off before you even
notice that we shouldn't bethere anymore.
Cheryl Lee (20:04):
You've had some pretty great special guests and
you've got the Hard Ons comingup yeah absolutely, yes,
completely.
Dave Faulkner (20:12):
We love them and you know we have a long
association with the Hard Onsgoing back to, you know, our
third album, I think.
They played with us on showsand they're still going like we
are and they're still amazing.
So we're happy to be, you know,with our musical contemporaries
and you know, whateverluminaries like, you know, like
them, they're great.
Cheryl Lee (20:31):
And you've got Magic , dirt, yep, day Two or Four and
Spy vs Spy joining you as well.
There's some great supportthere with you.
Dave Faulkner (20:39):
There's a spy joining you as well.
There's some great supportthere with you, absolutely, and
you know, and that's been fun aswell.
I mean, there's a band calledthe Reinhardts played with us in
Perth, who were fantastic, youknow, and the Screamfeet are up
in Queensland.
We love them.
That's just all part and parcelof us trying to, you know, give
everyone the best night out wecan.
Cheryl Lee (20:53):
Absolutely, they can get the dates on the website
and on the Facebook page.
Dave Faulkner (20:59):
So hoodoogurus.
net is the official website.
Obviously, facebook isHoodoogurus.
Facebook.
One word, obviously for boththose Hoodoogurus.
One word they're all there.
And of course, you knowInstagram as well.
Is Hoodoogurus underscoreofficial?
Cheryl Lee (21:14):
Get onto the Google-o-meter and you're
kicking off in 22nd of Januaryin Bendigo.
Again, what a hectic scheduleyou guys have.
You're not sitting on yourlaurels, are you?
Dave Faulkner (21:25):
You're busy?
No, well, we're probablybecause you know our manager
likes to economise by putting itall together so that we're not
paying people to sit around anddo nothing.
You know, go fishing, yeah.
Cheryl Lee (21:36):
Good plan Victoria, Queensland, then New South Wales
.
Was there another one?
Dave Faulkner (21:41):
No, that's it basically.
Yeah, that'll do, and then offto New Zealand and Vietnam, yeah
, yeah.
Cheryl Lee (21:48):
Still rocking the podcast with that radio chick,
cheryl Lee.
We talked earlier about themhaving to pull out some weird
stuff when requested by the fans.
I wonder if they ever get askedfor this one.
Do you remember they playedwith the Masters Apprentices?
Turn up your radio and thenwe're back to say goodbye to
lead guru Dave Faulkner.
(22:10):
One last question, then.
I'd better let you go and enjoythis time off, thank you.
Thank you for staying up to mein your time off.
Dave Faulkner (22:26):
That's it.
Cheryl Lee (22:27):
I just wanted to know what you're listening to at
the moment.
Dave Faulkner (22:31):
Oh well, I mean I can't think of anything.
New records Someone put me ontoa band called English Teacher
from the UK.
I'll be honest, you know I gothrough a lot of old stuff and
there's an anthology of folk andblues I forget what it's called
from the SmithsonianInstitution which came out in
the 1950s, which I boughtrecently, and I've been
(22:51):
listening to that a lot.
I've grazed across the wholemusical landscape from all eras,
but yeah, it's pretty randomreally.
Cheryl Lee (23:00):
Any scoop on a new Hoodoo Gurus record?
Dave Faulkner (23:04):
No plans at the moment.
I'll be honest, you know we didone in 2023.
It came out I think it was 22,maybe even I might be mistaken
or whatever.
No, it was 23, I'm pretty sure.
Either way, time flies yeah,time flies.
Well, it was all during COVID,so kind of things merged
together at that time.
Before that was 12 years, soI've given myself a little bit
of time to figure out.
(23:25):
You know how to do it and what.
We're always recordingdifferent things.
We actually filmed one of theshows on this tour we've just
done.
We did a show in Canberra awhile back which was recorded
with an orchestra.
Now, you know whether that everseemed a lot of day or not, I
don't know, but you know there'sthings there that we could
release if we felt like it.
But we haven't, to be honest,we haven't even considered
(23:45):
anything like that.
We're just doing what's infront of us and enjoying
ourselves and then seeing whatwe feel like doing.
Cheryl Lee (23:51):
Exactly right.
Well, I'm going to take that asa scoop.
Dave Faulkner (24:00):
You didn't.
That's you know.
That's just ridiculous.
