1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,440 Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners. 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:08,159 Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information. Disgraceland is 3 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:21,200 Speaker 1: a production of Double Elvis. The stories about Michael Hudgins 4 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:25,799 Speaker 1: are insane. His band in Excess cut their teeth on 5 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: the lawless Australian pub circuit, three shows a night, from 6 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:33,760 Speaker 1: sunset to sunrise, hundreds of shows a year. He was 7 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:36,920 Speaker 1: a rock stars rock star, and true to his band's name, 8 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:41,640 Speaker 1: he did everything in excess. He did cocaine on the 9 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:45,280 Speaker 1: tour bus and ecstasy on stage. He was arrested in 10 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: a Paris hotel completely naked as a drug fueled orgy 11 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:52,520 Speaker 1: raged around him. He was sucker punched by a taxi 12 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: driver in the street and that attack left him unable 13 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: to smell or taste. It altered his moods, It changed him, 14 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 1: and it may have had something to do with the 15 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: final day of his life. Michael Hutchins's death at the 16 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: age of thirty seven left a hole in the hearts 17 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:13,720 Speaker 1: of Australians and the world. It also left behind great music. 18 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:16,560 Speaker 1: Unlike that clip I played for you at the top 19 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: of the show. That wasn't great music. That was a 20 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:25,959 Speaker 1: preset loop from my melotron called We're the Pinheads MK one. 21 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 1: I played you that loop because I can't afford the 22 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: rights to a clip from Candle in the Wind nineteen 23 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 1: ninety seven by Elton John And why would I play 24 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: you that specific slice of Norma Jean Cheese? Could I 25 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:43,440 Speaker 1: afford it? Because that was the number one song in 26 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: America on November twenty second, nineteen ninety seven, And that 27 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: was the day that Michael Hutchins's body was found in 28 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 1: a Sydney hotel room with his belt around his neck. 29 00:01:55,720 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 1: On this episode The Lawless Australia Pub Circuit, Cocaine, Orgies, 30 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:05,800 Speaker 1: Sucker Punches and a rock Stars, rock Star in excesses 31 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 1: Michael Hutchins, I'm Jake Brennan and this is Disgraceland. Before 32 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:38,400 Speaker 1: he sat down at the piano, Nick Cave asked the 33 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 1: TV crew to kill the cameras. This song was personal, 34 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:46,800 Speaker 1: maybe too personal, A love song written by a recovering 35 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:50,280 Speaker 1: addict trying to quote make the best of a bad situation. 36 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 2: Unquote. 37 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:55,760 Speaker 1: That's how Nick Cave described Into My Arms, a song 38 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:58,440 Speaker 1: he wrote while he was in rehab kicking his long 39 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:01,880 Speaker 1: running addiction to heroin. Not all that long ago. From 40 00:03:01,919 --> 00:03:07,359 Speaker 1: this day. On this day, however, November twenty sixth, nineteen 41 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:10,919 Speaker 1: ninety seven, the song wasn't for him. It was for 42 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:15,400 Speaker 1: the approximately one thousand people packed inside Saint Andrew's Cathedral 43 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: here in Sydney. One thousand people trying to make the 44 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:24,079 Speaker 1: best out of another bad situation, this situation being far 45 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:27,240 Speaker 1: more tragic than Nick Cave calling on the muse to 46 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:32,120 Speaker 1: shake a junk habit. That was because Nick's friend Michael Hutchins, 47 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: just thirty seven years old, was dead. The news shocked 48 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:41,800 Speaker 1: Australia in the world without warning in excess, had lost 49 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 1: their charismatic frontman. Australia had lost one of its most 50 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 1: popular and beloved sons. Nick Cave did his best to 51 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:52,240 Speaker 1: pick up the mantle. In front of a thousand strangers, 52 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:56,120 