Episode 4: Life on the Road with INXS; Sue Dee's Untold Stories

On this week's episode of Listen Like Fans, Bee is joined by Sue Dee, a dedicated INXS fan since first seeing INXS perform as support for Adam & the Ants way back when they toured the US together in the Spring of 1983.

Since seeing this chance performance, Sue Dee has followed INXS through multiple tours, album releases and lead frontmen changes. Through thick and thin, Sue Dee has seen it all. Highlights from a career following the band include getting backstage and posing for pictures in a flag dress with Michael, joining Mary Woods's fan club, and connecting with other fans through the INXS pen pal service.

Sue Dee shares some great stories from her years following the band on tour - from sharing bedrooms with Michael (he was a gentleman!), backstage parties, being with the band on the tour bus and getting banned after items of INXS stage clothing went missing! So close was Sue Dee to the band that she was lucky to get an advance listening of Mystify!

Eventually, Sue Dee connected with Bee some 10 years ago via the old Hutch Nation Facebook page. A close friendship formed, and after lots of messages to and fro, they eventually discovered that we were both in attendance at the same gig in 1986 at the Birmingham Odeon.

Sadly, Sue Dee lost some of her treasured INXS collection in a house fire 5 years ago, but her memory of those times spent watching and following INXS still shines bright. We're delighted to have Sue Dee's continued support and to have her share her recollections on Listen Like Fans.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Okay, Groove Ed.

SPEAKER_04 0:06

Welcome to Listen Like Fans for the love of inexcess. I'm B and each week I'll be joined by a different co-host as we dive into the songs, the stories, and the moments that made us fall in love with this most iconic fan on the planet. Let's go. Sometimes the inexcess universe works in mysterious ways. You meet someone in a fan group, you start chatting, you share a photo, and you realise, wait a minute, we were at the same In Excess concert. Today's guest is someone I met through the InXS fans love Hutch Nation community. And from a legendary flag dress moment with her sister to follow the band on tour to discovering we both stood inside the Birmingham Odeon for my very first InXS show. This episode is pure fan fate. We will be reliving the magic, the madness, the music, and yes, probably the Raw Albert or two. As we dive back into the glory days and what it means to still listen like thieves all these years ago. So D, welcome to the show. Thank you, B. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm honored. This is our first time we've actually seen each other, I think, isn't it? I think it is, yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

And could you believe I went to the same place where you saw NXS for the first time? It's just unbelievable. It is Kismet.

SPEAKER_04 1:38

Yeah, it's Kismet. And you're such a wonderful person. And we'll we'll go into that because you um actually followed the band around and yeah, but we connected at the time, I think going back about 10 years ago now, nearly, or more. We met on um a page that I was running for a while called Hutch Nation, which is now called InXS Fans Love Hutch Nation. I think the first one was I saw a picture of you in this flag dress, in this photograph. We'll talk more about that. How did you find Hutch Nation, first of all?

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Well, just looking on Facebook, looking for an NXS page, just looking for people to hang out with.

SPEAKER_04 2:18

Yeah, because there's so many, isn't there?

SPEAKER_02 2:21

Yeah, there are less than. But um, I joined you, and I joined one that was Hutchins, Fengilly, Beers, Ferris, Farris, and Ferris, or something like that.

SPEAKER_04 2:30

That's run by a lovely lady over in America as well. Her name escapes me. But yes, um, she she was very prolific for a while. She was um putting a lot of stuff out, wasn't she, back in about 10 years ago. Yeah, it's good, isn't it? Are you still on the pages much?

SPEAKER_02 2:46

If I find something in the news, you know, that has to do with in XS, I'll pop over and just, you know, forward it.

SPEAKER_04 2:52

And are you following the InXS Access All Areas page now? I am, the Hall of Fame one. And the Hall of Fame one, yes, and we should. Time of recording, we should hopefully be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominations list. If we're not, we'll be spewing again. So, did you expect to find real friends through being online?

SPEAKER_02 3:15

No, I didn't really. I just expected to go on and find out new things about NXS, see what they were up to. Because I don't really keep up with periodicals these days. I don't even know if there are periodicals these days, for God's sakes, you know. Yeah. Used to buy magazines.