After what I, you know, mycareer has shown me, I I don't
know which way it's going to go,you know we broke up for six
years.
I said never.
Then, you know, and that thatwas a big hard lesson, which was
like you had to sort of swallowyour words because you know the
band wouldn't uh, stay in thein the basement where I tried to
confine and I thought it wasgone, yet gone, but the band was
still alive and well and itkind of dragged me back.
(24:20):
And you know, and I'm reallyhappy it did you know, in fact
we've been going longer nowsince the band broke up and
reformed after six years.
We've been going longer sincethe Reformation than before the
band.
Actually, you know the firstpart of the band's history.
So, yeah, I think we're herefor the long term still.
Cheryl Lee (24:41):
Exactly, we're here for the long term.
Still exactly, we're not goingsoon.
I wish you all the best on therest of the tour.
As I said, it agrees with youbecause you're looking fabulous
I thought you might be looking alittle bit weary, but no,
you're looking great, so all thebest for the rest of it, and we
look forward to whatever it isthat's next for the huda gurus
me too, so thank you so much.
Dave Faulkner (24:58):
So, look, enjoy talking.
I look forward to chatting nexttime.
Cheryl Lee (25:00):
Yeah, lovely to speak to you again.
Bye, mate, bye, bye for now.
Tommy Kaye (25:06):
You are listening to Still Rocking it.
The podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Cheryl Lee (25:11):
We are going to go out with one of the bands that
Dave from the Hoodoo Gurus islistening to at the moment.
This is English Teacher.
I'm not crying, you're cryingfrom there.
This could be Texas album.
I'm not high, I'm not near, I'mnot here.
I'm not high, I'm not sureYou're with Cheryl Lee, that
(25:34):
radio chick.
Thank you so much for joiningme on the Still Rocking it
podcast.
Hope to catch you again nexttime.
Get out when you can supportAussie music
That Radio Cheek Cheryl Lee here.
Welcome to the Still Rockin' itpodcast where we'll have music
news, reviews and interviewswith some of our favourite
Australian musicians and artists.
We've caught up with DaveFaulkner, lead singer, guitarist
, founding member of the HoodooGurus.
While they had a little bit ofdowntime between gigs on the
(00:24):
tour due to unprecedented demandand sellout concerts all over
the place, the gurus are excitedto announce a final run of
shows on the back to the stoneage tour.
Does what happen on tour?
Stay on tour?
Let's find out.
And let's find out what's.
What's next for the HoodooGurus To catch up on podcasts
from other favourite artists,simply go to that radio chick.
(00:46):
com.
au.
I'd like to welcome into theZoom room today friend of the
show, Dave Faulkner from theHoodoo Gurus.
Yay.
Dave Faulkner (00:58):
Hey, good to be here.
Cheryl Lee (00:59):
Nice to see you again, Dave.
Last time we spoke, back inJune last year, you were just
about to embark on a 20 plus daytour around Australia.
21 days later and most of thoseI think were sold out.
You're on the homeward stretch,but you're looking all right.
You're not looking any worsefor wear.
Dave Faulkner (01:18):
Well, it's good for me.
You know I don't drink when I'mon tour, unless I have a day
off.
I might have a couple of drinksafter a show, but, like on a
show day, don't drink alcohol.
Don't drink when I'm on tour,unless I have a day off.
I might have a couple of drinksafter a show, but, like on a
show day, don't drink alcohol.
Don't even drink coffee.
On a show day.
You're up on stage, you'rejumping around like a lunatic
and losing all this fluid, youknow, sweating everything out,
and also that the muscles areworking, including the diaphragm
.
So it's like a workout.
(01:39):
Aerobic fitness is what I thinkof it as.
Cheryl Lee (01:41):
So you're fitter when you're on tour than when
you're not.
Dave Faulkner (01:44):
Oh, a thousand percent, yeah, absolutely.
I, you know, stack on thecalories, go, you know, have too
many bevies and don't do enoughphysical activity.
I mean I do a bit of exerciseand stuff, but generally
speaking on tours is prettyrigorous you know.
Cheryl Lee (01:59):
So it's kind of like jungle training or something.
Dave Faulkner (02:00):
That's why you're looking so good, then, thank
you.
Thank you so much for your kindwords.
I'll take that, yeah you do.
Cheryl Lee (02:05):
You're having a little well-deserved break.
Dave Faulkner (02:09):
Yeah, of course.
Cheryl Lee (02:09):
And then you're going to kick off this year 2025
, with, is it seven final shows?