Speaker 1: and under the watchful eyes of God himself, he played 53 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 1: his piano ballad for the mourners, barely a dry eye 54 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:04,760 Speaker 1: in the house outside the cathedral. Thousands more stood just 55 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:09,680 Speaker 1: beyond the police barricades, silent, bereaved, struggling to hear the 56 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:13,080 Speaker 1: music inside, struggling to make sense out of something that 57 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:20,039 Speaker 1: didn't make sense, to feel less alone. Michael Hutchins did 58 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 1: that for them. He made them feel loved and alive, 59 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 1: and he did that by being a rock star, A 60 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:31,960 Speaker 1: rock star's rock star, the genuine article, suave, magnetic, seductive, 61 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:37,360 Speaker 1: masculine and feminine, a euphoric and explosive presence on stage. 62 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: Every rock band that wasn't in excess wished that Michael 63 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: Hutchins was their front man. Just look at him. He 64 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:45,719 Speaker 1: was like a pirate wallowing in the spoils of his 65 00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:49,320 Speaker 1: rock and roll plunders. He dated a smoke show pop 66 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:52,280 Speaker 1: star and then a smoke show supermodel. He wore a 67 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:56,719 Speaker 1: leather jacket with hutch written in chainmail on the back, 68 00:04:57,120 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: a snake skin belt to hold his tight pants in place. 69 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:05,279 Speaker 1: Michael Hutchins wasn't just Australia's preeminent rock star export. Hutch 70 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 1: and his band were an international sensation, which is a 71 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:12,880 Speaker 1: little ironic because Michael Hutchins wasn't the person he saw 72 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:15,560 Speaker 1: on stage. This was a guy I took out his 73 00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:18,040 Speaker 1: contact lenses when he performed so that they wouldn't get 74 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:20,360 Speaker 1: freaked out by the enormity of the crowd in front 75 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:24,160 Speaker 1: of him. He once described himself as and I quote, 76 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 1: a dipshit from fuck Off Nowhere, sitting in the back 77 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:30,680 Speaker 1: of the room shaking unquote when in excess first started out. 78 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:35,000 Speaker 1: Being in a band gave that dipshit some confidence. He 79 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:38,520 Speaker 1: was a pack animal, a brother, a friend, a lover, 80 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:41,120 Speaker 1: a man who is nothing if he wasn't surrounded by 81 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:44,640 Speaker 1: the people he loved and who loved him back. Being 82 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:47,400 Speaker 1: in a band was a promise that he'd never be alone. 83 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:51,440 Speaker 1: All for one and one for all. Camaraderie the brotherhood 84 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:54,920 Speaker 1: would clutch. Because for a struggling rock band in Australia 85 00:05:55,160 --> 00:05:58,520 Speaker 1: during the late nineteen seventies and early eighties, down under 86 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:03,480 Speaker 1: an upside down, things were wild. The culture of Aussi 87 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:06,720 Speaker 1: rock from seeds, sown by the likes of probably one 88 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:08,600 Speaker 1: of the greatest, if not the greatest rock and roll 89 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:11,600 Speaker 1: bands of all time, ac DC, fronted by Bond Scott, 90 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: was feral and rebellious. Pubs and clubs open all hours 91 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:18,720 Speaker 1: of the night and day. Twenty four to seven, one 92 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:21,480 Speaker 1: thousand people stuffed into a room that could legally hold 93 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:25,880 Speaker 1: only three hundred. But League Lee's wasn't spoken. Down Under, 94 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 1: Australian rock and roll was lawless, so were the substances 95 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:35,080 Speaker 1: that fueled it. Speed made from some kind of horse pills, 96 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: magic mushrooms growing in cow patties on the side of 97 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 1: the road. LSD held over from a decade earlier, good 98 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:44,400 Speaker 1: shit kept on ice for years to make that old 99 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 1: sensation feel new again when the time was right. It 100 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:53,560 Speaker 1: was all about new sensations. When in excess blew up, 101 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:56,360 Speaker 1: so did the kinds of drugs and the amount of drugs. 