SPEAKER_04 3:31

We were talking with Andrew and Danielle in a previous episode, and they were like part of fan clubs. Were you part of the fan club?

SPEAKER_02 3:39

Yes, I was Mary Woods fan club. Oh, were you? I I'm sorry to see that we just lost her. Yes. I don't remember the name of her thing, but she would send t-shirts and I got the 45 for Christmas from her and uh listen like thieves cassette. It was it was really fun being part of her fan club. And I got to find pen pals because back then we didn't have the internet, we had pen pals, and I met most of my NXS friends through the mail. And are you still friends with some of the people? I had one very close friend in Australia, as a matter of fact, who came to visit me and we went to see NXS together. Hello, Noel Rhodes.

SPEAKER_04 4:15

Yes, what's her name? Give him a shout again.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

Noel Rhodes, it's a man. Oh, it's a man, Noel. Noel Rhodes, yes.

SPEAKER_04 4:25

Hello, Noel.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

And I know where he lives, but I can't think of. I'm old and I'm bad under the gun.

SPEAKER_04 4:30

That fan club was called Into NXS.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

Okay, of course it was. I can see it now. And then you sort of hooked up with your sister. So is your sister older or younger than you? My sister is younger than me. We both saw NXS for the first time opening for Adam Ant. So early 80s, 81, 82, I would imagine. And we were huge Adam Ant fans. And I know that's not popular among the NXS crowd, but huge Adam Ant fans. And never, ever, ever wanted to look at the opening band, Poo Pooh, you know? Yeah. This band came on, and we were riveted. I mean, just dying. We didn't even want Adam Hat to come on after that. It's like bring up. And uh ever since that day, everything, every album I could find, every concert I can go to, every t-shirt I can buy, every magazine. It was oh my god, this band is amazing. And me and my sister kind of we followed them together. Good times, good times.

SPEAKER_04 5:31

Very good times. So let's talk about the dress, this flag dress, a very cool photo of you, and you look so darn cute. And Michael is in the photo as well behind you, and I think your sister's in the picture, and a lovely lady called Ginger. So, yeah, tell us about this picture and what went on behind this.

SPEAKER_02 5:51

It was Halloween. So we were dressed up for Chris from Halloween. I was dressed as Australia. My sister was dressed like a hippie, she's wearing a beaded headband and a has a peace sign painted on her face. And Ginger was dressed like a flapper, a dresser from the 20s from the United States. That was our Halloween outfits. And we posed with Michael for pictures. And Michael told me that he kept that picture inside his bunk on the wall at night because he saw it, it made him smile. So this is a great picture of me. This is a great picture of me.

SPEAKER_04 6:23

Me, Michael. Michael said it was a great picture of him. And did you say earlier that you had Vegemite earrings?

SPEAKER_02 6:31

Yes, yes. In that picture, I'm wearing a Vegemite earrings. I have a snake around my wrist, the teeth around my legs, I mean my neck. And that was an actual Australian flag I was wearing that I just had pinned up and stuff.

SPEAKER_04 6:47

Oh, right. You were actually wearing the flag. Excellent, excellent. But Michael does look quite yummy in that picture. It's a great photo of you, and we will put that onto our socials with your permission.

SPEAKER_02 6:57

Same in that picture, I have on a spinal tap backstage pass. And Michael's girlfriend Johnny gave that to me. She was wearing it one day, and I says, Oh my god, I love spinal tap. Well, that day. And she goes, You like it? And took it right off and stuck it on me.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

So that's I was wearing the spinal tap thing because of Michael's girlfriend, sweetheart. After one show, she came up to us and she goes, You gotta guys gotta come up to the room. And she had two dresses that she was shopping at a thrift store. And she saw these two old, you know, retro vintage dresses that she bought for my sister and I because she said, you know, this looks just like you guys. And it did look just like us.