Dave Faulkner (02:15):
Eight, eight shows.
And then there's one that's notactually on our website, but
it's actually a private thing ina pub somewhere.
It's kind of a thing they doevery year, a special thing.
They get a fancy band in andjust have it for their locals
and it's kind of fun.
Yeah, but eight shows and thenwe're off to New Zealand in
April for three shows andthat'll be the official end of
the Stone Age Romeo's 40thanniversary celebration, which
(02:38):
of course this.
Now it's up to 41 years.
Cheryl Lee (02:40):
You've been celebrating so long.
Dave Faulkner (02:42):
I know, I know.
Well, we started late.
What happened was the tourwasn't put together until the
last minute because our managerof many, many years standing
decades in fact was unwell andbasically he dropped the ball a
little bit in his final illness,which unfortunately took his
life.
So when all that was happeningin the beginning of last year,
like about March, is when hepassed away, we suddenly had to
(03:10):
say what the hell are we doingnow?
Um, you know, that's a big, bigdecision.
And, uh, our new manager, whowe've known for many years he
he's um was our tour managerback in the late 90s.
He basically, in the space ofthree days, put this whole tour
together and of course we justdidn't know what would happen,
whether it would be interest.
You know people would beinterested in this idea or not.
And of course the tickets wentout the window, you know, really
fast.
And out the door, isn't it?
I don't know, you throw thingsout the window, you march out
the door, I don't know.
Cheryl Lee (03:30):
They went like hotcakes.
They went like hotcakes, thankyou.
Dave Faulkner (03:33):
And so we added more shows, and of course, some
of those shows are what we'reabout to embark on now, just to
kind of wrap it all.
Cheryl Lee (03:39):
Magician he is yeah, yeah.
Dave Faulkner (03:41):
Well, as I say, we, we just thought, you know,
hopefully people find this, youknow, idea okay, and um, you
know, suddenly we had to addshow after show.
We ended up doing four, fourshows in perth and, you know,
extra in moors and had extravenues in melbourne and sydney.
It was just, it was amazing andthe shows have been incredible.
That's the best part about it,apart from the fact that you
know the excitement in theaudience, which obviously they
express through buying tickets.
(04:02):
But just the people that arethere.
I mean, we played at this venuein perth four nights in a row
and the people there uh, saidthis is the first time we've
ever had four concerts ever inour history without a single
complaint from anyone aboutanything.
So there wasn't anything aboutthe price of the beer or the
temperature of the beer or theyou know couldn't get to the
toilets or whatever it is.
(04:23):
People complain abouteverything.
Usually there's someone's gotsome gripe about something, but
not a single complaint over fournights.
They couldn't believe it.
Cheryl Lee (04:30):
That's a pretty big compliment it is.
Dave Faulkner (04:33):
It means that people were entertained and
they're enjoying themselves.
And we certainly wereentertained and enjoying
ourselves, and I think thatshowed too, you know, with the
way they're having too much funto sweat the small stuff Exactly
and worry about the temperatureof the beer.
And we also invited all theparty people.
So the you know the sticks inthe mud probably didn't get
there.
Cheryl Lee (04:51):
So you're finishing up with a big final show at
Selena's.
Is that going to go off or what?
Dave Faulkner (04:58):
One hopes.
You know, it's an old,traditional venue for us from
back in the day, way back whenin the late 80s and stuff, and
that was almost like our homebase in sydney and and, uh,
there's certainly been a hotticket.
I've got so many people tryingto get me to put them on the
guest list or something and it'sit's uh, mental, but, um, it's
not used very often as a venuethese days, once in a blue moon,
and so we're happy to put ourlittle uh, you know, once in a
(05:20):
in a 40 year anniversary alongwith you know, once every, you
know, six months.
Whatever they do, I'm not surehow many gigs they do a year,
but it's not many.
No, because they are basicallyin the process of knocking it
down and building an apartmentcomplex or something as their
plan.
So that's all still, you know,in the pipeline.
But right now they're saying,well, yeah, we'll have a Guru to
Guru's gig, why not?
Well, big, big party night.
(05:48):
I reckon it will be, and we havea lunch planned for the next
day for us, with our crew andeveryone, to celebrate.
You know, a job well done.
You are listening to StillRocking it the podcast with
Cheryl Lee.
Cheryl Lee (05:54):
Let's have a quick song from that album now, from
the Stone Age Romeo's album.
