Listen Like Fans Special: Reliving the APRA Awards with INXS-A Front Row Experience

Hosts: Bee & Dr Jim

There are some nights you don’t just remember… You feel them all over again.

That’s exactly what happened when Dr Jim and I sat down to relive the APRA Awards. What started as a conversation quickly turned into something much deeper—full of emotion, reflection, and those moments that catch in your throat.

Watching the band, hearing the speeches, feeling that connection to INXS… it all came rushing back. The pride, the love, the bittersweet ache—it’s all there in this episode.

This isn’t just a recap. It’s two fans taking you right back into the room with us… sharing what we saw, what we felt, and why it meant so much.

Honestly… bring the tissues for this one ❤️

.... This special episode will be available to watch for free for our members on Patreon for a shorttime,  It will then only be available for those who support the Listen Like fans podcast- thanks, guys, you know who you are, and you're The Best!

Love Bee.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To support this podcast to bring you more INXS stories, become a paying member https://www.patreon.com/c/listenlikefans_fortheloveofinxsbackstagelegends/membership

To watch the whole show https://www.patreon.com/posts/reliving-apra-157241937?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Please sign the Induct INXS into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame https://www.change.org/p/induct-inxs-into-the-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-2027-inxs-50th-year-join-the-inxs-army

I'm Just a Man Foundation ijam.org.au

Become A Backstage Legend and join the INXS Fan Community

 https://www.patreon.com/cw/ListenlikeFans_fortheloveofINXSBackstageLegends 

Website: https://www.inxsaccessallareas.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/INXSaccessallareas

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:00

Okay, go to that.

SPEAKER_10 0:06

Welcome to Listen Light Fans for the love of Emacs S. 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 these most iconic fans on the planet. Let's close. If you'd like an even better experience, we have actually done a whole podcast video on this episode. Check it out on Patreon, Listen Like Fans, and we'll see you there. If not, carry on listening to the audio. Well, hello everybody, and welcome to Listen Like Fans. Thanks for joining me. And today we're going to be talking about the Opera Awards that we went to. And I'm going to be joined in the studio. Let's get him in. Dr. Jim, how are you doing, mate?

SPEAKER_12 1:02

Hi, Big. And uh good morning, good evening, good afternoon to all the beautiful listeners out there. We are very excited to be talking about what was a very magical experience uh just a few nights ago.

SPEAKER_10 1:14

I know. And it's it was just unbelievable. And I've been speaking to many people that have been to all these types of awards, and they says this one was hard to beat. So I really can't wait to really go from the beginning right to the end and take you right there with us. So, Jim, let's talk about you first. Of people going, who is Dr. Jim? So who are you, mate?

SPEAKER_12 1:37

Thanks, B. Um, again, um I my name is Jim. I am from um a beautiful group called Team Induct in Access, myself and Shannon, and obviously not now anymore. Uh Dina, I we run the petition to get in Access into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and I've become obviously really good mates with um with my mate B, who's a beautiful human being, and got to know her even more just over the last, you know, being being in Sydney. Well, not that I don't know, but known her quite well the last six years. I got into Inexcess. I've had different journeys, but I first saw In Access um on a video TV, sorry, TV station watching Simple Simon on Simon Townsend's Wonder World, and then went through a journey of you know um listening to InXS um in the one in on the Australian charts, and then obviously all the way up to the US through American Top 40. Um and then really got back into NXS probably around the time of the miniseries and set up a charity called I'm Just a Man, which is named after the NXS song in 2017 and in 2020. We then got into the journey of um when B started her incredible NXS Access All Areas podcast. We connected at the time and uh thought, you know what, really want to see NXS get into the Rockwell Hall of Fame, that one of my favorite bands, alongside with KISS. And, you know, we've met the most beautiful group group of people, an amazing group of people from around the world. So, and here we are being at the APRA Toubot Award, did a hundred years of opera, and you know, it was uh given the sad news of in excess not being inducted this year, but the nomination was still something very special uh to be there, and it was like a sweet celebration with um mates um watching in excess. We're very close. We'll talk about this um tonight, and then um, but yeah, just to be in a room, one of 870 people at the um the pavilion in Sydney.

SPEAKER_10 3:39

Yeah, and we'll talk more about that. I want to backtrack a little bit. So you you flew over all of that. You have been an amazing part of all this in excess journey. Um, with the um induct page, how many petitioned um names did you get in the end? Well, have at the moment, even.

SPEAKER_12 3:58

Great, great question. But like, yeah, look, um, we started when when we started the induct and excess um concept, it wasn't just you know a page. We we we, you know, like yourself, it was a full-blown website, social media, and regular posting. And our goal has always been to get as many signatures on the petition, which now we call the NXS Army. Um, and currently sitting just under 25,000.

SPEAKER_10 4:26

Wow, congratulations! That's really good. I think we've actually got a button here to where I'm doing the pause, but I can't find it right now. But yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_12 4:36

Um, so yeah, we've had, I mean, and it's incredible um fan engagement. I run the YouTube channel uh as well as run the website now and TikTok and help Shannon with Facebook. She does Facebook mainly, and we do twitter or x.com. So it's regularly posting, particularly, you know, our age group of people, sort of you know, 35, 40 plus. They love their Facebook, they love their YouTube. And you know, we if we can find some rare clips and videos and celebrations of in access music, we'll follow what you do, B, with in access access or the listen like fans. And you know, we we're we're we're probably the most current people when it comes to in access news outside the band.

SPEAKER_10 5:21

So so as you can see, he's a doer like me. We get on with stuff and we we get things done. It's it's incredible all the stuff that you've done um for um induct. Um, sad news about we lost losing um Dina, she was uh a beautiful girl, and so we're always thinking of her as well. And we'll just say hi to Shannon To. And then you've got your your charity as well. That I know a few people have been to. Um, first of all, if you haven't signed the petition, please sign the petition. We will have that in the link as well, because that will still go in. Because even though um Nyxest didn't get into uh into the rock and roll hall of fame this year, they were nominated, which is a goal which was we we we got cornered that one. Hopefully, we get we they get nominated again next year. So we still need your signatures and please um share and your yeah, your you you call it I jam. I I I'm just a man, which I think is quite cute. Yeah, so how's that been going?

SPEAKER_12 6:27

That's been amazing. Like that was probably the the stepping stone to really getting into the inducting excess space. That's so really I I I um the sort of background to that is that I I'm a I'm a chiropractor, that's why I'm called Dr. Jim, and still a chiropractor. I love what I do. I mean my practice right now. Um, so um basically my business boomed down 12 years ago, 11 years ago, whenever it was now, 12 years ago. And you know, that was a very interesting time for me. I found music as an outlet and particularly in excess music and singing. It was one of the first time I started to sing and be in bands and all that kind of stuff. And that all the whole I'm just a man was giving back to the community, you know, a men's mental health charity with music. So I've been lucky enough to have people that are related to or directly part of in Excess or the outer part of In Excess be part of it, which has been fantastic. Um, and so what happened was I it was Dina that reached out to Shannon, um, you know, because I was making I had made a big post about the book that Tina Hutchins wrote, um, my brother Michael, I think it was. So I was talking about the charity and and and I and I love that book. I love the way Tina um in audio spoke about Michael and the band, and I thought, well, it would be beautiful if we got him inducted. You know, I just feel that there's nothing out there, or something was just starting to happen. That's how it happened. And then we just formulated Team Induct in Excess. I remember getting in touch with you. You thought I was American. I told you you're telling me on the first Zoom in the clinic. I was in the clinic, I thought you Americans see me go. Um, maybe just like in excess. Uh that was great. And then here we are six years later. It's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_10 8:19

It's unbelievable. I know, and it's still going, it's still going. We've got so much to look forward to. But today or tonight, wherever you're listening, and yes, today we are doing this as a video. We've wanted one of our first videos that we've done. Um, we're going to be celebrating the fact that they got into the um Ted Albert Awards, I should say. Um, they were given the Ted Albert Award at the Aperas, which is an industry award. So it's not going to be televised too much. And we were very lucky that we were cheeky enough to um put it out there to go and get us a ticket. So we've got to thank a few people out there. We won't name names, but we got in by the skin of our teeth because every email afterwards was if you don't want your ticket, please let us know in bold letters at the top of the email. So we were very lucky that this was a hot ticket that we got into. Um, so we're gonna paint the scene first of all. First of all, you can see here that we were we're gonna have a little ply see if we can do this. Here we go. So the APA Awards, the Ted Elbert Award for outstanding services to Australian music. What does that actually mean?