SPEAKER_04 7:37

So Johnny was a Roseanne. Was it Rosanna or Roseanne? Yeah. So she was Michael's girlfriend. She was the elf, like like elf-looking girl. She wasn't she looked a little bit like Audrey Ecburn, didn't she? She was an absolutely stunning girl. And she doesn't speak too much in public about her life with Michael, but she was kept quite secret, wasn't she? Was she a bit of a crossover in between uh Michelle and yeah? So she was the girl in America, I suppose.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

Michelle and everyone else. Oh, bless Michael. He did love Michelle though. One day we were in the hotel room and the phone rang. And he like just his eyes opened up, his ears perked, and he goes, That's Michelle. And he rolled over on the bed and opened up, picked up the phone, and he's like, Michelle, and it was her. And like all of a sudden, like you could see little hearts popping off his face and everything. Like he was it was just so adorable. He knew it was her, and he was so in love when he picked up the phone. He was such a romantic.

SPEAKER_04 8:43

Oh, that's a lovely scene. A romantic. Yeah, that's a wonderful scene. So you were in bedrooms with Michael. Come on, you you've opened the door on that bedroom. Come on, tell us more about it. Just hotel rooms, not bedrooms. Yeah, but you just hotel rooms. It sounds like you were not intimate, but you were really good friends with the band. And you were good friends with their girlfriends. And maybe you were good friends with Gary Grant. Do you remember Gary Grant?

SPEAKER_02 9:13

Yes, I do. Gary Grant was a lovely gentleman. He pretty much allowed us to do what we wanted to do. But we did get banned once in Manchester. It was a Listen Like Thieves tour, right? And they were wearing those Listen Like Thieves uniforms that they had on the in the video. And they got stolen from their bus. And we spent a lot of time on the bus with the guys. And sometimes we'd sit on the bus even when they weren't there. We'd be hanging out with the help and stuff, you know? And when they found out those things were stolen, they were sure that we stole them. So we got banned from by Bruce Patron and the the other cunny who just said his name. I love him dearly, Gary Grant. Gary Grant, yeah. They told us, they told us you're banned, you can't come in. The band told us. So we were like, okay, we were back in like the next day. I guess they they they probably got them turned back in or something and realized that we didn't steal them. They really thought that we stole their clothes.

SPEAKER_04 10:09

They were great outfits they had for the Listen Light Thieves, wasn't they? It was like slightly military looking.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

Yeah, it was one of my favorite outfits that they had on stage.

SPEAKER_04 10:18

Yeah, it was really, really good. Yes, so Gary Grant was their tour manager for a lot of the 80s, and he became joint manager with Murphy for a while. I've had him on the show for in excess access all areas, and I got to say he's a good friend now, so that's all good. I hopefully we'll have him on and get him talking about more stories another day. But yeah, like you say, a really kind gentleman. We know that you fell in love with him at the Adam Ant gig, but what made you think I'm gonna follow this band? I'm gonna go on tour with. I mean, how did you afford it for a start?

SPEAKER_02 10:52

I wasn't working at the time. I was on unemployment. I don't know, it's like the dole, I guess, there. When you're not working, you collect unemployment. You're not working, but you get money from the government. So I was collecting my unemployment money and we'd come home, like we were in Pennsylvania. We'd drive home to New Jersey to collect the money and then go back to Ohio, you know? And that's that's how we were doing at first. But then we eventually became rich and famous and and got our way in. Actually, the guys let us in for free. Yeah, all we had to pay for was travel, which wasn't bad. Yeah, after a while, we we paid for the first bunch of shows. I'm not gonna say the first tour, the first bunch of shows. And then they said, you know, you guys, if you're gonna be you guys come to so many shows, when you're gonna be coming, just let us know and we'll make sure that you're on the list. We said, okay now we're on a list for here from now until California. And we were.

SPEAKER_04 11:47

That's fantastic. And it was quite with you. There wasn't just you and your sister. We mentioned earlier a lady called Ginger.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

It was the three of us. It was me, my sister, and ginger. And sometimes it was just me and my sister. Sometimes it was just me and Ginger. Sometimes it was just my sister, sometimes it was just ginger. You know.

SPEAKER_04 12:06

Now your sister, she named her children after the band, didn't she? Am I right in thinking that one child? One child, yeah, called Michael.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Yeah, she has one son, and his name's Timothy Michael.

SPEAKER_04 12:19

Timothy Michael. Oh, that's just wonderful. That's dedication, isn't it? And how old is he now?