Let's All Turn On and thenwe're back to speak some more to
Dave Faulkner.
So when we spoke last, youwere sort of, I think, just
(06:15):
playing with the idea orconsidering the idea of playing
the Stone Age Romeo LP in itsentirety to celebrate, obviously
, its 40th anniversary.
So obviously you decided to dothat and some hits as well, and
that has worked immensely.
Dave Faulkner (06:31):
Yeah, I mean, the first thing we had to decide
was well, you know, we knew we'dhave to play a longer set
because there's people thatobviously they love Stoneage
Romeos, but there's a lot offans that you know they may like
a few songs but not know thewhole album, and we knew they'd
be coming on to see a HoodooGuru show and they'd want to
hear all the songs they know andplus, we want to throw in a few
extra things that kind of, youknow, spice up the mix as well.
So we extended our shows tothis.
(06:53):
Basically, we're playing anhour and 45 every night, which
is a lot, you know, for a rockand roll band that just jumps,
you know, pumps it out, andespecially for our drummer, nick
.
Yeah, it was funny when we did.
We we started this tour.
We first we went to brazil andwe weren't doing this don't know
is romeo sing there, becausethose fans they loved that album
, but they came aboard a bit.
Probably a couple of albumslater was more the era where the
(07:14):
brazilians got into the gurus.
So, um, we didn't worry aboutdoing it there, but in america
we decided to do that.
So the first show was funny.
I remember we were in austin,texas, and I started to get to
write the set list and Isuddenly realized what if this
doesn't work?
You know this might be.
You know this might be a.
You know we do this the firstalbum and it's a.
Either it it will just be, uh,you know what people won't be
(07:36):
excited.
And they won't because theywon't know it well enough, and
they'll be, they'll be bored.
Or else, for the opposite,it'll be people that love that
but don't like anything else,and the show falls flat.
You know, I just didn't knowhow it would work.
It was funny, you know, havingto never considered it really,
but you know, sort of tweakedthe set a little bit and figured
out how to do it.
You know, we're pretty much awell-oiled machine.
Now it's going great guns.
Cheryl Lee (07:57):
Do you guys play the same set list every night?
Dave Faulkner (08:05):
I mean, I guess the album part never changes.
That's right.
So that was a strange thing aswell.
You know where we were prettymuch locked in for these the
first 11 songs, that's it.
You know, and it's funny, itsort of flies by in terms of
time Before you know it.
It was like saying, okay, nowwe're going to side two and next
thing you know, the album'sover.
It's pretty, pretty amazing howfast it goes and you, you know
we've been doing it now quite alot, but it's still really
exciting and, um, you know, itdoesn't at all drag.
(08:27):
Yeah, at the end of the showwe've sort of tend to sort of
play the same songs as well,because there's some songs that
you know pick everyone'sexcitement as well, as you know
their bigger hits that peoplereally, you know everyone knows.
So we always do that.
So we kind of have the.
The top and the bottom of theset are all pretty set and it's
just the middle bit.
We get a chance to play aroundand we, we um, always do a.
On this tour we've been doing arequest spot as well, so that
(08:49):
something random can come in.
That we haven't thought of that.
You know, some fan is really,you know that's the one we want
to hear and play, and they gettheir chance to sort of you know
, one person out of a wholecrowd.
Cheryl Lee (08:58):
I suppose it's quite a lot, but you know so you do
get to mix it up a little bit.
Oh yeah, totally yeah, so we do.
Dave Faulkner (09:04):
Yeah, we do, but it's just the middle of the set
basically, and the encore, ofcourse.
Yeah, that's the random element.
We call it privately.
We sort of describe it as stumpthe band.
Sometimes I pull out a songthat's like, oh God, we haven't
played that one in forever.
Or you know, he didn't play onall the albums, obviously, and
(09:26):
so he doesn't know those songs.
He listens to them a lot.
He's actually a huge fan of theband before he joined, so he
knows a lot of the songs justfrom memory.
But it's one thing to sort ofknow how the song goes, another
thing to actually play the rightdrum, feel and get all the cues
where you stop, you know andstart different sections and all
all those sort of things.
They're quite complicated.
So it's a lot to expect Nick toknow every song backwards.
But he doesn't do a bad job, bythe way.
Cheryl Lee (09:47):
He must be obviously just a great musician.
So if he doesn't know it, hecan wing it.
Dave Faulkner (09:51):
Totally, absolutely.