SPEAKER_12 9:36

Yeah, um, you know, I think uh B was saying that, you know, this was an award. It wasn't like this is an industry award. So the people in the room, it was fascinating to see the different people that were there. Obviously, there's a lot of different celebrities that that are musicians, songwriters, that's really what the room is about. Songwriters, producers, people that are the behind the scenes and the music. And uh I think it's very fitting that with APRA who represent the the artists of Australia so that they're protected and looked after with their mechanical rights or with their you know songwriters' rights and and earning their income of their passions, what they love to do. Um it was fitting to have in excess uh be celebrated at the 100th year anniversary of um of that as part of the Town Albert Award.

SPEAKER_10 10:32

Well, we arrived at the Horton Pavilion in Sydney. We both jetied in. I think I came from um Coughs Harbour uh uh a day before, and then you flew in on the day, and we were met um we met on the red carpet with a few other people. We we did stroll straight in and forgot to actually sign in. We had to uh double back because we realized we didn't know what table number we were going to be at. Um, there was um people everywhere, food was like just coming out from it was proper rock and roll, wasn't it? There was just if you wanted a drink, it was just placed in your hand that you couldn't drink enough before it was topped up again. It was amazing.

SPEAKER_12 11:14

So, this is my I think this is your you've been to one red carpet event before. B, is that right?

SPEAKER_10 11:19

Oh, yes, I did. Yes, I did. I went to see the mystified, but that was at a theater. This was a little bit different. This was this is real party atmosphere, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_12 11:28

Yeah, there was this kind of an incredible buzz as we sort of you know walked in, and you know, it was lovely to be noticed by different people and we went in together. Uh, and really there was like as you can see from the picture here, you know, on the left hand side was really the red carpet part where we where people talk about we have we had photos, and then on the right part is the i I'll call it the networking or the mingling or the connections, celebrity spot, celebrity spot, um, and you know, really the different people connected to opera, songwriting, musicians, artists of all genres, too.

SPEAKER_10 12:09

Yeah, yeah. So we got on the carpet, didn't we? Here's Jim. Wow, you really went for it. You had the stars on there. You um you managed to still get your kiss tee and tie in. That was good.

SPEAKER_04 12:22

No, um we got one picture together.

SPEAKER_10 12:26

I was gonna say we got one picture together. Um I I I made sure that I was matching with the background by the looks of it there. Um, and then as we are on the red carpet, my old co-host Hayden Murdock appeared from nowhere. Bless him, and uh yeah, he he he came along as well. Um, but we will also mention that the upper awards were um here are the presenters. Um the presenters on the night were um Julia, I've got uh get her name right, Julia Zimaro, is that right?

SPEAKER_12 13:03

I think so.

SPEAKER_10 13:04

Zimiro, Zimiro, yeah, quite funny.

SPEAKER_12 13:07

She was quite funny.

SPEAKER_10 13:08

She's she yeah, she's comedian, but she's done a lot of TV. Um, yeah, she's great. And also there you can see Bernard Um Fanning and Jessica Mowboy. Is that right?

SPEAKER_04 13:19

Yeah, that's correct.

SPEAKER_10 13:20

Yeah, yeah. Who are top singers um of our generation, really. Um, and they came on and did lots, but she did an amazing job all night, just jokes aside, she was just absolutely fantastic. Right, I'm just gonna try and get these people together. Here we go. Another famous lady who obviously inducted in excess. She is actually um one of the big top directors of um APRA, and her name is Jenny Morris.

SPEAKER_12 13:47

Part of the chair.

SPEAKER_10 13:48

She's a part of the chair. Do you want to? I'm gonna take my jumper off because I'm getting quite hot. You you carry on about Jenny while I do this.

SPEAKER_12 13:55

Yeah, look, Jenny, I mean, uh, it's one of the things we had put on the induct in excess before the night, right? And we were no one knew who um I guess who was going to present the award for Jenny. Uh, for sorry, for in excess, and it happened to be Jenny, who's the chair of APRA. And but in the in in an interview she had done, I can't remember, on Noise11.com, we shared that on our channel. She, you know, there was these beautiful words that she expressed about um in excess. Uh and because she had such a she has such a connection, an intimate, intimate meaning beautiful friendship connection to the band.

SPEAKER_10 14:39

So well, she's worked with them, she's known them for since she was a kid, really. She's been on tour with them. Her speech, yes, we will play the speech later. Um, it does go for around about eight minutes, and we've got it in full, so we can't wait to share that with you.

SPEAKER_04 14:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_10 14:55

Um, who else was there? All right, well, we bumped into. I don't know if you all know these beautiful people, but this is Kurt Pendigili's daughter. This is April Rose and her new husband, new husband, sounds like she's had lots, but her she's only got married last year. Yeah. Um, Adam from England, in fact, and absolutely gorgeous, gorgeous. And uh, she we'll talk about them a bit later on, but she just rocked it, didn't she? She's a great girl, yeah, fantastic. Um, we've got another guy that was there who popped up right at the very end. We'll talk about him. You may know you might know this guy, Peter Garrett. So, yeah, wow, that was just incredible. And um, yes, you might get to see us laughing and dancing and singing at the end of this show with Peter.

SPEAKER_12 15:50

All the emotions are really all the emotionally coming back, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

They're coming back. I know, I know. I'm getting excited.

SPEAKER_12 15:57

We really do this anyway. Keep going.

SPEAKER_10 15:59

Yeah, we really do this. Yeah, no, um Amy, who's uh I'd like to say my friend, yeah, but Amy and um she's part of Amy's Sniffers, and the connection there is Nick Lawnaid. So Nick Lornay did the swing, produced the swing for In Excess, and he also produced Amy and the Sniffles first, um Sniffles, Sniffers, um, first album, and here they are now winning awards um for really naughty words, I would say, um, winning awards for songwriters. I think they got kind of come away with four awards that yeah.

SPEAKER_12 16:37

I had I didn't know much about this band. It was wonderful to see B get really excited meeting meeting meeting her. And to me, it was like Deborah Harry. Oh, there you go. Deborah Harry Deborah Harry Blondie meets punk rock. It was really incredible.

SPEAKER_10 16:54

Oh gosh, yeah. I felt I I was a total fangirl. I like God knows what she really thought of me. I'm like across the room, across the back room.

SPEAKER_12 17:04

You got a fair passion, B.

SPEAKER_10 17:07

Oh well, you know, I got it, I got it. All right, so then we walk in, yes, and there's Jim's table.

SPEAKER_12 17:14

So we really did have tickets, that's what I've got to say. We didn't really have tickets, we didn't make it up. Right, there you go. And you can see what um with what B was saying earlier, like again, we didn't really know what to expect. But if you can see, again, it's not about there's lots of alcohol here, but it was more, it was beautifully presented.

SPEAKER_10 17:33

Very, yeah.

SPEAKER_12 17:34

You know, there was there, it was there was this elegance and eloquence that was part of the night. It was quite dark inside the in the inside the pavilion or with it where where we had the kind of like a gala experience, I guess. But but there was this beautiful feeling, and we got in quite early. I think we got there quite early in that part, and there's this beautiful elegance, yeah.

SPEAKER_10 17:57

Well, yeah, we got got our selfie together straight away, but yeah, it was filling up like you said, there was just under 900 um people there, 10 people to a table, so about 90 cables. So, yeah, it was um it wasn't that big, was it? So we sent well, Hayden was with us, um, and we um decided that we'd send Hayden off to go and find out where in excess was sitting. Do you remember?

SPEAKER_12 18:23

I forgot about that. He did go up. Bless him, God bless him, he did it.

SPEAKER_10 18:29

He did, he did as he's told, bless him. Thank you, Hayden. That's very kind of you. Yeah, yeah. So he came back and told us that you know, he just seen Mark Opitz and he was going to come over and say hi. And you know, they were at table 30 and they're they're over a couple of tables, and we're like, okay, okay, well, well, we know where they are now, they're in the middle, we'll we'll go over. But um, as as Jenny Morris says, um, that some of their fans, Inexists fans, are stalker-ish, and I had this in the back of my mind, and I haven't stopped thinking about it. But yeah, I'm more than a stalker. It's quite funny. It was funny. I've got a little bit of footage here that you sent me of the atmosphere. It only goes for about four seconds, but it might be worth just playing this. And that was um Josephine's husband, who is um Andrew Pharisee's daughter, Josephine. And uh they've just had a little baby, haven't they? And talking about, yeah, and talking about babies and children, I've got a picture of all the children together. So there you are. There is Josephine, and I do believe the little the young guy in the middle is John's son, I believe. Oh, really? Okay, and I don't know if that's John's son's daughter or his son's girlfriend, I'm not sure. Yeah, but then you've got April in the back, and then you've got Grace in the front. Yeah, that's a lovely photo, isn't it?