SPEAKER_02 12:25

40. Whoa. Tim was so proud that his name was first before Michael's, you know, because everybody wanted Michael was the best. He was a rock star. Yeah, he would be. So he was so happy. Tim the son, the boy, he went to go see the band lots of times. So that was cute. And we went to one show where it was John's birthday, and we went after the show backstage, and they had a birthday cake and stuff, and had this big giant balloon for John because it was a birthday. And he gave it to Tim and it was like bigger than Tim. He was so excited with it. It was fun.

SPEAKER_04 13:01

That's wonderful. That's so cool. So you went to many parties. You went to a lot of backstage parties, or you went to a lot of after the show, you parted with them afterwards.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

You know, after the show, they hung out, had a couple drinks, you know, calmed down, then got on the bus and drove to the hotel. And then they sometimes we'd go back to the hotel with them. Sometimes we didn't. I'm not gonna say we did it every every night, but sometimes they'd say, you know, wanted to come on back. We got we got a video you might want to watch. Andrew once played Mystify for me before it was out. He said, We got this new song you might want to hear. And he had a little, you know, uh electric organ that was portable. And he played Mystify. And he was like, that's nice.

SPEAKER_04 13:48

Fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

One time John invited us up because there was a video of Disappear, and he was so proud of it because it was his song he wrote, you know, and he was like that. There was a new video for Disappear just came out, and and it was a um extended mix and everything. Oh, so proud. And good for him because that was a good song for him. And he was, you know, how many times did the drummer get to write a song? Good for him.

SPEAKER_04 14:18

Him and Michael produced that song, I think, in Hong Kong, didn't they? And I said, imagine Johnny was there at that time.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

Yes, I would imagine that would be a Johnny time. This I never went to Hong Kong. The furthest I went to was Britain.

SPEAKER_04 14:30

Britain.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

My sister came to Australia. She went there with Michael's funeral.

SPEAKER_04 14:34

Oh, she did. Oh bless her.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

And he had lunch with um his dad.

SPEAKER_04 14:39

Kel? Kel. Yeah. Yeah, he was a good man, wasn't he? Yeah. Just going back to those days when you mentioned with little Tim, we'll call him little Tim. It must have been nice for Big Tim to have little Tim around because he would have been missing his own children, I should imagine.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

Yeah, and he was like about the same age as James. Treated him. He loved hanging out with the little boy. One day we're all like in the in the uh hotel room, you know, like watching TV and listening to music and partying and drinking and stuff. Sometimes it was a party. And uh we're like, where's Word Tim? We didn't know where either one of them went. And we hear noise in the bathroom. And it's like, what the fuck is going on? Go in the bathroom. Tim and Tim are leaned over the bathtub with water in there, and they're playing with Transformer toys. Transformers!

SPEAKER_03 15:34

Oh, that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 15:37

Well, Tim is a big kid still, I think. And now he's got um he's got I think he's got at least three, maybe four grandchildren in the last five years. It's um wonderful. Yeah, he's uh enjoying being a granddad.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

Lenore's enjoying being a grandmom too. She has three.

SPEAKER_04 15:56

Oh, really? Tim is her son, and Tim had three kids. So oh fantastic. And so how did you get to Britain if you were on the dole? How did that happen? Did you find a rich man in the audience?

SPEAKER_02 16:08

Well, it was 1986 and it was directly after Chernobyl. Air flights to Britain were very cheap because nobody wanted to go there because they were afraid that they were gonna get radiated. Probably why I'm on oxygen. No, I'm kidding. But it wasn't very expensive, it was only like 200 and something dollars. And me and Ginger went and we stayed in bed and breakfasts and in youth hostels. You know, we didn't really we didn't go stay at the Birmingham Museum or anything. And sometimes the band would like leave right after the show, but their room would be paid up till 11. So they'd let us take their room, which helped a lot. We just loved it and they helped us and it was great.

SPEAKER_04 16:54

God, that's so rock and roll, so I swear to god, no sex. No, no, not at all. I'm just telling you. Well, I tried, they wouldn't have me.

SPEAKER_02 17:04

It wasn't a a groupie thing.

SPEAKER_04 17:06

I think they said somewhere famously they found that the groupie thing wasn't their thing. It was a bit crus. Yeah. It's not it's not them. Yeah. And and that's great. It's good to hearing your stories of how they they looked after their younger fans. Because how old would you have been back then?