He's a brilliant.
I mean, he probably gets it.
You know better than us.
Sometimes you know like Isometimes go what key is that in
?
Even you know I've had that onea little bit occasionally, but
mostly it's more the keys andthe.
You know like, does that startin G or an A?
You know like sometimes you'rejust not quite sure, Weird
things like that.
Cheryl Lee (10:09):
It probably actually doesn't matter, because all the
people out in the audience, allthe punters, they'll just be
singing along and enjoying it.
There's a lot of that going on,that's for sure.
Exactly right.
Dave Faulkner (10:20):
It's been funny One.
One of the songs that's becomeunbeknownst to us, you know, it
seems to become a realsing-along anthem is a song
called Bittersweet from oursecond album, marzi's Guitars.
Out of nowhere there seems tobe that one that people really
all want to sing along to, whichhas been amazing, quite a kind
of amazing feeling.
Yeah.
Cheryl Lee (10:38):
Because you can never really predict that.
You know it'll either happen orit won't.
You can't really plan it thatyou know it'll either happen or
it won't.
Dave Faulkner (10:43):
You can't really plan it, that's right.
I mean, they sing along to alot of songs, mind you, I've got
to say that, but for somereason that one seems to be kind
of almost yeah.
Cheryl Lee (10:51):
A bit of an anthem.
Yeah, it has.
Dave Faulkner (10:53):
And of course, we've had the other thing
happening, which is in the songmy Girl from Stoney's Romeo.
We seem to be getting a littlebit of a crowd call and response
moment, where I was going tosay have you got any angels
thing happening?
We have.
It's going on.
It's been kind of weird, youknow.
I mean it's not, it's not,there's no swearing, mind you.
But yeah, the song my Girl inthe bridge section I talk about.
(11:14):
You know, when I went out shewas alone.
She said I would like to gohome.
I said who were you with On out?
I said who were you with?
She said no one.
They yell that out too.
It's just like okay, I mean Iguess that's just you know.
I think it's because peoplewhen they hear the song you know
and they love it, that'ssomething that sticks in their
(11:34):
mind and they kind of in theirmind they can almost sing that
bit themselves without having tolearn it.
You know something, I knowbackwards, you know so that's so
.
Just, somehow it just pops outwhen they're in the show as well
, and everyone's doing it at thesame time.
Cheryl Lee (11:47):
Aussies, we tend to do that a little bit, don't we?
I love that and you know what?
It might even expand as timegoes on.
Dave Faulkner (11:56):
No swearing, though.
That's all I ask.
No swearing.
Cheryl Lee (12:00):
No, that's being done.
That's all I ask.
Dave Faulkner (12:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah Well you don't want to have
swearing in that song.
I mean other songs perhaps, butnot that one.
Cheryl Lee (12:06):
Yeah, no, no, Still rocking that podcast with that
radio chick, Cheryl Lee.
Okay, here it is now for yourlistening pleasure, my girl, and
feel free to sing your partwhen it comes up.
Then we're back to speak somemore to Dave, lead singer of the
(12:30):
Hoodoo Gurus the tour.
Fantastic as it is, everytour's got a good story.
Have you got a good story thatyou can tell us?
Dave Faulkner (12:39):
I'm trying to think.
I mean well, not really a goodstory, but I caught COVID in
America one week into our heavyUS schedule.
That was pretty hard work.
Both Nick and I caught itwithin a few days of each other.
Cheryl Lee (12:48):
So what happens now?
Dave Faulkner (12:50):
I'd had the actual vaccine a week before and
so had Nick, but I managed to.
Basically I went negative in 24hours.
It was amazing because I alsohad the antivirals in my
suitcase just for just such aneventuality.
But it affects my voice and infact that made life tough for me
.
You know, the falsetto part ofmy voice has a couple of little
potholes where I have to singsome songs that are really kind
(13:12):
of drilling on those notes andit's quite awkward.
So I have to leave those songsout for a while while that's all
happening.
Cheryl Lee (13:19):
So these days you didn't have to cancel anything,
you didn't have to isolate, youjust had to be sensible no, and
obviously we took all thesesafeguards and you know the
people are pretty safe from us.
Dave Faulkner (13:28):
You know we're a long way from them and all that
and our crew and everyone.
You know we're masking up andwe're, you know, no one's using
the same microphones.
Being sensible, even now, youknow, without anyone, you know
everyone's healthy.
Our road crew, he's setting upthe microphones.