SPEAKER_12 20:06

It really is. Wow, yeah, man. Let's all come back.

SPEAKER_10 20:11

Yeah, just missing James, yeah, just missing James and Jake, who are Tim's children in there, yes. Uh and obviously Gary's children who were still in America because he'd flown over without them um doing some things, which was good. Hey, talking about them, did you see um Toby's post with um Ted Lasco? Do you know who Ted Lasco is? No, oh, it's probably one of the best shows on the TV. It's on Apple TV. They've they they're about to um come into season four in August, so you've got time to catch up on that. There's a plug for the Ted Lasco. Lasso, um, but yeah, um, Toby is on stage with Ted Lasso talk singing um a song together. It's just fun to move in. Yeah, he had some stories, didn't he?

SPEAKER_12 21:00

He certainly did. Oh, so it's great, it's definitely great to see him.

SPEAKER_10 21:05

Yeah, I did have a photo of him. I don't know what happened to it. Oh, sorry, Toby. Um, we'll have to find that another time. Sorry, mate. Um, so um, yeah, so that was the kids, and then the show started, really, didn't it? Yeah, and they've got all these screens everywhere, all around. It was a full-on production, wasn't it? There was lots of strobe lights and everything.

SPEAKER_12 21:31

We we we actually, I think we sat in a spot. We were right, we were right at the back, right. You can see where we are. We actually it's just absolutely amazing because we could see and feel the the vibration. Um, one of the really cool things. I'm not sure if if we got photos of people from our table, but it demonstrated the people that were on our table were songwriters, yeah, producers, one of the guys next to me. I forgot his name. I know I've got it somewhere, but he worked for University. Some music, doing you know, um theme songs for commercials, I think. You know, like we're having these great, great conversations, and we we told him a little bit about what we do, and he was just fascinated. Like wanted to know why. And like, oh, it's you know, we're you know, we're part of that industry where we're honoring a band that we love, you know, and it's we want in excess to still have a voice, it's still current. And there are there that knew of in excess, but there was also some generation gaps that are occurring, I think, now so it's good to keep that that um that spirit of in excess alive in that space.

SPEAKER_10 22:38

Yeah, uh the the the young girl I was sitting next to, and can you get this? And Jim, you laughed as well. We were wearing exactly the same dress, same colour, same material, except she had a longer version, I had the short version on, had the half-price version on. Was it half-price? I could tell you now. Um, but yeah, her name was Ellie Murphy. She is also a song singer songwriter, and yeah, get out and uh listen to her music too. Of course. I've got I've got a short clip of us two getting excited. You ready for this one?

SPEAKER_11 23:11

Well, B and Dr.

SPEAKER_12 23:13

Jim, you are here at the Aper Awards, okay. Uh, and coincidentally, we where do we bump into each other today when we arrive?

SPEAKER_04 23:22

I'm not red on the red carpet, where were you? I was red carpet.

SPEAKER_12 23:31

This school, man. I can't, I don't, I'm just I don't know. I'm thinking I'm lost for words.

SPEAKER_10 23:37

It's great to go back to it all, isn't it? It's really good fun. So, this this this episode, we're gonna try and keep it short. I know you want to listen to all the speeches, and so do we. We want to relive it again. But before all this, there were so many other people that came on. Paul Kelly came on, and he was uh was he singing in the rain or dancing in the rain or walking in the rain. And that was really clever, very clever. Um, and also, um, do you remember the that they did um just keep walking, didn't they?

SPEAKER_12 24:09

They did, they did uh I can't remember the name of Eka something, the artist I think you send that did you get that video?

SPEAKER_10 24:15

I sent yeah, yeah. I was gonna play that now. Should I play that now?

SPEAKER_12 24:19

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_10 24:20

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_12 24:44

So much fun.

SPEAKER_10 24:46

It was so much fun. I mean, the the sound didn't really do very good there, but it was absolutely fantastic. It was really, really good. Okay, right. So then it all got very quite serious, didn't it? And we are now ready for Jenny's speech. Like I said, this is um over eight minutes long, nearly nine minutes. So um we're gonna sit back and listen to Jenny. Um, and she gets quite choked up, doesn't she, towards the end speaking about it all. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_07 25:17

People ask me what made NXS different. The honest answer is everything. I've stood on the riser with these guys, I've watched them from the wings, from the front of the house, from the stage door, from every single angle. They were extraordinary. And I wish I could see them right now because I'd like to be looking into their tiny little faces. I hope you're sort of there. The band have always had a large following of fans, some of those fans with that kind of stalker serial killer vibe. Many a time on US tours at the stage door, there would be a bevy of girls crowded around and in the background their mothers who had driven them halfway across the US to be there at every show. Even the more discerning fans were just as intense. The power, intelligence, and visceral effect of the music couldn't be ignored. Heavy hitters wanted to make music by an excess or with an excess. Niall Rogers, Ray Charles, Chrissy Hind, Tom Jones, Bruce Springsteen, Dua Lipa, all touched by their music one way or another. There have been a lot of covers, but no one could play the songs like the band themselves. You only had to watch the Wembley Stadium footage to understand that just because you have a hit or 30, it's not a feta complete that audiences will be enraptured night after night. But that's exactly what NXS could do. Driven by their self-confidence, their bravado, their match fitness, and their brotherly connection, they could go out there anywhere knowing they had the front man, the expertise, and the songs to slay them in the aisles every time. The band was more than the sum of its parts. Every member is and was integral to the sound and the success of an excess. Managed by the indomitable Chris Murphy, who broke down walls and probably some doors, to get the world to acknowledge the brilliance of this pub band from Australia. They were all Chris included, uncompromising in their plan to be true to themselves, to work bloody hard for years and years, and to retain the self-belief to get to where they ended up at the top. They loved playing and creating together. You can very quickly get into a comfortable creative zone with and produce something the rest of the world loves too. Happenstance maybe, but valuable happenstance. By the time they released Kick, no one could ignore them. Four songs spawned U.S. top ten singles. The album hit number three. And Need You Tonight was a number one on the Billboard chart. It didn't just happen magically. Every single member was an integral ingredient. You could go deeper than any songsmith. Innovative, fearless, with an uncanny knack of tapping into the zeitgeist while engaging age-old principles of songwriting, the unforgettable melody, the unique sound, the arrangement that goes to unexpected places, all the signs of a master craftsman. The reason in Excess's songs will be around forever. Your sense of style has always been suave, but at various times also a little carny. Part vaudeville, part high street. That originality is in your music too. You made the sacks accessible again. Never tear us apart. One of the most emotive and iconic solos we'll ever hear. Audiences don't always hear the nuance at a live gig. So it was such a privilege to stand up on the riser with you night after night and hear every note, every funky run, the organic connection to John that made you sound like one person, the power source of an excess. John? I can't say anything that hasn't already been said, except perhaps that Armot Erdekin told me you were among the best drummers he'd ever heard. I don't know if you know that. I already knew that. But it was reinforced when I was told by Michael B., Prince's drummer, that you were pretty fly for a white guy. Not exactly in those words, but that's what he meant. As did the rest of the music industry. You're a sensation on every track at every gig, never short of astounding. And Tim, the patriarch of the group. So thank you for being born, for your grunty, powerful, and unique guitar playing, and for your contribution to establishing the brilliant band that in excess became. The Michael I knew was modest. As his friends will tell you, in his private time, he liked nothing better than just being part of the cohort, one of the bunch. In the music that makes it worthwhile. He didn't claim they were perfect or radical or misunderstood. He claimed they were worthwhile. A modest word from a modest man. I wish he was here tonight to see and feel how much he and his extraordinary band are loved and admired. And I know you're gonna show that in a minute. Australia is so proud of you legends and the legends that you all are. There is no one else like you, and there never will be.

SPEAKER_10 34:08

Whoa, it's quite powerful to listen to it again. I must admit, I think I've listened to it five times, and I still cry over it every time I can feel that lump coming up in her throat when she talks about first of all Andrew. And there's a lot of emotion there for Andrew and and pride of of his music and uh yeah, the loss of Michael not being there. There was a hole there, wasn't there, that Michael wasn't there and he should have been there.

SPEAKER_12 34:35

Look, I'll I've written some notes if I can share.

SPEAKER_10 34:38

Yeah, please do, and then we'll go on to the montage and liven it all back up again.