SPEAKER_02 17:24

Well, I was much older than you. I was the same age as the band. I was the same age as John. Okay. So I was about 20 oh you were like what 13, right?

SPEAKER_04 17:34

Yeah, I was 17, I think, when I first saw them at Birmingham and Odeon. Which brings us to the Birmingham Odeon. My recollection of us connecting 10 years ago about this, but no, so you were living on packets of crisps and beer or something. Vinegar and saw crisps and vodka. Vinegar. I was nearly there. I remember that. It was funny. Isn't it isn't it strange that we were actually in that same building and like enjoying seeing this amazing band at the same time. Yeah, whereabouts were you sitting or standing? Right at the front.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

I honestly can't tell you. All the all the shows rolled into each other. Most of the time, if it was a general admission show, I would try and get over on Timmy's side. That was my favorite uh viewing area. By Timmy and Gary. And you know, Tim, Gary, Michael, John. The center is too much for me. I've been in the center a few times, but it's too much. People strangle you and stuff.

SPEAKER_04 18:39

So that was the listen like thieves tour, which you mentioned about, you know, getting done for for being banned off the coach, allegedly maybe stealing the the in excess clothes. Did you go to the Wool Albert Hall, which I think would have been after the Birmingham Odien?

SPEAKER_02 18:57

Yes, I did, and memories are weak too. You remember what I said about that vodka?

SPEAKER_04 19:04

Well, that's okay because I have sketchy moments about it too. I remember going with my girlfriends and like everyone's heard these stories before, but yeah, I remember going with my friend Sharon and a few others. I was quite a shy teenager back then, believe it or not, and I didn't race to the front, but I was right at the front at the high levels. I felt like I was right on the stage with them, to tell you the truth. When there was the release, and we've just spoken about this affair of the Listen Like These re-release with the L book hall live recordings that they found. Like yourself, we were just saying it just brought all those memories back again, seeing the band and the lights and them just bouting out the songs. Yeah, he was just so charismatic. And for me, and we've just spoken again again, Red Red Sun was the last song that they would play on that that tour, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_02 20:07

Yes, it was. That is a great album, too. The one you're talking about, the live hall.

SPEAKER_04 20:14

Yes, yeah. What was your favorite song off that album? I like one by one.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

I knew you were gonna say that because one of my favorite songs. I think it's so like sexy and fun. It sounds like a stripper song, you know?

SPEAKER_04 20:34

It it's well, even Michael said, okay, talk about are you ready to do your stripping or something like that? It was like, wow, this is just fantastic. I'd got the album probably only a couple of weeks before, and I was playing it and playing it, but to hear in XS play their music live was just something else, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_02 20:57

Yeah, my friend sent me a bunch of records for Christmas. And I was on the phone with them while I was opening them all up. And I said, Oh, I'm gonna listen to this one first, I'm gonna listen to this one first, you know, like Ramones and stuff. And then I came across that in XS one. I said, forget it. I said, This is the one I'm gonna listen to first. I'm putting this on now, you know. I just put it right on. And I said to him, I says, Jesus, I forgot how good they were in concert. Yeah, just phenomenal.

SPEAKER_04 21:24

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

And even he said they were the he said they were the Quintin Sessel, Quintin Sessel live bands. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:31

They were because because up to that point, they'd had like Shibou Shabar, Underneath the Colours, The Swing, and then a debut album. So they'd already done four albums. So when Listen Light Thieves came, and then they got Chris Thomas to produce it, and he tried to replicate them playing live. Listen like thieves was just the best album you could like possibly have back in the 80s.

SPEAKER_02 21:58

I agree. I mean it was. Like them playing live on the Listen Like These album, you know? Yes. The actual Listen Like Thieves studio album. They were just so good live, so good studio. It was like couldn't no difference. They were just amazing.

SPEAKER_04 22:15

So what does it mean?

SPEAKER_02 22:16

They were just amazing. I miss them terribly.