102 00:06:56,720 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 1: So did the Party. Nineteen eighty eight, Paris in excess, 103 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:06,320 Speaker 1: touring behind their megawatt record Kick number one in Australia, 104 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:10,600 Speaker 1: number three in the US. Its first single, need You Tonight, 105 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,040 Speaker 1: only peaked at number ten in Paris, but that was fine, 106 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:17,960 Speaker 1: because Paris was where the Party peaked. This five star 107 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:21,080 Speaker 1: hotel suite was stocked with cocaine, an ecstasy, and more 108 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:24,400 Speaker 1: beautiful people than a tall stack of Vogue and Glamour magazines. 109 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:28,160 Speaker 1: Some wore a few items of clothing, but most wore nothing. 110 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:32,239 Speaker 1: Michael Hutchins came stumbling out of a bedroom completely naked, 111 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:35,360 Speaker 1: into the living room, only to realize that someone had 112 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:39,000 Speaker 1: already fallen through the glass coffee table. No matter, that 113 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:43,000 Speaker 1: was the rock star life, as was this Michael Hutchins, 114 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:47,360 Speaker 1: never minding the bollocks golden fucking God, curly locks the 115 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:51,520 Speaker 1: devil inside unlit cigarette, in need of a flame. The 116 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: room was a haze. It smelled like sex and champagne, 117 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:59,239 Speaker 1: but Michael could make out an excessus tour manager, also naked, 118 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:02,160 Speaker 1: sitting on a chair. It us a favor of me, 119 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:05,880 Speaker 1: and give me a light, Michael, their tour manager, was 120 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 1: now saying, I do not have a light. He did 121 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: not see that I'm sitting here naked, handcuffed to a 122 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:16,360 Speaker 1: fucking chair. Michael looked at his tour manager's hands. The 123 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:19,720 Speaker 1: cuffs shackled around his wrists weren't part of whatever kinky 124 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:22,360 Speaker 1: role playing was currently being played out by the twisted 125 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:25,880 Speaker 1: mass of flesh in the living room. They were police cuffs, 126 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:28,520 Speaker 1: and the room wasn't just full of naked crew members 127 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 1: and hangers on. The cops were here. Well, shit, maybe 128 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:37,319 Speaker 1: one of paris Is finest satellite. No, no, it seemed 129 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 1: they did not. What they did have was another pair 130 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:43,439 Speaker 1: of handcuffs for Michael, which they insisted he put on. 131 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:45,719 Speaker 1: Seeing as he was no longer a participant in a 132 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:53,360 Speaker 1: rock and roll orgy, he was under arrest. Almost a 133 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:56,560 Speaker 1: decade after that eventful night, the drugs were still a thing, 134 00:08:56,679 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 1: but now they were no longer communal, no longer the 135 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:03,400 Speaker 1: glue that bonded the pack. Instead the drugs kept the 136 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:10,000 Speaker 1: loaner alone. That Michael Hutchins did not do alone. Murray River, however, did. 137 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:14,120 Speaker 1: Murray River, being Michael Hutchinson's numb to travel, the name 138 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:16,160 Speaker 1: he used to check into room five to two four 139 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:19,160 Speaker 1: with the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Sydney on November twenty first, 140 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:22,520 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven, also the name of an actual river 141 00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:26,239 Speaker 1: that split Australia in half, one piece of land separated 142 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:29,080 Speaker 1: from the other, just the way Michael Hutchins was now 143 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:34,600 Speaker 1: separated from everything in everyone, his band in excess, going 144 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 1: through the motions in a rehearsal room, shaking off the 145 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:41,360 Speaker 1: cobwebs for another tour. His partner Paula. That would be 146 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: British television host Paula Yates and their daughter Heavenly Harani 147 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:48,720 Speaker 1: Tiger Lily, still in London, unable to travel to Australia 148 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:51,920 Speaker 1: for the holidays as he had hoped, both grounded indefinitely 149 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:56,560 Speaker 1: because Bob wanted it that way. Bob being Bob Geldoff, 150 00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:00,560 Speaker 1: he of the Boomtown Rats, you know, I don't like Mondays, 151 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:03,720 Speaker 1: the guy who organized Live Aid was knighted by the Queen, 152 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:06,440 Speaker 1: a living saint in the eyes of many, but to 153 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:10,360 Speaker 1: Michael Hutchins, he was simply Paula's ex the man standing 154 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:13,880 Speaker 1: between Michael and the things he wanted, his partner and 155 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:18,439 Speaker 1: his child, a family not just with his biological daughter, 156 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:22,280 Speaker 1: but with Paula's three other children, children that Michael Hutchins felt, 157 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:25,800 Speaker 1: the connection with children that their father, Bob Geldoff, now 158 00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:29,319 Speaker 1: had legal custody, of custody that was easy to come by. 159 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:32,240 Speaker 1: After housekeepers found a shoe box of opium in Michael 160 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:36,280 Speaker 1: and Paula's London home, Michael and Paula denied it, said 161 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:39,600 Speaker 1: it was planted, just like Sergeant Pilcher planted that dope 162 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:42,560 Speaker 1: in John and Yoko's flat, and probably in George's too. 163 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:46,040 Speaker 1: Whether or not they were telling the truth, What was 164 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:50,040 Speaker 1: Michael Hutchins going to do now? He was depressed? Despondent. 165 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:53,079 Speaker 1: He was, as his friend Bono would later write in 166 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:55,480 Speaker 1: a U two song, stuck in a moment that he 167 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:58,640 Speaker 1: couldn't get out of. He sought out any friends who 168 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 1: could see him that night. A few came to his 169 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:04,640 Speaker 1: hotel room for drinks, but they eventually left. He called 170 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:07,240 Speaker 1: an ext girlfriend and told her he needed her. He 171 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:11,800 Speaker 1: needed someone tonight. He called his personal manager, Martha. She 172 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:15,960 Speaker 1: didn't answer, so he left a message, Martha, Michael here, 173 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:21,040 Speaker 1: I fucking had enough. He even called Bob Geldoff to 174 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:23,840 Speaker 1: work this whole thing out, convinced the guy to see 175 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:29,320 Speaker 1: things his way. Mano amano. He called them twice, but 176 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:31,480 Speaker 1: Michael couldn't win Bob over the way he went over 177 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:35,520 Speaker 1: an audience. His power is a persuasion of seduction. His 178 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:39,199 Speaker 1: rock star Jeernessequah. It may have worked in a hotel 179 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:42,880 Speaker 1: orgy back in Paris in eighty eight. Now in ninety 180 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: seven it wasn't working anymore, which meant Michael Hutchins found 181 00:11:47,480 --> 00:12:16,680 Speaker 1: himself facing his biggest fear, being alone. Eleven fifty am. 182 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:18,920 Speaker 1: The maid tried to open the door to a room 183 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:22,520 Speaker 1: five twenty four, but it wouldn't budge. Something was blocking 184 00:12:22,559 --> 00:12:25,559 Speaker 1: it from behind. She pushed harder and with a bit 185 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:27,840 Speaker 1: of force, was finally able to work her way in. 186 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:29,160 Speaker 2: There. 187 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:32,440 Speaker 1: Slumped on the floor directly behind the door was the 188 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:38,400 Speaker 1: naked body of the room's guest, Murray River aka Michael Hutchins, 189 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:43,320 Speaker 1: his snakeskin belt, that fine accouterment befitting a golden god, 190 00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:48,400 Speaker 1: a rock star's rockstar, no longer around his waist. Instead, 191 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:54,600 Speaker 1: it was around his neck. Sydney detectives found some vodka 192 00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:57,400 Speaker 1: and champagne bottles in the room, but nothing out of 193 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:00,840 Speaker 1: the ordinary. It was a scene they'd witness many times, 194 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:05,000 Speaker 1: over cut and dry, black and white. It was determined 195 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:06,839 Speaker 1: that Michael had tied the other end of his belt 196 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:10,240 Speaker 1: around the mechanism behind the door to hang himself. At 197 00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:13,559 Speaker 1: some point after he was gone, the belt snapped from 198 00:13:13,559 --> 00:13:17,840 Speaker 1: the weight and broke, dropping him down. This physical evidence, 199 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:21,160 Speaker 1: along with the phone records, painted a simple picture. What 200 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:24,480 Speaker 1: was not part of that picture was any evidence or 201 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:27,880 Speaker 1: even a suggestion that Michael Hutchins died as a result 202 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:32,800 Speaker 1: of autoerotic asphyxiation. That idea entered the public consciousness when 203 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:38,880 Speaker 1: Michael's partner, Polly Yates, suggested it to the media. Paully Yates, distraught, 204 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:42,840 Speaker 1: grieving and at this point addicted to heroin, was unable 205 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:45,440 Speaker 1: to accept the truth and thus created a scenario in 206 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:50,040 Speaker 1: her mind in which Michael's death was accidental. In reality, 207 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:53,839 Speaker 1: Michael Hutchins died not from Kinky Sex Gone Horribly Wrong, 208 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:59,199 Speaker 1: but because he was terrified that he'd lost everything. By 209 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:01,520 Speaker 1: the time he checked in to the Ritz, Carlton Michael 210 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:04,000 Speaker 1: Hutchins had lost more than the ability to see the 211 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:11,800 Speaker 1: people he loved. He lost his cool. Both cools. Actually, First, 212 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:15,240 Speaker 1: he lost his cool as in that currency flaunted by 213 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:18,560 Speaker 1: a true blue rock and roll icon. Noel Gallagher of 214 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:21,440 Speaker 1: Oasis stuck the knife in deep and twisted it on 215 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:26,520 Speaker 1: live television, saying has been shouldn't present fooking Awards to Gunnabes. 216 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:30,000 Speaker 1: Noel said that when Michael handed him a brit award 217 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:32,800 Speaker 1: right there in front of everyone, the entire audience and 218 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:35,920 Speaker 1: everyone at home on their couches as well, Michael just 219 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:40,040 Speaker 1: laughed it off, but inside Noel's dig hurt like hell. 220 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:44,440 Speaker 1: Michael was all too familiar with that pain. After in 221 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:47,240 Speaker 1: Excess Conquered the World was Kick and his follow up 222 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:51,280 Speaker 1: album X, which boasted a killer lead single, Suicide Blonde, 223 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:54,600 Speaker 1: written about Kylie Minogue, Michael's girlfriend at the time. They 224 00:14:54,640 --> 00:14:57,400 Speaker 1: returned to Australia and were received not as heroes but 225 00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:01,960 Speaker 1: as sellouts Aussie love and underdog, and so it was 226 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:04,560 Speaker 1: only natural that In Excess got knocked down a peg 227 00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 1: so that their fellow countrymen could enjoy watching them struggle 228 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:09,760 Speaker 1: to the top again. It's kind of like that thing 229 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:12,600 Speaker 1: when your favorite band blows up and suddenly everyone loves 230 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:14,480 Speaker 1: this thing that used to belong just to you, and 231 00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:16,520 Speaker 1: it kind of pisses you off in this weird way, 232 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:19,080 Speaker 1: Only in this case, it's not you who's pissed. It's 233 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:22,640 Speaker 1: an entire continent. And that was enough to make a 234 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:25,480 Speaker 1: guy lose his other cool, as in the ability to 235 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:29,080 Speaker 1: remain calm and in control of yourself. But Michael had 236 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:34,200 Speaker 1: already lost that too. Something was very wrong with Michael 237 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:39,120 Speaker 1: Hutchins had been for years. His bandmates knew it, and 238 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:42,080 Speaker 1: the autops he proved it. The biggest discovery from the 239 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:45,600 Speaker 1: autops he wasn't the cocaine, prozac, valume er benzos in 240 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:49,080 Speaker 1: Michael's blood and urine. It was the plumb sized lesions 241 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:53,320 Speaker 1: on his frontal lobe degenerative damage, damage that he'd been 242 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:57,520 Speaker 1: carrying around for years. Ever since that incident in Denmark 243 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:05,000 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety two, Copenhagen, Michael Hutchins was doing what the 244 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:08,640 Speaker 1: locals did, traveling by bicycle riding home from a night 245 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:11,640 