SPEAKER_12 34:43

Of course. So I think number one thing that Jenny showed a sincerity was so sincere. You know, it was like she pulled you aside at a party or or or as a mate and just told you how she felt in a in a in in an empowering way. Like when she said, I want to see your faces, like man, there's a lot of faces there on the night, but I want to see your faces. I think the whole idea about um you know the in excess had you know the songs, the inexcess had had the frontman, you know, they all had integral parts, they all played a role. You know, there's many times people go, Oh, you know, Michael Michael, but we know that in excess is our band.

SPEAKER_10 35:30

Yeah, yeah. It's such a I love that I love that part when she says, and how amazing that five or six individuals found one another that were going to work so hard and and be incredibly amazing at their talent.

SPEAKER_04 35:45

Little and one.

SPEAKER_10 35:47

Yeah, it's a little chemistry set, yeah.

SPEAKER_12 35:50

Little and one, it was actually five. And then um, you know, the way she kind of described each person was so powerful. And for me, the one the the biggest, you know, when I think about Andrew, I think of Andrew as the maestro, he's the maestro of in excess. It's a it's a word, and and I I think something that she didn't say on the night, but she'd said in the previous interview about Tim Farris, you know, the patriarch. I love that. He was the original Chris Murphy of the band, right? And then he had this kind of when you watched him in the early days, he would jump up and down on the spot, strut. He's strutting, you know, like this. Yeah, it's again very beautiful, and then um, you know, and we'll hear about it that the idea of it's got to be worthwhile, and we'll talk about what that means later when when the boys talk.

SPEAKER_10 36:34

Okay, so yes, it's so so Jenny just painted it and the scene so well with like how humble and gracious and uh unique and powerful, and just um like you can't you can't write it, can you? Because hot stars nowadays they are bravado and look at me, and I'm uh I I'll get what one hit and then you're gonna love me. These had these guys, you know, six albums before they really got noticed. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_12 37:03

I've actually yeah that's the apprenticeship period.

SPEAKER_10 37:07

Yeah, I I just just uh today, um, if anybody wants to have a look at it, I found some footage of Michael. I don't know if you got to see that, Jim, um, of him being um interviewed um when um Mr. Night Thieves had just come out and he was in England and it hadn't been received that well. And he was so gracious about how he um conducted himself, and it wasn't like, oh yeah, well, that they say this, I'll say that. It was like he just took it, you know, and he's like, Well, you know, we are here now, we're we're gonna try and conquer England, but he didn't say, Oh, yeah, well, we've conquered America, you know, Australia lovers. He he's just so humble, such a unique genius, absolute genius.

SPEAKER_12 37:53

And he has it, I mean, you've just made me think about other interviews that that Michael always would demonstrate uh an honesty. He would ooze the vulnerability from himself and just share. Like, again, I guess um different to how Jenny spoke about the band, but it was more like, oh yeah, we're here, and and just being really honest, a real pure honesty about him, which is what made him so not only likeable but lovable, you know.

SPEAKER_10 38:19

So that's right. I mean it was it was very, very cool. I'm just trying to see if there is anything we need to pop up before no, no, okay. So we'll go straight into the um into the montage that they put together. And now this is like little bits of footage and some songs together, and then there's someone talking over it. Now I think the this is me filming this. This isn't this isn't the best footage, but at least you'll feel like you're there. So I might be zooming in and out a bit, but bear with us.

SPEAKER_07 38:53

Australia is so proud of you, legends, and the legends that you all are. There was no one else like you, and there never will be. Let's take a closer look at the phenomenal career of NXS.

unknown 39:12

Woo!

SPEAKER_06 39:13

I reckon it works better because you've only got where you lost, and now it really can understand every word and even the low parts and all that really cut through. Yeah, he's pushed the work around. A nice other guitar is better. I answered.

SPEAKER_08 39:27

In 1987, when NXS delivered the tapes for their new album Kick to Atlantic Records, the label didn't want them. I'm impressed by the record, which included New Sensation, Devil Inside, make you tonight, Mystify, and never tear it apart. Atlantic offered the band a million dollars to scrap it and start again. That moment says a lot about the music industry, but the band said no, which told you everything about NXT. Kit went on to sell 10 million copies within two years, making number one in Australia, number three on the Billboard charts, number nine in the UK, and launched four singles into the American top ten. Innextets knew exactly what they were doing. They always had. At the heart of the band, Michael Hutchins and Andrew Farrett formed the primary songwriting partnership. A creative engine that would define the sound of NXT for decades. NXTs were, first and foremost, a live machine. Cutting their teeth, supporting cold jizzle and men at work, they rode through what was arguably the toughest, most vibrant live music thing in the world. That relentless grind forged them into one of the most electrifying live acts on the planet. The early recordings hinted at what was coming. Just keep walking, stay young, you'll mind. No. A Sonic Lip Ford, then and the swing, and the world began to take notice. Cracked it wide open with the lead single What You Need, propelling the band into the U.S. top five. Welcome to wherever you are. Full moon, dirty heart, elegantly wasted. NXT became the soundtrack of an era. They sold over 75 million albums. They won six Apro Awards, Countdown Awards, MTV Awards, Brit Awards, Billboard, and Roller's Done Acolades. They earned three Grammy nominations, six Aria Awards, and the World Music Award for Highest Selling Australian Artists. Beyond being one of the greatest bands to come out of Australia, NXTs are simply one of the greatest bands of all time. In the recent special edition of the Triple J Hottest 100 Australia song, Never Tear It's Apart took out the number one spot, making it Australia's favorite homegrown song. This is a classic rock and roll story. Humble beginnings, relentless hustle, global triumph, unimaginable success, tragedy, and enduring legacy. Tonight, we are deeply honored to present NXS with the Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian music.

SPEAKER_17 43:22

Huge congrats for receiving the Ted Albert Award for outstanding services to Australian music. So well deserved and overdue.

SPEAKER_13 43:30

Have a great night. Lots of love. You guys, you you absolutely took it to the world. You rock it. Some of the best live shows that I've ever seen was with you guys. Um congratulations, guys. My only regret about you getting this award is that Michael's not there with you to receive it. So my love goes to all of you, and especially up to you, Michael.

SPEAKER_05 43:49

The rhythm, the groove, the melodies, the charisma, the saxophone, the voice. They just they got it all.

SPEAKER_17 43:58

When I first met them, I was just a teenager and I was in love with each and every one of them. They sort of bought music into my body on a cellular level. Just kind of kept it like losing away and make me out and and kissing and growing up and doing all these things. So I don't know, I feel like that they were the true soundtrack to my um to my my feelings as a teenager.

SPEAKER_14 44:33

And it's definitely Inextest's music always sounded like it was coming from the future, but when you stripped it all back, it was just incredible songwriting with a front man who effortlessly put Australia up on the world stage. We would like to say thank you, Inexest, for walking so the rest of us can run.

SPEAKER_03 44:51

Those songs are the songs that you wish you were a part of or were in the room when they were being put together. I mean, there's so much magic in the records, and the versatility of the hits are insane. You've got these emotional ballads with lyrics that freak your heart out, and then you've got party songs that you just want to rock out with.

SPEAKER_15 45:11

No NXS tribute would be complete without mentioning NXS's longtime manager, Chris Murphy. Chris was a force of nature, as everybody knows. A really wonderful protector of the band and the brand. And we know he is smoking down on all of you guys today. And super crowded and laughing at us all at the same time.

SPEAKER_09 45:38

And the more I listen to them, the more I love them. And the feel of it, the tonic, the identity of it always just looking. I think if every bag today takes character out, maybe too star. Thank you.

SPEAKER_10 46:46

Was you falling asleep then? Jim and Arnight ran to the front, didn't we? We were just full of all the emotions. Wow. Absolutely such strong, powerful words from all their um peers there. And just we were in tears, weren't we? We're like, we've got to go to the front now, we're off. We went.

SPEAKER_12 47:08

There was there was, I mean, some key things there, like Inex was a live machine. A live machine. That's incredible. Obviously, you know, they had their their the fact that the million-dollar deal to get rid of kick because they didn't, you know, please the and this is the thing about um people know Atlantic Records has a big connection to the rock and roll hall of fame because you have Armut Ertigan, who I think was the head of Atlantic Records, was the head of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So there's a famous picture there with Michael Hutchins and uh and Armut Erdtigan. Um, you know, that's floating around put on the inducting excess page. And then you've got um the fact that Armut Erdtigan talked about John Farris being, you know, one of the top guitar uh drummers that he knew. So and in excess is obviously the soundtrack to so many lives, as you heard from Soprano and Barnes and all those guys.