SPEAKER_04 22:19

Yeah. I'm I'm glad you you've enjoyed the new album, um, the Listen Like Thieves releases and all the little demo tapes as well. Have you heard those ones too? Yeah. Just wonderful to see them where they created the song and where they actually got to. It's just a great album. And listeners, if you haven't got it, you really do need to get yourself this. It's to just save up and get this. You can get it on all the formats. You can get it digitally, vinyl. The vinyl's great. The collection you have, there's actually a like, I think like a box set you can get with like a gatefold and there's all sorts of things inside it too.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

Any track that hits differently now? Like I was right back in front of the concert again, right back in front of the stage. Sounded just like I remembered it. Brings back your youth, doesn't it? Yeah. Nothing hit differently because it was all great then. It's great now.

SPEAKER_04 23:13

So has your fandom ever stopped or have you just kept going? Because I do know, well, it was very tragic. You were quite a big collector too, weren't you? And you had a house fire, Isley, what about seven years ago? Five.

SPEAKER_02 23:28

That's all right. It's done, it's over.

SPEAKER_04 23:30

Yeah. Did you get any anything back? Yes. Good.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

Yes. Thanks to my very good friend Dennis. He has sent me a lot of stuff. And I did save a lot of in excess from the fire, but they're like singed around the edges. And I have to start in the middle of the first song because it's all melted around its eyes. Oh, bless you. I can't get rid of them.

SPEAKER_04 23:53

Oh I can't get rid of them. No, don't, don't. Even though. Yeah. So wonderful that you you did keep those because like they're they're the memories, even if they are singed around the edges.

SPEAKER_02 24:05

What I did lose was my list and like thieves with all my ticket stubs in them. Oh. Remember, I showed the first picture they had of my list and like thieves. My other NXS things were inside of a record cabinet that had a closure. So they just kind of got a little melty. That one was literally outside sitting around waiting to be listened to, you know? And it just went up. It was history. But all my all my ticket stubs.

SPEAKER_04 24:30

Oh that'd be so sad. You took a picture of it though. I was gonna say, but you got a photo of it at least. Yeah. I mean, you're right. It's good that you kept it for so long. And a lot of us sort of like lose things like that. I've I've only got my one ticket stub. So how has your fandom changed? Does it change much? Are you still in love with the band and the music? And would you like to see them reform?

SPEAKER_02 24:54

I would go see them if they reformed. But I know that it wouldn't be the same as it as it ever was, you know. I'm not saying that, oh, because Michael's gone, because I saw them plenty of times without Michael. You know, they had alternate leaders. I saw him with JD. I saw him with John Stevens. John Stevens, right? I'm sorry. Yes. And somebody else, but I can't think of who. So I didn't abandon them when Michael died. But I'd be lying if I said part of me didn't die with him. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 25:23

Yeah. It was really hard, wasn't it, when he passed away. Where were you when Michael passed away?

SPEAKER_02 25:28

Back to my friend Noel Rhodes, who lives in Australia. I was in my apartment and I got a phone call from him late at night. And he said, Sue. He goes, I don't know how true it is, but I just heard Michael Hutchins died. And I says, What do you mean? And he goes, I have a friend who works at a hotel, and he said that they just found Michael Hutchins hanged in a room. And I says, Oh bullshit. I said, they're just trying to get, you know, publicity. I said, that's no way, no fucking way. I says I'm sitting here watching MTV right now. It's on my TV. I says, they're not saying nothing. Then it comes across the screen. Michael Hutchins found hanged in a hotel room. I just broke down. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:12

Well, he was your friend for a while, wasn't he?

SPEAKER_02 26:16

Yes. Not gonna lie and say we were best buds and everything. We were friendly. We could have a discussion, we sat around, we broke bread together, you know. I'm not gonna say I ever went to his house or, you know, gave him a phone call or anything. We were friendly. I I knew the guy, you know, and he died.

SPEAKER_04 26:36

Yeah, such a big part of you would have died as well on when on hearing that news as well. And then you said your sister flew out to the funeral.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

Yes. And for a long time too, in excess it hurt me to listen to them. I couldn't listen without crying. To be honest, for a long time. But I got over that because I love in excess and the music's too good and it makes me smile too much to cry all the time. But there was, I went through my my morning period. I couldn't even listen to them. I was afraid it was gonna be like that forever.