He uses a different microphoneto mine when he's setting the
sound up on the monitors, sohe'll take that mic off and put
mine on.
(13:48):
So only I use that one, thingslike that.
So we just practice kind ofsensible things.
Cheryl Lee (13:53):
Yeah, just conversation as far as crazy
stories.
Dave Faulkner (13:55):
I'm trying to think if there's any on this
tour, because we were so damnbusy.
Cheryl Lee (13:59):
I bet you didn't have time.
Or is it what happens on tour?
Stays on tour.
No, no, no.
Dave Faulkner (14:05):
Because the thing was, you know, we're a little
bit, we're not idiots, we'vebeen doing this a long time and
you'd kill yourself if you livedthat sort of fantasy lifestyle
that people imagine, you know,of sex, drugs and rock and roll.
I mean, the rock and roll isthere, that's pretty much the
other things in their place, notso much.
Cheryl Lee (14:22):
You've grown up now.
Dave Faulkner (14:23):
Yeah, but also, you know, like, as I say, I
don't even drink on a show day,so you know, that's hardly a
recipe for me going out andcreating mayhem after a show.
You know, because I'm back inbed having a cup of tea, you
know, before I go to sleep, andthat's for real.
I mean, you know, angus Young.
Cup of tea, you know, and acigarette in his case.
I'm a non-smoker, so just a cupof tea will do me.
(14:46):
I can't think of anythingspecifically, you know, that
stands out as being oh, that wasan amazing experience that
wasn't unrelated to the show.
The shows themselves are alwayswhat it's all about.
You know Everything else iskind of mundane, to be honest,
you know you're checking in andout of hotels, figuring out how
soon to have your meals beforeyou go on stage, so you don't
feel like you know shucking up,you know because you've got to
(15:09):
have several hours to digest it.
You know, basically, otherwiseit's a bit awkward.
Cheryl Lee (15:12):
Like you say, it'd be a bit like working out on a
full stomach.
Yeah, it's being an athletereally.
Dave Faulkner (15:18):
I mean you are and you're training yourself and
you get poised just to give thebest performance and that's
what it's all about, just thatmoment and everything else is
just lead up and and you knowyou don't go.
Okay, I've done my show now,where it's the fun?
I mean, it's the opposite theshow is the fun for us.
Yeah, that's why we're stilldoing it and loving it, you know
, because that's right.
Cheryl Lee (15:34):
You're here for a long time, not a good time now.
Dave Faulkner (15:36):
Well, no, we're also here because we love
playing music.
That's actually, you know, youactually wouldn't do the rest of
it.
It's kind of boring and kind of, you know, it's a drag, you
know, not being at home andbeing able to sort of relax and
do things, I mean, you know, Imean I don't need to work
financially.
Obviously no one ever says noto making more money, being, you
know, feeling a bit morecomfortable, but but, um, the
(15:57):
reason we all are doing it isbecause we love music and that's
a part of ourselves that wedon't get to express in any
other way.
You know, you're in this specialplace of you know, in the world
of music and you are, in asense, yourself a musical
instrument.
You're singing, you're playingand you're.
All your other problems dropaway, including, you know, if
you've got covid or any otherillnesses.
You completely don't evennotice those those things, any
(16:19):
little aches and pains orwhatever.
They just don't, they disappearbecause you're just in this
other strange, you know mentalstate and you know, immersed in
that thing that you'vepassionately devoted yourself to
all your life and being, in asense, the most best version of
yourself.
Cheryl Lee (16:36):
You do it for the passion and then it makes all of
that, like you say waitingaround in airports and hotels
and sound checks.
That makes all of thatworthwhile.
When you get on the stage, theboredom, the loneliness, you
know the isolation, all thosethings.
Dave Faulkner (16:48):
You know being disconnected from your normal
life and all that.
And you know I mean as amusician.
You know we obviously got usedto it long ago.
But like, for example, we justplayed New Year's Eve and we
don't normally do that, as amusician you're missing birthday
parties, weddings that all yourfamily and friends go to, that
you can't be a part of becauseyou've got to work and be
(17:09):
somewhere else.
You know halfway around theworld sometimes.
You know.
So those are things we get usedto and it can be a bit
disorienting because you feeldisconnected in some ways from
normal life.
You know you get back into itwhen you get some time off,
which we get.
You know big chunks of time offas well, which other people
don't get to do, so that's allright as well.
Cheryl Lee (17:26):
So you do it for the love of it, yeah.