Speaker 1: out with his girlfriend at the time, not the suicide blonde, 246 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:14,720 Speaker 1: but the one after that, a drop dead Danish brunette 247 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:19,120 Speaker 1: supermodel Helena Christensen. You ever seen the music video for 248 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:21,240 Speaker 1: Chris Isaac's Wicked Game, the one on the beach with 249 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:25,200 Speaker 1: the uh yeah, that's the one that's her. Anyway, it 250 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:27,880 Speaker 1: was late, but they were hungry, so they stopped to 251 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:30,680 Speaker 1: get a couple slices of pizza. It being late, the 252 00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:33,360 Speaker 1: roads were fairly deserted, so Michael figured no harm, no 253 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:35,840 Speaker 1: foul if he simply straddled his bicycle in the middle 254 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:38,800 Speaker 1: of the road to use both hands to eat. That's 255 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:42,000 Speaker 1: when the taxi cab appeared. It came screaming out of 256 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:43,840 Speaker 1: the night, and then it came to a screeching hall 257 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:45,840 Speaker 1: right in front of where Michael was blocking the road. 258 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:48,960 Speaker 1: The cabby leaned out of his window, screaming like his 259 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:51,280 Speaker 1: taxi had just been screaming, but instead of the roar 260 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:53,080 Speaker 1: of a small engine, it was now the roar of 261 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:55,560 Speaker 1: a big mouth. Get the fuck out of the road, 262 00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:58,320 Speaker 1: you fucking get in. Then the cabby was out of 263 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:02,200 Speaker 1: his car, walking and in patient, flustered stride one foot 264 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:05,320 Speaker 1: in front of the other, cursing furious, a bee line 265 00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:07,840 Speaker 1: straight to where Michael was standing. There was no time 266 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:10,560 Speaker 1: to react, no time to move. The cabby was on him, now, 267 00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:13,800 Speaker 1: right in front of him, and happened fast, the brisk walk, 268 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:16,840 Speaker 1: the sudden halt, and there he was, bawling his fist 269 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:21,320 Speaker 1: and cocking back his arm. And then the Cabby's bald 270 00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:24,280 Speaker 1: fist caught Michael Hutchins in the head. It came in 271 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 1: fast and hard. The punch sent him flying. Michael wabbled backward, stunned, 272 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:34,160 Speaker 1: his entire body in shock, and then he dropped straight down. 273 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:38,040 Speaker 1: His body sprawled out on the pavement, blood oozing from 274 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:40,920 Speaker 1: his mouth and his ear. Helena rushed to his side. 275 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:45,880 Speaker 1: He wasn't moving. Was Michael dead. The Cabby was back 276 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:49,000 Speaker 1: in his taxi, peeling off into the Copenhagen night, gone, 277 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:56,919 Speaker 1: just like Michael now seemed to be. Helena panicked. Michael 278 00:17:56,960 --> 00:17:59,560 Speaker 1: finally came to at the hospital, but he did so 279 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:03,000 Speaker 1: in a as impulsive and hostile as a taxi driver 280 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:07,920 Speaker 1: who raged at him minutes earlier. For the next month, 281 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:11,760 Speaker 1: he stayed in bed at Helena's apartment, throwing out, not eating, 282 00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:14,359 Speaker 1: not that eating would have given him any pleasure. He 283 00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:17,080 Speaker 1: could no longer taste food, could no longer smell his 284 00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:19,840 Speaker 1: girlfriend when she brushed up against him. It was like 285 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:22,800 Speaker 1: Michael Hudgens had gone unconscious and someone else woke up 286 00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:27,800 Speaker 1: in his place. At the recording sessions for the next 287 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:30,280 Speaker 1: In Excess album, the guys in the band were all 288 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 1: asking the same question, What's happening to Michael. They had 289 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:38,000 Speaker 1: no clue. Michael swore Helena A's secrecy, but it was 290 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:41,200 Speaker 1: clear something was wrong. As it was, the band was 291 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:44,439 Speaker 1: already outside their comfort zone. Sure, the Isle of Capri 292 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: was a picturesque place to make an album, but it 293 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:49,960 Speaker 1: was a haul to get there. Twenty hour