SPEAKER_10 48:03

I loved what Kate said about making out and kissing, and you know, becoming like you're becoming a becoming a woman and becoming a man, yeah, and that other lady, you know, breaks your heart one minute and then you're partying and rocking out the next. And Jimmy mentioning Michael, yeah, with a lot of these people, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 48:25

Yeah, it is okay.

SPEAKER_10 48:29

Woo! So, yeah, so Jim and I did run to the front. Um, not very cool, uh, really.

SPEAKER_12 48:36

Uh in a I must admit, I must admit I did push B a few times on the night. I said, let's go do this. I I did ask her graciously to introduce me to Jim. Thank you. Before they got a chance to speak. And then I said, B, we're going to the front. Like, we're going to the front. And so, you know, it's it's loving encouragement. We're going to the front. And we did.

SPEAKER_10 48:59

Yeah, yeah. So I think we should we should talk about that. So, so um, yeah, uh before that, yes, we we wouldn't have met the band. I forgot we went and met the band before the speeches, didn't we?

SPEAKER_12 49:10

So we did along with Haydn, I think.

SPEAKER_10 49:13

Haydn took me up first to see everyone, and um, I'm looking around thinking, you know, like feeling a bit aware of myself that I really shouldn't be here because I'm a fan and not in the industry. And then all of a sudden I hear John Farry such out, be, and I was like, Oh, I feel I feel welcomed. And I'm I'm giving him a hug, full kiss on the mouth. Thank you very much. Wait, we'll dream about that later. And as I'm hugging him, I get another bee, and there's Kirk, gorgeous, gorgeous Kirk. So that was lovely, and got a big warm hug from him. And and April was there as well with Adam. Um, and then I spotted Tim with uh Richard Wilkins. I thought, all right, I'm gonna go for the sandwich. So I got I prized myself into the middle and and introduced myself first time to Richard and said hi to Tim. And it was just one of these whirlwinds, wasn't it? We got to meet Gary and Toby, and it was just absolutely wonderful. And then you asked me to take you over to meet Tim, didn't you? This was your first time in meeting Tim.

SPEAKER_12 50:17

During the same time, I was having a great conversation with um this guy next to me, um, with his wife, who who were songwriters, and the guy that was working for Universal Music doing is it commercial soundtrack, something like that, right? And then I said, B, you're you're it wasn't like please, no B, you're taking me up and I want to meet.

SPEAKER_01 50:40

And I'm like, I can't go again.

SPEAKER_12 50:42

No, no, we're going again, and uh talked about we're going again because I really want to meet Tim. And I'm obviously I I had met him once through um B introducing me when I wanted to ask him, when I actually asked him to speak at I'm just a man, and that obviously couldn't at the time, but I'm like, no, I want to meet, I really want to meet Tim. I w I wanted to meet Tim. And so you very gracefully gracefully took me up. I introduced him with all the inducting excess. He was very thankful. Um, and we did meet some of the other guys, but that would be after. Um, but that was um, yeah, that was really cool, you know, very short, it doesn't have to be long, but but but um and it was amazing, and then I thought, well, these guys are now being announced to go up the front, and I seem to be going. You're like, we're going to the front, and that's what we did. Now, there is footage of us at the front, but it wasn't as good as sounding. We were gonna put that up, I think. However, APRA released their ones, and I thought, well, these will be better better heard for the listeners.

SPEAKER_10 51:41

But as is quite funny because you can hear with both like and laugh.

SPEAKER_12 51:47

I love too loud.

SPEAKER_10 51:48

There's a photo that I'll share with you. In fact, I'll share this photo now with you because it's quite hilarious of Kirk clocking us, yeah. Um, there you go. Here it is. Oh, let me see if I can put us down here.

SPEAKER_04 52:07

He's looking doing it.

SPEAKER_10 52:13

So fun. So fun. I've also got a funny little story that um we should uh mention as well. So I got speaking to Andrew, and I always get a bit nervous speaking to Andrew because he's quite a deep person, and you never know, like you want to you want to say the right things, obviously. You always say, I mate, I love your music and blah blah blah and whatever. And and um I always think I'll try and say something different. And he looks at me as if I'm bloody crazy every time, and then he gave me the crazy look as if to say, Okay, shut up now. My dinner's here. I was like, Okay, well, no, I said, Where's your beautiful wife? And he goes, Standing next to you, you know. So he was like, Can't you speak? I was like, Oh my god, I'm really missing up, and then she was gorgeous, but she got pulled away, and then I went round and I met um Karen from the PR company, and and then my lina came running over and she goes, I'm so sorry. And she's absolutely dropped in gorgeous, she's such a gorgeous person. She said, I'm really sorry that I didn't speak to you much. And you just get kept being pulled from one person to another, it was actually really nice, anyway. Um, yesterday I had a nice chat with Mileena, and I said, and she's she thanked us for everything we we do for the band, which is really lovely to hear. It's really nice to hear it right from them because she said, We, as in her and Andrew, so that was really nice. And I said, please tell Andrew that I'm really sorry that I'm always um, you know, I don't know what to say. And um, he looked at me that I was crazy. I says, and I know I am a little bit, but he looked, and she says, Don't you worry.

SPEAKER_01 53:50

He looks at me and everybody else like we're crazy most of the time. I was like, Oh, that's good.

SPEAKER_12 54:00

That was gold. That's gold.

SPEAKER_10 54:03

Yeah, it was quite funny. All right, so um, first up was Andrew talking about Andrew. So we'll go straight into his speech.

SPEAKER_12 54:11

Tim isn't Tim Tim.

SPEAKER_10 54:12

Oh no, it was Tim first, wasn't it? Yeah, very short. Um powerful, very powerful, powerful, emotion, a lot of emotion with him. Oh my god, the vision. Oh yeah, he's lost a lot of weight in looking a lot bitter, but he's he looked a bit fragile and emotional. Um, but um, he did say that he had bad back. So we wish you well, Tim, and we hope we're okay and and getting better soon. All right, here we go.

SPEAKER_16 54:42

That's overwhelming. Thank you. Um thank you, Apera. Thank you, Jenny, for those amazing words. Uh, I remember those times really, really well. Um, I'd like to thank my wife, Buffy, and my two boys, James and Jake. I'm sorry, I missed so much of your life growing up, but I was away with these guys, my brothers here behind me, and of course, Michael missing him very much at this time. Um, I'd like to thank my brothers, John, Andrew, Kirk, Michael, and Gary for believing in me, and uh the fact that I could see what we could become, I just had to convince them that they could do it. And thank thank you guys for that. Thank you.

SPEAKER_10 55:35

Oh, so it was perfect, wasn't it? Perfect little yeah. He didn't get the memo about wearing the black suit, but we won't hold that again at still.

SPEAKER_12 55:44

Well, he kind of matched the background of of of it.

SPEAKER_10 55:46

Oh yeah, and me.

SPEAKER_12 55:51

Um I love the way he talked about family. Obviously, he mentioned his wife, um Buffy, Jake, and Jacob, but there was, you know, it was it was the sincere again, sincerity of the sacrifice for the band, you know, and and and and we hear later on from Andrew about that, but you know, just the you know, I we had a vision with my brothers, and the brothers aren't just the uh the um the blood brothers, the other brothers, Kirk, um and Gary and Michael, like we we we have to go and do this, and you know, it was a long time, and obviously missing Michael and you know, um believing in him, it believed in him.

SPEAKER_10 56:30

There's no words. Well, it started with Tim, you know. Well, it started with their parents, really. It started with Tim and Kurt meeting at school, you know, and forming Guinness. And we've had Mel Walker on before now, um, the drummer, and you know, there was such a lot of talent on the northern beaches, um, if young kids wanting to be in bands back then, um just just so lucky um that they all confusion between Guinness and Dr.

SPEAKER_12 56:58

Dr. Dr. Dolphin. Dr.

SPEAKER_10 57:00

Dolphin, yeah, becoming ready to hear Andrew. Now, Andrew does go for just over four and a half minutes, so let's go, Andrew.