Tommy Kaye (17:29):
You are listening to Still Rocking it.
The podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Cheryl Lee (17:35):
Let's have another quick song now.
What about Bittersweet, a songthat Dave said is quite the
crowd favourite at the moment?
Then we're back to speak somemore today, faulkner from the
Hoodoo Gurus.
When this last bit of the touris over, what's next?
Dave Faulkner (18:03):
Ah yes, Well, next is definitely going to be
some relaxation.
So when this tour finishesthese next few shows in
Australia, that finishes in thebeginning of Feb and then we
have nothing until the beginningof April.
So that's like seven weeks off,maybe six weeks, and we're
going to be playing in NewZealand for a few days and then
we're going to go to Vietnam fora special show that someone's
(18:24):
booked us for, a private event,and that's an unusual thing that
sometimes happens, you know, inthis music world we're in, then
we have nothing then untilAugust, a couple of things in
September, but basically it'sgoing to be pretty much.
It's pretty sparse, in facthardly anything at all for the
rest of the year.
Cheryl Lee (18:39):
You had earned a good rest.
Dave Faulkner (18:41):
Yeah, yeah, and people have probably earned a
good rest from us as well, sowe're going to give them that as
well as give ourselves thatluxury.
Yeah, so we're probably lookingback, you know, more to 2026,
and we have some vague ideas,some things we'd like to do,
perhaps try to get back toEurope and do something over
there, things like that, butthey're, you know, all in the
(19:01):
hypothetical basket at themoment.
The R word no Retirement no no,no, I mean, retirement is only
when people tell us that theydon't want to come and see us
anymore, or when we feel wecan't deliver Because I don't.
I mean, I will not do a showthat I don't enjoy, and
enjoyment for me is doing itwell.
It's not just about, you know,oh, we got paid well.
(19:21):
It's all about playing well andfeeling, you know, excited by
what you're doing Right now.
I mean, on this tour especially, people have been saying to us
this is the best they've everseen us.
Wow, you know, these are peoplethat have seen us from the
beginning of our career.
We're playing really well, theshows just work, and there's a
great energy and a great feelingin the audience as well.
So it's whatever reason, it'sall come together in an amazing
(19:43):
way right now.
Why don't we stop doing that?
You know just when we got good.
Cheryl Lee (19:48):
Yeah, exactly right.
You don't want to go out now,when you're on top of your game,
that's right when we're feelinggood and playing well.
Dave Faulkner (19:56):
When that starts to slip, then maybe you have to,
you know, drag us kicking andscreaming off the stage, but I
think we'll probably takeourselves off before you even
notice that we shouldn't bethere anymore.
Cheryl Lee (20:04):
You've had some pretty great special guests and
you've got the Hard Ons comingup yeah absolutely, yes,
completely.
Dave Faulkner (20:12):
We love them and you know we have a long
association with the Hard Onsgoing back to, you know, our
third album, I think.
They played with us on showsand they're still going like we
are and they're still amazing.
So we're happy to be, you know,with our musical contemporaries
and you know, whateverluminaries like, you know, like
them, they're great.
Cheryl Lee (20:31):
And you've got Magic , dirt, yep, day Two or Four and
Spy vs Spy joining you as well.
There's some great supportthere with you.
Dave Faulkner (20:39):
There's a spy joining you as well.
There's some great supportthere with you, absolutely, and
you know, and that's been fun aswell.
I mean, there's a band calledthe Reinhardts played with us in
Perth, who were fantastic, youknow, and the Screamfeet are up
in Queensland.
We love them.
That's just all part and parcelof us trying to, you know, give
everyone the best night out wecan.
Cheryl Lee (20:53):
Absolutely, they can get the dates on the website
and on the Facebook page.
Dave Faulkner (20:59):
So hoodoogurus.
net is the official website.
Obviously, facebook isHoodoogurus.
Facebook.
One word, obviously for boththose Hoodoogurus.
One word they're all there.
And of course, you knowInstagram as well.
Is Hoodoogurus underscoreofficial?
Cheryl Lee (21:14):
Get onto the Google-o-meter and you're
kicking off in 22nd of Januaryin Bendigo.
Again, what a hectic scheduleyou guys have.
You're not sitting on yourlaurels, are you?
Dave Faulkner (21:25):
You're busy?
No, well, we're probablybecause you know our manager
likes to economise by putting itall together so that we're not
paying people to sit around anddo nothing.