flight to Rome, 294 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:53,080 Speaker 1: busted naples, ferry to the island, and then a long 295 00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:56,159 Speaker 1: walk to the studio, only to arrive and find Michael 296 00:18:56,200 --> 00:19:00,600 Speaker 1: throwing tantrums, sprang champagne on the mixing board, tossing equipment 297 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:04,440 Speaker 1: off the breathtaking cliffs, surrounded by his band, his friends, 298 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:07,680 Speaker 1: but seemingly alone in his own mind an island far 299 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:10,960 Speaker 1: from shore, just sitting there in the middle of the studio, 300 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:14,600 Speaker 1: staring into nothing, dropping a knife into the hardwood floor 301 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:19,040 Speaker 1: over and over, thunk, pull it out, hold it in 302 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:22,560 Speaker 1: mid air, let it fall thunk, the tip of the 303 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:25,679 Speaker 1: blade sinking into the wood. Once again, Michael pulled it 304 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:30,400 Speaker 1: out extracted it. Gary Biers, an Excessus bassist in Michael's 305 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:34,840 Speaker 1: longtime friend, was confused and worried Michael. He asked, why 306 00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:38,320 Speaker 1: are you destroying that nice floor? Michael yanked the knife 307 00:19:38,359 --> 00:19:40,919 Speaker 1: in the wood again, but this time turned to Gary 308 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:44,080 Speaker 1: and thrust the blade in his direction. I'll fucking stab 309 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:52,080 Speaker 1: you instead. This wasn't Michael. This wasn't the guy they'd 310 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:54,320 Speaker 1: all grown up with, the one they met at high 311 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:57,760 Speaker 1: school in Sydney, born in Aussie who'd gone away for years, 312 00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:01,160 Speaker 1: living in Hong Kong with his family, educated in British schools, 313 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:03,800 Speaker 1: then outside a looking for a way back in a 314 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:07,320 Speaker 1: dipshit from fuck off nowhere. That guy wasn't anywhere to 315 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:10,960 Speaker 1: be seen. That guy was in their memories, in their minds. 316 00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:15,240 Speaker 1: That Michael Hutchins, they all knew was in the past. 317 00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:28,239 Speaker 1: We'll be right back after this word word word in 318 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:31,679 Speaker 1: Excess knew they had a hit on their hands, numerous hits. 319 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:34,680 Speaker 1: That is, the new album they had just finished recording 320 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:39,399 Speaker 1: was loaded with them Need You Tonight Devil inside New Sensation, 321 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:44,000 Speaker 1: The Guruves were incredible, The low end was deep. There 322 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:46,680 Speaker 1: was something about it that just you know, Maji sweat, 323 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:49,360 Speaker 1: I had to say it, and that ballad never tear 324 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:52,600 Speaker 1: us apart, forget about it. Michael Hutchins sang the shit 325 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:56,560 Speaker 1: out of that song. Kick was the band's sixth studio album, 326 00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:58,920 Speaker 1: but the first one that felt like they tapped into 327 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:02,680 Speaker 1: something wholly unique. They leveled up and found another gear, 328 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:06,760 Speaker 1: working once again with producer Chris Thomas, whose resume stretched 329 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:10,040 Speaker 1: from the Beatles to the sex Pistols in Excess. That's 330 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:14,439 Speaker 1: Michael Hutchins, Gary Beiers, Kirk Pengilly and the Farris brothers Andrew, 331 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:17,480 Speaker 1: John and Tim were confident that nineteen eighty seven was 332 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:21,480 Speaker 1: going to be their year. The endless touring, the minor hits, 333 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:26,040 Speaker 1: the videos on MTV that all led to this a breakthrough. 334 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:29,960 Speaker 1: They all knew it. Their manager, Chris Murphy, he knew 335 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:33,520 Speaker 1: it too, But now standing in front of Atlantic Records 336 00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:36,639 Speaker 1: sales and marketing teams, Chris Murphy couldn't help. But wonder 337 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:40,000 Speaker 1: was he crazy? Was nineteen eighty seven not their year? 338 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:44,320 Speaker 1: Were they fucked? The Atlantic suits were just sitting there 339 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:46,479 Speaker 1: as if they hadn't just listened to Need You Tonight, 340 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:48,840 Speaker 1: the song Chris and the band were proposing as the 341 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:52,600 Speaker 1: records for a single, a killer song one part James Brown, 342 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:55,520 Speaker 1: one part Chic, one part Talking Heads, and one hundred 343 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:58,800 Speaker 1: percent Michael Hutchins and his Golden God charisma in full effect. 