SPEAKER_04 27:12

That day changed a lot for the fans. We didn't know where to go, we didn't know what to do. Mary Woods had a she had the dot com at that time, so she was getting a lot of emails. She kindly put a lot of emails into booklets. I think there's four books, and they're just loaded, like thousands and thousands of emails, which she gave to the and yeah, so that they would be able to read them in their own time. I have a copy of them as well now, and I find it hard to read some of them. It's just painful what the fans went through, but you have to, yeah, you have to feel it. People want you to know how they feel or felt at the time. Okay, so let's lift the mood. Well, Sue, now we have InXS nominated uh to get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. How does this make you feel?

SPEAKER_02 28:18

I am so excited for them, really. I didn't expect it. I hope they get in, but I'm so excited for them, I'm so proud of them, and they absolutely deserve it.

SPEAKER_04 28:30

Absolutely, so so proud. Could be so much prouder than six more people. Um, they're just wonderful guys. I mean, they've got such a legacy that they've left with all their music, and wow, and this just to honor Michael, you know, what a superstar he was. So, yeah. So I was talking to Danielle, and um, she lives in Florida, and she was saying it would be a great idea if you flew into Florida and we we hire a bus or a coach and we do a road trip from Florida to Cleveland. Now, Sue, are you en route for me to come and pick you up or come and party with you for a night on the way?

SPEAKER_02 29:11

You know, I think I am. I know Cleveland is more west from me. So it depends on where you're coming up. Like Florida's down here, New Jersey's over here, and Cleveland's like over here. So if you're coming up this way, you're driving away from New Jersey. If you're coming up this way, you're driving past me.

SPEAKER_04 29:29

You know what I mean? Well, maybe you can come and meet us halfway then. Yeah, maybe you can come and meet us halfway or something. Or at least we can get excited into it. Yeah, we can get on some sort of Zoom chat in real time. Oh, yeah, it's just I I just can't believe it. Like I'm going to go to Cleveland this year, even if if they don't get inducted, they were gonna get inducted next year if they're not. That's right, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 29:55

Well, if they get inducted, I might want to jump on that bus.

SPEAKER_04 29:58

Well, I'll leave you a seat, don't you worry. Definitely put you on there. We'll play the NXS tunes all the way.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

And now it's time for the quick fire questions.

SPEAKER_04 30:21

Let's do this quick fire round. All right, are you ready for these questions? Right? No thinking too hard. Just say whatever comes into your head. All right, Sue. Okay, you ready? I'm ready. Favorite in excess song to hear live.

SPEAKER_02 30:41

I'm thinking too much. I can't the loved one, the loved one.

SPEAKER_04 30:45

The loved one. Oh, that live. Yeah, that's gorgeous. Okay, next one. Best Michael look, the leather pants or the silk shirt? Or maybe there's another one that you like.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

There's so many, but if I if you're gonna give me the choice of those two, definitely leather.

SPEAKER_04 31:03

Yes, leather pants. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

I'm one of the few fans I could live without the bike shorts, to be quite honest.

SPEAKER_04 31:09

Yes, no, that that wasn't a really good look, was it? But yeah, the the leather pants were much better. Okay, next question. One tour you'd relive instantly.

SPEAKER_02 31:22

Listen like thieves.

SPEAKER_04 31:25

Yay! Oh, I just wish we'd met on that tour.

SPEAKER_02 31:31

Yeah. But listen like the first time, best.

SPEAKER_04 31:36

If we'd have met on that tour.

SPEAKER_02 31:37

And then I'd get to meet you.

SPEAKER_04 31:38

Yeah, I was gonna say, if I if we met on that tour, I think we would become really good friends, and I'd probably be, yeah, I would have gone on that journey with you.

unknown 31:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 31:48

You'd be my Australian ginger.

SPEAKER_04 31:50

I would be your Australian and your British ginger.

unknown 31:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 31:55

You were British at the time. I was British at the time, yeah. Um I've got a foot in both camps now. Okay. Song that makes you emotional.

SPEAKER_02 32:06

The loved one. No, not the loved one. Never tear us apart, like everybody.

SPEAKER_04 32:10

Yeah. That's had quite a lot of airplay lately, hasn't it?

SPEAKER_02 32:15

I have not heard it on the radio, but I don't listen to the radio much, to be honest.

