INXS Drummer Jon Farriss
Former Hong Kong resident Jon Farriss is best known as the drummer for the Australian rock band INXS. This summer viewers of Star World got reacquainted with the act on “Rock Star: INXS,” a reality show in which the winner became the band’s new lead singer, replacing the late Michael Hutchence.
We grew up in Perth, Western Australia. Tim was born in 1957, Andrew in 59 and me in 61. We grew up in the sixties until we moved to Sydney in about 69 or 70. That’s where Tim met Kirk (Pengilly). Kirk and Tim got together and started to write songs. They formed a band and I was the first drummer, but I was only 10.
The house was filled with music. My parents loved everything from Sergio Mendes to the Beatles. We saw eye to eye for many years concerning a lot of musical genres until we started blaring Led Zeppelin, Weather Report and the Sex Pistols. Once that started happening, forget it.
It was a fantastic time to be growing up in Sydney because there was so much support for me as a musician. I’m so blessed that I had the opportunity to do that.
We started in pubs and they were hot and sweaty. There was sweat dripping from the ceiling and that makes people buy beer. If they didn’t like you they would let you know about it. We had to carve our teeth pretty quickly and we’d know right away if things weren’t going down. We just learned to rock. You can never take that part of us away.
I’ve traveled so much. I always enjoy coming back to Australia because it’s so unique. It’s just a beautiful land. There are still things I’d like to do there. I love being Australian.
It was around 86 or 87 that I first came to Hong Kong. I’d always loved the Orient. Michael (Hutchence) was already living in Hong Kong. I’ve always had a penchant for the culture and once I flew into Kai Tak, I thought it was awesome.