Since forming in 1980, Sydney-based rockers Hoodoo Gurus have been playing to audiences far and wide, and this week are gearing up to perform to an expected 12,000 people at the Mundi Mundi Bash on Thursday night.
The band played at the Birdsville Big Red Bash last month – and had previously played the event in 2018 also – and while there are similarities between that festival and the Mundi Mundi Bash, Hoodoo Gurus vocalist and guitarist Dave Faulkner says it’s got its own set of challenges and excitement.
“It’s a completely strange environment. I mean, I’ve been around many parts of Australia – I’ve been to Broken Hill many times myself – but playing a show there in the desert is something that’s very unusual,” he told the Truth.
“On top of that, the people that come to an event like this where there’s no facilities, it’s all pretty much built up on the spot with campers and people bringing their own supplies and firewood, that attracts a unique kind of person as well.
“Everyone that’s there has been really motivated to come and they’re ready to go and they know why they’re there and they’re just they’re just looking to share that moment with everyone else that’s there. It’s a really great feeling. It’s a one-of-a-kind show and there’s definitely nothing like it.
“We’re really excited about it. This is one of those unique events that we just love. We’re ready to go.”
“You can’t get more outdoors than out there.”
Known largely for their 1987 track What’s My Scene, this will be one of the most remote places the ARIA Hall of Fame inductees have played. Dave says, “there’s nothing like these two shows anywhere”, touching on the deeper connection and appreciation music in an remote outback setting that can form between artists and fans.
“I always feel that the audience intensifies the music and changes the music – it’s not just a one-way street as far as, we don’t just push music out and then people take it in. I think we get something back from them and it feeds us,” he said.
“For me personally, there’s a song of ours that is one of the more popular songs and it’s called A Thousand Miles Away. In an environment like this, with the stars – hopefully if we see the sky – is, to me, the way the song’s meant to be heard. I think it takes on an extra dimension. It’s all about distances and that emotion that people have, the connection with other people, and sometimes you’re far away from each other and looking for contact so it really works in that place, that environment. Outdoors, for me, that song comes into its own and you can’t get more outdoors than out there.”
Hoodoo Gurus take to the stage at the Mundi Mundi Bash on Thursday, August 17 at 5.40pm. The festival runs from Thursday, August 17 to Saturday, August 19 at Belmont Station.