SPEAKER_16 57:12

I'm a little overwhelmed. Uh, you know, I uh you know, Tim, my older brother here, he said uh I said to him early in our career, you know, we're gonna have to get a real job one day, you know. This is fun, play music, have a few peers, have a few laughs, and we get away with it. So we're gonna, you know. And then we went and did all that. Incredible. Um you know what? You were right, brother. You were, mate. Um we would like to acknowledge our heartfelt appreciation to APRA for your support of our band in XS, for your support of our songwriting, and in Excess's music over many years. We are delighted and honored to receive the Ted Albert Award for 2026, which also marks a hundred years of APRA's service, belief, and support of Australia's music industry, both at home and internationally, and that part of it's very important. And there's people in this room who've talked about it tonight. The international part of it was a long road coming. You know, uh Bon Scott. Yeah, you did, and Gary and Iowa asked to say a few words about Bon uh to his Western Australian family and um but he summed it all up, you know, he he nailed it. It's a long way to the top, you know. And uh we would like to thank Sam Evans for your huge support, incredible hard work and friendship. We would like to thank our mentor and manager, late manager, the late Chris Murphy, for your early belief in us guys as an excess, for your dedication and unwavering support over decades of hard work. Thank you to Bill Liebewitz and Ben Pettett, to Evan Lamberg, Andrew Jenkins, and all at Universal Publishing, and also Polygram, Mercury, Atlantic Records, and Rhino Records. We'd also like to thank Phil Morlock, Chris Thomas, Mark Operitz, Nile Rogers, Michelle Bennett, and Richard Lowenstein. We'd like to thank the hundreds of professional, radio station, identities people, DJs, print media, television, the various live agents and promoters, and incredible road crews that have supported XS and the music over the decades. We'd especially like to thank our wives, our children, our families who had to endure sometimes some insufferable separation from us all while we carved out this identity for ourselves. And for that, for that, you can't never buy it, you can't never go backwards and undo those times that you miss certain birthdays or events with people, and you you're the people who love you, and you and you you go and you do these things, and sure, these amazing awards and things that you get, they're valuable, but your award is only as important as a life you have to hang on it. And your life and your health and what you do every day is really your success in the end. Um if I talk much more, I'm gonna hear my own song called Just Keep Walking. Yeah, we are okay. But um, there are so many more people have contributed to our success as a band, but I'd be here all night. So thank you to everyone and anyone that's have had anything to do with us. But I would especially like to thank Michael Hutchins for his dynamic stage performance, his incredible voice talent, and for writing over 300 songs with me as strongwriting partners since we were kids. Thank you for being our mate, Michael, and for simply being able to do the impossible with us as in excess. We all miss your brother.

SPEAKER_12 1:01:48

Yeah, I know, like I've got some low stuff here.

SPEAKER_10 1:01:52

Well, when he mentioned Bond, you know, like about you know, uh and Kurt helped him out there and said you nailed it, bro. You nailed it. It's a long way to the top, but it was a mixed emotion with missing Bonn as well, you know, another front man that was, you know, just as cool as Michael lost his life so early. Was you going to mention that too?

SPEAKER_12 1:02:13

Yeah, that long way to the top. You know, it's it's that there was a line that Jenny Morris said, you know, that that and it's that Australian kind of expression, they work bloody hard. You know, they so hard to get there. I mean, they did well, I mean, Linux S had done thousands of concerts before they hit Wembley. So they're like, you know, these guys work bloody hard. I mean, obviously, beautiful way of um honoring, you know, their management. Sam, I think who now manages them. I wanted we always try and look for it, obviously, on the night to say hello. Um, he mentioned the insufferable things that the family experienced when they were carving their identity, you know, what made an excess and excess. Um, and you know, that life is a I think says something about it's not about the success, it's really, you know, success is your health. It's your the you know what how you see your life, how you hang on it. And you know, and he honoured Michael, you know, they did the impossible together as a band from Australia, carving their success uh across the world. You know, it was just so many, so many beautiful things, you know.

SPEAKER_10 1:03:20

Yes, so so well written uh as well um from Andrew. Um I love that he acknowledged um and thanked Richard Lundstein and Michelle Bennett. Yes, um Philip Mortlock was in there. Yes, um, what a gentleman he is. Um, and I'm sure there were many more that he was um thinking about as well. I don't think you mentioned Mark Opitz, even though Mark Opitz was there. Maybe he might be coming to somebody else's speech later. But yeah, just to say um we miss you, Michael. Um yeah, that that hung up.

SPEAKER_12 1:03:54

And you and there were some bits you could hear us laughing. So that's uh and that's it on our video, it was all well. So it was a bit where he said he he became so aware that they had said something at the start of the night about trying to keep talks to less than two minutes, and when he said, I'm about to be told to just keep walking, so it was uh yeah, that was a little bit of fun, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_10 1:04:16

We laughed then, yeah. Right, okay. You ready for Gary?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:21

Yeah, that's all so uh we are a family, and we always kind of have been since high school. So to me, I want to thank five young men who, fresh out of high school, decided to uh quit our jobs, leave our family and friends and pissed off girlfriends and drive across the Nullabor to Perth so we could keep our youngest member, John, who was still in high school, when they moved back to when the Farris family moved back to Perth. So that set the bar for what we wanted to do, which was to be together and make music. And then moving back to Sydney, met Chris Murphy. Um, and Chris sat us down and made us like look each other in the eye and say out loud what we've been feeling for a while, which was that we would devote ourselves, the inner part of ourselves to our music, to each other, and the belief that we could be better. And um, to his credit and our credit, we did. And I my thanks is to my four brothers here on stage, to Michael and to Chris Murphy, who sadly aren't here, but who should be on stage. And I want to thank them for having my back and showing love, respect um to me and in my career and my life, and I'm eternally grateful for their friendship and love and them, and I love you guys.

SPEAKER_12 1:05:46

Again, it's still emotions, you know. Can you not feel all that, you know, family and you know they they went back, they cut their teeth going to Perth. That's how they became the band.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:56

That's right.

SPEAKER_12 1:05:57

And went back to Perth, I went to Perth and then they The young blokes, young fellows.

SPEAKER_10 1:06:03

Well, John's going to speak next, and he talks about him being 15 at the time when they're going to go to me there. And um, it's quite funny how he starts um um his thing. So let's just go straight into John and you can report later.

SPEAKER_16 1:06:19

I'd like to thank Jesus. I'm in. Um I can't really say anything more than's been said already, except that I was 15 when I was in this band, and I was in high school, and my son is 15 sitting at a table over there. So don't get any big ideas, okay. But um but if it wasn't for the just the divine sort of sequence that went on back in the 70s that we all got together, I wasn't the first band I ever played in with Kirk and Tim. And I believe it was your first band as well. So it's been a long time, you know, it's been almost a hundred years. Um, but but we'd like to thank APRA. Uh of course, um you know, you you gotta have someone to cover you, you gotta have someone to watch your back. So exceptionally important. And I couldn't think of a better chairperson than Jenny Morris. Thank you so much for your beautiful, beautiful introduction. Thank you. Jenny is Jenny Sequois with us. Um and yeah, I just want to take our families, uh, for the endurance of our absence for so many years. Uh it's it's hard to really put emphasis on it except to say that I just watched my brothers miss their children the whole time. That was tough. But the music and the experiences and the people out there have made up for all that you know absence of getting away from home. So it's great to be back uh on stage with my brothers. Uh I want to thank Chris Murphy and of course Michael. And I want to thank Andrew and Michael as uh the most amazing you know partnership of songwriting. They'll let me slip a few songs in there too, which is nice. Um, but thank you so much, everybody. Love ya. Thank you.

SPEAKER_10 1:08:19

I like that. Yeah, it was very cool, very cool. Um, I like that that he uh acknowledged Andrew and Michael as the songwriters to Gail and uh and let him slip in a few songs.

SPEAKER_12 1:08:32

Very cool, very cheeky. Um he's also very uh I mean, like Andrew, I think they both got that deep thinking as well. He's he said something about you know the divine sequence, which obviously you know everything f falls into place that led from one thing to the other. I mean, he mentioned a similar thing to Tim about you know the sacrifice and even and um even Andrew, you know, the you know the sacrifices, the the endurance, you know, the tough endurance on the families, and you know, the fact that you know Tim, it looks like Tim and Michael missed their kids while on tour. So I mean that can't be easy, but look that happens.

SPEAKER_10 1:09:11

You mean Tim and Kirk, not Michael, Michael didn't have kids?

SPEAKER_12 1:09:15

Tim and Andy, sorry, and Kirk as well, you know. Yeah, and must be hard on the road, and and you've got children and buffer across the world, so but yeah, um, very, very cheeky, and um, you know, mentioning his son there, you know, don't get any ideas, but you know, else yeah, very good.

SPEAKER_10 1:09:33

It's just such a humble bunch then, humble bunch now, still, you know, there's no big big bravado, there's no big-headedness, there's no look what we did, yeah. We we deserve this, and no fist pump here. It's just pure love, pure in excess. And this is why we love them, isn't it?