You know, go fishing, yeah.
Cheryl Lee (21:36):
Good plan Victoria, Queensland, then New South Wales
.
Was there another one?
Dave Faulkner (21:41):
No, that's it basically.
Yeah, that'll do, and then offto New Zealand and Vietnam, yeah
, yeah.
Cheryl Lee (21:48):
Still rocking the podcast with that radio chick,
cheryl Lee.
We talked earlier about themhaving to pull out some weird
stuff when requested by the fans.
I wonder if they ever get askedfor this one.
Do you remember they playedwith the Masters Apprentices?
Turn up your radio and thenwe're back to say goodbye to
lead guru Dave Faulkner.
(22:10):
One last question, then.
I'd better let you go and enjoythis time off, thank you.
Thank you for staying up to mein your time off.
Dave Faulkner (22:26):
That's it.
Cheryl Lee (22:27):
I just wanted to know what you're listening to at
the moment.
Dave Faulkner (22:31):
Oh well, I mean I can't think of anything.
New records Someone put me ontoa band called English Teacher
from the UK.
I'll be honest, you know I gothrough a lot of old stuff and
there's an anthology of folk andblues I forget what it's called
from the SmithsonianInstitution which came out in
the 1950s, which I boughtrecently, and I've been
(22:51):
listening to that a lot.
I've grazed across the wholemusical landscape from all eras,
but yeah, it's pretty randomreally.
Cheryl Lee (23:00):
Any scoop on a new Hoodoo Gurus record?
Dave Faulkner (23:04):
No plans at the moment.
I'll be honest, you know we didone in 2023.
It came out I think it was 22,maybe even I might be mistaken
or whatever.
No, it was 23, I'm pretty sure.
Either way, time flies yeah,time flies.
Well, it was all during COVID,so kind of things merged
together at that time.
Before that was 12 years, soI've given myself a little bit
of time to figure out.
(23:25):
You know how to do it and what.
We're always recordingdifferent things.
We actually filmed one of theshows on this tour we've just
done.
We did a show in Canberra awhile back which was recorded
with an orchestra.
Now, you know whether that everseemed a lot of day or not, I
don't know, but you know there'sthings there that we could
release if we felt like it.
But we haven't, to be honest,we haven't even considered
(23:45):
anything like that.
We're just doing what's infront of us and enjoying
ourselves and then seeing whatwe feel like doing.
Cheryl Lee (23:51):
Exactly right.
Well, I'm going to take that asa scoop.
Dave Faulkner (24:00):
You didn't.
That's you know.
That's just ridiculous.
After what I, you know, mycareer has shown me, I I don't
know which way it's going to go,you know we broke up for six
years.
I said never.
Then, you know, and that thatwas a big hard lesson, which was
like you had to sort of swallowyour words because you know the
band wouldn't uh, stay in thein the basement where I tried to
confine and I thought it wasgone, yet gone, but the band was
still alive and well and itkind of dragged me back.
(24:20):
And you know, and I'm reallyhappy it did you know, in fact
we've been going longer nowsince the band broke up and
reformed after six years.
We've been going longer sincethe Reformation than before the
band.
Actually, you know the firstpart of the band's history.
So, yeah, I think we're herefor the long term still.
Cheryl Lee (24:41):
Exactly, we're here for the long term.
Still exactly, we're not goingsoon.
I wish you all the best on therest of the tour.
As I said, it agrees with youbecause you're looking fabulous
I thought you might be looking alittle bit weary, but no,
you're looking great, so all thebest for the rest of it, and we
look forward to whatever it isthat's next for the huda gurus
me too, so thank you so much.
Dave Faulkner (24:58):
So, look, enjoy talking.
I look forward to chatting nexttime.
Cheryl Lee (25:00):
Yeah, lovely to speak to you again.
Bye, mate, bye, bye for now.
Tommy Kaye (25:06):
You are listening to Still Rocking it.
The podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Cheryl Lee (25:11):
We are going to go out with one of the bands that
Dave from the Hoodoo Gurus islistening to at the moment.
This is English Teacher.
I'm not crying, you're cryingfrom there.
This could be Texas album.
I'm not high, I'm not near, I'mnot here.
I'm not high, I'm not sureYou're with Cheryl Lee, that
(25:34):
radio chick.
Thank you so much for joiningme on the Still Rocking it
podcast.
Hope to catch you again nexttime.
Get out when you can supportAussie music
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