SPEAKER_04 32:19

Oh, you don't? Okay, well, here in Australia, it was number one on the Triple J Radio's list of the best songs, Australian songs, um, last year. It's also going to be featuring in Toy Story, the new one. I saw that, yes. Yeah. I mean, the kids are just loving it, and even the little kids are gonna be loving it. So, yeah, it's going to have a life of its own, um, that one song, and it's being covered so many times. Okay, I think I know the answer to this. Did you see the devil inside? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

Did you see the devil inside in the background of that Chris Emsworth commercial? How good was that? That was adorable. So good. Yeah. And the commercial was awesome. I have the same problems in my Alexa. Did she give you a massage? I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. No, no.

SPEAKER_04 33:09

Good Aussie humor, that was. And it was nice to hear the guys.

SPEAKER_02 33:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:14

Oh, yeah, to hear Devil Inside. It's good, it's such a good opener, that one as well, isn't it? So good. Okay, I think I know the answer to this one already. I think you're gonna shout it out before I even finish the sentence. Pub gig in XS or Stadium in XS. Pub gig. Yay.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

10,000%. And the reason being I'm not gonna say pub gigs, but not not Australian pub gigs, but in America, they played like clubs in their college clubs, which was great. I bet they were. That's how we got in to meet them. We bought them a bunch of drinks and buy six guys' drinks, they get to be your friends.

SPEAKER_04 34:01

That's the way to do it, girls and boys. You buy the drinks and then you let them mates. What were they drinking?

SPEAKER_02 34:07

Oh gosh, I don't remember. Couldn't tell you for a million dollars.

SPEAKER_04 34:10

There's um a bit of footage of Michael coming off stage and talking about a good margarita.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

Possibly.

SPEAKER_04 34:19

Yeah, he liked to make his drinks.

SPEAKER_02 34:21

I know I'm pretty sure they were mixed drinks. They weren't like beers and stuff, but I don't remember what they were billion and twelve years ago. And I was pretty buzzed myself.

SPEAKER_04 34:30

We won't hold you to it. If you could say one thing to the band about back then, what would it be?

SPEAKER_02 34:37

Please forgive me, I'm young and stupid. Oh. I was saying to somebody online the other day, they were talking about how beautiful John was at a certain era in life, you know? And I and I said, God, he was so beautiful. I couldn't even talk to him. I would get all tongue-tied when I would talk to John. I could talk to Michael, I could talk to Tim, no problem. We would laugh, you know, call each other jerks and stuff like that. But John would walk into the room and I would be like, Because he was just so beautiful. Perfection, that man.

SPEAKER_04 35:12

Yeah, he could have been a model. Yeah. So did you talk to Gary and Kirk much?

SPEAKER_02 35:18

Yes, yes, and yes, yes. Gary was lovely. Kirk was super lovely. Andrew was super lovely. I have a lot of good memories of Andrew. I was in my 20s, a full-grown woman. You know what Neosporin is, right? No. Neosporin is from the cut, right? Yeah. No? No. Okay. I was a oh, I was a full-grown woman. I had no idea what neosporin was. And I went to a show and I wore sandals. My toes were sticking out and they got clobbered, you know, like people stepping on my toes. My toe was just an horrible wreck. And I showed it to Android. He said, Look, my toe was all messed up. He goes, Oh, you need some neosporin. And I was like, What? And he said, And he took got his little neosporin out of his packet and he put it on my toe and he put me on a little band-aid. And my toe got all better. And he was just so sweet. And it was like the best.

SPEAKER_04 36:18

You know what song is in my head right now, and I'm gonna have to play it. Could have been a doctor.

SPEAKER_03 36:26

Could have been a doctor.

SPEAKER_04 36:28

And he's dressed like a doctor. Well, Sue, it's so enjoyable going down memory lane with you on your it's it's so good. And I'm sure you'll come back with some more stories that we can share with some of the uh backstage legends another time. But hey, from a flag dress to following the tour and discovering where you were on your first show, and this is why in XS World never stops connecting us. So thank you for sharing your stories.

SPEAKER_02 36:58

Well, thank you for having me. It was a pleasure. Time flew.

SPEAKER_04 37:12

Well, thanks for listening, everybody. It's been absolutely fantastic. If you want to know more, then check out the links that are in our description and send a message.