SPEAKER_12 1:09:54

It's that be that's that kind of Australiana, that humbleness that you know that we you know, not too big for your boots, you know. I'm sure we all celebrate, and you know, we have our you know, we had a some beautiful um champagne when we were at you know, uh opening the night and on our table, but we remain humble and and we kept saying, What a gift. Remember we said that, B, what a gift to be here. This is a gift, man. Honor. Thank you, honor. Keep remembering the honor part, you know, what a gift to be here. And I think if the guys demonstrated that as well, so yeah.

SPEAKER_10 1:10:29

Well, while we were on the one side getting the eye from Kirk going, what the heck are you doing? On the other side of the stage, which is where the boys were coming down, or the men were coming off the stage, Hayden was there shaking and fist pumping everybody as they're coming off, and we've got footage. So thank you, Hayden, for taking this. And we'd like to play this bit for you now, which is pretty cool. Um bless him, Wellton. I'm so glad Hayden got there as well. Skin of his teeth, he got there, bless him. Yes, um, he was a little rucksack. I think he did an all-nighter, he didn't get a hotel, so we hope you got home okay, Hayden. Um, and then we yeah, I mean, food was amazing. We had a nice roast dinner and cheese and crackers and Kirk's video?

SPEAKER_12 1:11:35

Kirk's video?

SPEAKER_10 1:11:37

Kirk's video?

SPEAKER_12 1:11:38

We haven't seen Kirk's speech yet.

SPEAKER_10 1:11:40

Oh, have we not?

SPEAKER_12 1:11:42

Right. I was trying to get you to jump before you. Okay.

SPEAKER_10 1:11:49

All right, let's go back before that you're at Dan's there's Kirk.

SPEAKER_16 1:11:55

Okay, the headline act. No, I'm done. Um I firstly, a hundred years APRA, awesome. Um, my dad would have been a hundred this year, and growing up, he used to say to me, keep it as a hobby. You'll never make it. Get a real job. I've had this job with these guys for 50 years next year. 50 years. Same guys, same job, never got a promotion, same partners. How many of you out there have had the same job for 50 years with the same freaking people? We we all grew up together. Um, you know, Tim and I were the first to meet, as I think Jenny mentioned, or the the the thing mentioned. Um John was our first drummer. We kicked him out because he was too young. And you know, we just we just were really in love with our music, and and we we we made music that we wanted to listen to. It was very honest, it was very raw, um, very just I don't know, we're we're just normal little Australian guys, you know. And I think the honesty in the music and the amazing songwriting of of predominantly Andrew and Michael, I mean, we all contributed. You know, one of the really interesting things that maybe people don't know, seeing we're here, APRA, lots of songwriters. One of the things Chris Murphy did when we first, you know, signed up with him as manager is he said, with the songwriting, you should make half of it go to the whole band and half of it to the writers. And that's what we've done to this day. And you know, thank thank you. Where's Andrew? Thank you to Andrew and and obviously Michael when he was alive. That we we shared that publishing stuff, and so there was never bickering about songwriting within the band, and that's what kills a lot of bands. It's like, well, I want my song on the record, and we didn't have that because you know, we trusted in especially Andrew and Michael's songwriting. I mean, hello. Um, and it was just, I don't know. I I could go on forever. We had so much fun, we always made ourselves laugh, and it was such a an incredible journey. Jenny was on it for about six months. Um more than that account, Gary, fact guy. Um Jenny toured with us through uh America and and uh and Europe. And in fact, we did three months opening for Queen through Europe with with Jenny, and uh, and I'll never forget, we did we did Wembley Stadium, uh, two nights at Wembley Stadium opening for Queen. We had loaves of bread thrown at us and all sorts of weird shit. And backstage we said, we're gonna headline this one day. We always believed, you know, and that's a really important thing. We always had this amazing confidence in who we were and who we are and what we were gonna do, and all that mattered was doing everything that we were asked to do to make it. And backstage, we mean one day we're gonna headline, you know, Wemby Stadium, and five years later we did. But so many things that we planned for and we believed in happened, and you know, we made amazing choices, I think. And I think that's you know, your whole life revolves around the choices you make and and the people you surround yourself with. Uh the the greatest people you can get, you can afford, always bring them in. And we had so many amazing people um work for us over the years, and yeah, you know, just and I'm so grateful, so grateful for this award because um what a great show tonight, I have to say. We've been to not for a long time, but been to a lot of award shows and fantastic. Tonight was just amazing. Um, and to to get this particular award is a real um uh yeah, it's it's more than a feather on the cap, Tim. You know, it's it's kind of it's kind of like this is the acknowledgement we always wanted. Michael, you know, on a number of occasions, um, used to say, All I want is that we matter. You know, that one day people will go, well, yeah, they they they did something, they contributed, they mattered. This award says that. So thank you. Thank you, Apr, and thank you, everyone.

SPEAKER_10 1:16:48

Well, first of all, I apologize to Kirk if you're watching this and I missed you out there, but um apart from what he spoke about, how bloody amazing does that man look? He looks so fantastic out of all of them. He's like so well put together, his skin was glowing, he was he's so like lane. You've done an amazing job, woman.

SPEAKER_12 1:17:14

Just to mention Jenny Morris is a cool cat. He's a cool cat, man. Look at him, he's cool. He was a headline act. He said, I'm the headline act.

SPEAKER_10 1:17:22

Well, you definitely are. I'm sorry that I missed you off, but there again, we just uh we just stall to put you on.

SPEAKER_12 1:17:30

Sorry, darling, yeah.

SPEAKER_10 1:17:31

You go so no, you say you you pulled a few things from that. What would you what did you get?

SPEAKER_12 1:17:35

I think he said something like they both said it, him and Andrew said, like, get a real job, his father said. And Andrew goes, Oh, this is cool, man. Like, you know, having beers and going out, but we need to, you know, we probably need to get ready, get, get serious, and get a real job. Uh, and here they are, 50 years on, same business partners. No one in excess ever left. I mean, the sadness of Michael leaving planet earth, but no one left the band. Um, I think you know, the the the story of sharing Jenny and and and going to England and talking about Queen, what an experience. You know, they were they had loaves of beef thrown at them. And um, you know, I think you know, honoring you know, Michael and and we all say it, it matters that it's it's and that's kind of why we do what we do, I think. Um, because in Excess matters in our lives, and we want their legacy to continue, you know, because it's something that Jenny said was that there'll never be another band like Inxcess. It's so unique to find six moving parts, like an orchestra, all unique in their own way. Made all sorts of comparisons to different types of music and genres, but you know, I think you know that that's why we do it. And for those people out there, if I so I mean a little little gripe, you know, if you said, Oh, in XS will never get this, that, or ever get nominated, or you know what? We achieved it as a community because we believed in them and believe in them, and they matter, right?

SPEAKER_10 1:19:03

Hold on to that word believe, right? So you heard me talk earlier about Toby was on stage with um a guy who the character is called Ted Lasko, and in Ted Lasco, it's it's um it's a show about football, right? Which turns a few people off, but go and watch it, and one of the main things is on the wall for the whole of the um team, they look at this just uh uh an ink drawing of the words I believe or believe, and that is there, it got torn down, they pieced it back together, they put it back up, and it was that belief, it's all about believing. And then here we are today talking about Kirk saying that's what they had. They had this belief that they were going to come back to Wembley and they believed they were gonna go back to the top and they would headline it. So that was a full circle when they were saying that, and then you just brought it back in again. I was like, belief, you gotta believe in yourself. I believed that I could make this podcast work, and here we are six weeks six years later, still talking about the band. Yeah, you gotta believe in what you do. Wow, it's pretty incredible, isn't it?

SPEAKER_12 1:20:28

And that was why when we started the inducting excess, it was like I didn't start hopeful about them getting in. I already saw it, I could see it clear in my mind's eye that they had every trait to be inducted because of all the different bands that have been in. It's like, well, they belong. And it wasn't, and as much as people would say, Oh, blah, blah, blah, no names, but you know, they'll go, Oh, not gonna get in, and there's just some people in there that uh within the NXS space, it's like, no man, I don't believe, I don't actually agree with you. I believe they deserve to be in there for the following multiple reasons, and people are seeing it now. We saw Jenny speak about, and the world has become aware in in the most beautiful way, you know.

SPEAKER_10 1:21:10

And here they all are with their awards.

SPEAKER_12 1:21:12

Oh amazing.

SPEAKER_10 1:21:14

Um I was very lucky enough to go over to see um to see them all, and April Rose was holding Kirk's um award, and she said, Do you want to hold it? I was like, Yeah, it was pretty heavy actually.

SPEAKER_12 1:21:31

So I after the award.

SPEAKER_10 1:21:33

This is after the awards after the awards, yeah, and I got some photos of me and Kirk with with the award. Here's Andrew with these awards, very special, taken by Josephine, gorgeous, really gorgeous. And um, oh here I am getting my getting my picture in with Kirk, the Kirkster, the photo that was um taken with Jenny Morris. I was like, I've seen this photo before, I'd seen them do this pose before, and they found it, and there she is. Yeah, so this was on the listen like thieves tour when she was touring with them, and there they are holding up her legs, and she's holding on being held up by Tim's back there. So that's quite cute. Just again, sorry that Michael wasn't there, hey. Yeah, and here he is probably one of his last photos. He was wearing glasses when he was at the airport, I believe. Okay, so let's go back to one or two more videos. This one we took, um oh no, this one we took. We was not expecting this guy. So the party, the party had all calmed down. There was a few more people come on something. Yeah, and then all of a sudden, we got two minutes of this. Oh my god, that was just oh the best, absolute best. It was so much fun. Oh my goodness. I think I don't know who had more fun, me or Peter, Garrett.

SPEAKER_12 1:25:20

Look, we didn't expect to see him up there performing. Even the end of that sounded very um simple Simon life. Like do do do there was a keyboard sound at the end of that. Um uh yeah, that that was really cool. Um, did we talk about talking to the band after the show?

SPEAKER_10 1:25:42

Well, we have just got this one last little bit that we um we did as well. Um, let me just see.

SPEAKER_12 1:25:49

This is just just the must outside, yeah.

SPEAKER_10 1:25:53

Pissed, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_12 1:25:55

Before we do that one, let's do let's I'll talk about when I went up to Andrew myself because I had my oh yes, go for it, yeah. So so so here we are after the show, and um it was firstly I wanted to um meet John Ferris because I'd now met I'd met Tim, and I think I was bothering being in you're gonna introduce the rest of these people, right? Um, I was I was doing that with lots of love, of course. Uh, but I did see she was talking, she was busy talking to me. Kirk, and I'd seen John, and I'm like, I'm going up to John, which I did, and I thanked him for a few different things that he set up on stage, but wanted to introduce him the whole about the whole inducting excess, which was very cool. And then there was seeing Andrew, right? And Andrew was um with my lane a little bit further up, and it looks like he was trying to get away, right? Because I think we'd asked Kirk if they were gonna stick around for the after party, yeah. And they said they weren't. So I was like, that was the whole reason why there was a rush. So I could see Andrew there a little bit further up, and I'm like, I'm gonna approach him and just thank him. And as I go up to him, he calls me by my name, which I got really excited. You know, he knows my name, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:27:07

So I go up to Andrew, and he's got that looking into our face.

SPEAKER_12 1:27:13

So I just went up to him, he was giving me his hand, I gave him a hug, I gave him a big cheek, kiss on the cheek, as well as not just because Michael did it, but because of Greeks, we we kiss people, and then I went up to his beautiful wife and did the same. And then I went, put my hands up and said, I'm out of here now. I'm not okay, I'm not gonna bother you. And then there was just this last bit with Kirk. Oh my god, how cool is Kirk, man? The critic was just freaking cool. Um, yeah, there were some things said there, but I won't say, I won't share that.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:48

Um we won't get Kirk into trouble, but we pretended we well, we had we don't know what he said.

SPEAKER_12 1:27:53

Didn't hear me anything, but it was just very cool. Um it was just a Wonderful end to the night. And we hung around. We hung around then and met some incredible um people. Um, really other artists. We got a chance to chat to chat to. I think I I chewed poor Toby's ear off. I was asking a million questions about LA and and that way of life.

SPEAKER_10 1:28:19

Because obviously what's showed us some photos of us with Toby. I think we spent quite a lot of time with Toby. Weren't we found out quite a lot what they him and Gary are going up to getting on top too? But when we're not allowed to say much of that, that as well. But there is that little bit of footage before we went out, and we just um this was as how we were feeling. Did you find this?

SPEAKER_11 1:28:39

Did you find the talking within excess emotional? We see I was crying, we're crying.

SPEAKER_12 1:29:09

But you know what? But what people don't know, there were there was you saw the footage of the guys uh doing um uh the speeches front on that with the APRA pit from APRA and we cut them up, but we were actually on the side of the stage, and I remember I had strongly encouraged B, let's go all the way to the front, which we did. And she didn't realize like we were sitting there really connected together, watching these guys, we were very close, right? And my on the left side of my cheek, I was crying, like it was because it was that moment of is this real, man? It's like yes, we've been so much talking about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the USA, which is beautiful, right? But this was in Australia, this was in Sydney, it was like it was this there was this hidden gift that we got a chance to experience, and so close to the nomination in time, right?

SPEAKER_10 1:30:05

Like there'll be more than 900 people in the room when uh they get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So this was uh very yeah, this was just so intimate, as opposed to it.

SPEAKER_12 1:30:18

Yeah, it was, yeah, and and and here we are at right at the front, and um we're like we just just go and go.

SPEAKER_10 1:30:26

We felt like little kids, really, didn't we? In big school. We were little kids in big school, everyone was big, big and they all knew what they were doing, and uh we were just like pranks laughing.

SPEAKER_12 1:30:40

And again, we were we were still respectful, we were like, we're just going there. Yes, we were let's just go there, B, and and we just and we set up.

SPEAKER_10 1:30:50

I'm thankful for everything that we did because it was just a fantastic evening from start to finish, and uh I couldn't have done it with a better person. So thank you so much, Jim.

SPEAKER_12 1:31:00

Thank you too. It was amazing. We just had it was just a great night, and again, just like Inex has had the years of success, you know. They by the time they did Kick, they had on their sixth album. It's like, hang on, we've been doing all this stuff now for six years. So we've had been to so many of your of your events, right? We're promoting each other, and it was like it was just this beautiful gift in the lead up to uh in XS's 50th next year, and hopeful and trustworthy for an Induct Inex 2027.

SPEAKER_10 1:31:31

So yeah, I was thinking about this earlier. Um, in fact, people, I will let you know, or friends, you're most of our you are friends now. Um Jim and I have taken about two days to get all this together, and just as I was about to hit record, I had an outage and we had a power cut. So I had plenty of time to think about it. But um for the last six years, um, or five years, I should say, um, we've had a party for um the in excess access all areas. We've always got together, we've celebrated. Well, this year we had this instead, which is awesome because it's actually going to be the 8th of May, which will be sixth year six years. So it looks like we need to party every year for the rest of our lives in an excess way. In an excess way. Um, next year in August, we will have the 50th anniversary. I'm already thinking we need to do red carpets, Jim. What do you reckon?

SPEAKER_12 1:32:34

Oh my god, why not?

SPEAKER_10 1:32:36

We'll have a red carpet. Um, we definitely want to do a your cruise, your boat, your boat party, but on a smaller scale um around Sydney Harbour. So if there's anybody out there that fancies that, we will be getting that together. Um, we'll probably start in August of this year, getting people's names together so we can um get it all together. And I'll be thanking um Kylie and Linda who always helped me with those as well. Um, so yeah, the 50th anniversary. Let's hope that the boys will do something. We would like them to at least be in the same room again together, and so we can celebrate their lives even if they don't get up on stage.

SPEAKER_12 1:33:15

Yeah, there was a beautiful thing that John said. I think he said something like, it feels great to have us all on stage. And I'm like, Oh, let's hope that goes to another level. You know, and it doesn't have to be anything extravagant, you know, just maybe, you know, um Andrew brings out the guitar and just talk stories, you know. And Kurt can play the guitar and they just talk and share stories, do a little hum to a song, it doesn't have to be the whole song and go, remember when we did this song on Original Sin or Mystify, it'll never tear us apart. It would be really cool. That's that's what we I'm dreaming for, we're dreaming for, we want to see it happen.

SPEAKER_10 1:33:51

Hey, I want a whole festival, I want a whole couple of weeks of in access party. We'll have that, we'll have the documentary coming out, we'll have a whole heap of stuff in all different countries. Yeah, let's do it. Okay, if you like um what we've done today and you want to help me and continue, um, I do have a Patreon program. Um the link is in the comment, or not in the comments, the link is in the description, and also Dr. Jim, um, all the things that he does, the the petition and also the um i jam, um I'm just a man charity. If you want to know more about that, we'll have all of those links there for you. We won't go on, we won't prattle on, but um, it's been wonderful. We'll we'll go out with our sign. Is there anything that you want to say before we go?

SPEAKER_12 1:34:40

Thank you. Thanks everybody for supporting both of us over the last six years. And next stage, we're going on to the next thing now. So let's go for it. And thank you for letting us share. That was a it was a very special night. Very special night.

SPEAKER_10 1:35:04

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.