344 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:02,480 Speaker 1: But the room didn't get it. It was too dancy 345 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:05,080 Speaker 1: for rock radio, they said, and too rock and roll 346 00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:06,560 Speaker 1: for the R and B market. 347 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:06,680 Speaker 2: They said. 348 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: It didn't fit the mold, they said, any mold, they said. 349 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:12,679 Speaker 1: And if the sales team didn't get it, if the 350 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:15,320 Speaker 1: sales team couldn't put it neatly in a box, then 351 00:22:15,359 --> 00:22:20,919 Speaker 1: the sales team couldn't sell it. Chris felt his heart 352 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,720 Speaker 1: lodge inside his throat. This bullshit take out a left 353 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:27,600 Speaker 1: field that Need You Tonight and the entirety of the 354 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:31,600 Speaker 1: inexcess album Kick was a colossal dud. Went straight up 355 00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 1: the chain of command all the way to Atlantic's president, 356 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:37,760 Speaker 1: who hated the record so much that he offered Chris 357 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:40,840 Speaker 1: and the band one million dollars to erase the tapes 358 00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:45,399 Speaker 1: and start all over again. That's a lot of dough ringo. 359 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:47,720 Speaker 1: If you made something that you were really proud of, 360 00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:49,520 Speaker 1: the best thing you'd ever made in your life and 361 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:51,399 Speaker 1: someone offered you a mill to get rid of it? 362 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:55,040 Speaker 1: Would you do it? In Excess did not do it, 363 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:59,280 Speaker 1: which maybe that was crazy, because who knows. Again, when 364 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:01,560 Speaker 1: you make something, do you really know how good it is? 365 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:04,760 Speaker 1: I like to think I do, but I don't. But 366 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:08,400 Speaker 1: In Access they knew because the record was that good, 367 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:12,240 Speaker 1: crazy good. The record company, on the other hand, was 368 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:15,560 Speaker 1: crazy crazy, though to be fair, In Excess had no 369 00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:18,479 Speaker 1: idea that their manager, Chris Murphy was doing something crazy 370 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:24,040 Speaker 1: on his own, going behind Atlantic's backs and without the 371 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:26,639 Speaker 1: blessing of Michael Hutchins and the band, with all of 372 00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:29,280 Speaker 1: In Excess's existing money and using it to drum up 373 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:32,720 Speaker 1: buzz and thus demand for Kick before Atlantic even agreed 374 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:36,000 Speaker 1: to release it. It was a risk, a huge risk, 375 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:40,439 Speaker 1: a ballsy risk. When Chris Murphy contacted college radio stations 376 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:42,639 Speaker 1: in the US and played them the album, though the 377 00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:46,880 Speaker 1: risk began to payoff. Colleges loved it, so he bought 378 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:49,639 Speaker 1: ads on those college radio stations, and then he booked 379 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:53,000 Speaker 1: shows that those colleges. The shows sold out, The kids 380 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:55,480 Speaker 1: went nuts. They wanted to own a physical copy of 381 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:57,199 Speaker 1: the songs that were hearing at the shows and on 382 00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:01,440 Speaker 1: the radio. The tables were turned. Would now be crazy 383 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:05,280 Speaker 1: not to release kick, which in October of nineteen eighty 384 00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:08,520 Speaker 1: seven they did. The record wound up making in Excess 385 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:12,320 Speaker 1: extremely rich and extremely famous. Not to mention all that 386 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:16,679 Speaker 1: money for Atlantic part and parcel of the rich and 387 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:20,480 Speaker 1: famous life was getting fucked up. It came with the territory. 388 00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:23,520 Speaker 1: It was territory that Michael Hutchinson in Excess had been 389 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:26,400 Speaker 1: exploring for years, all the way back to those smoky, 390 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:30,640 Speaker 1: overcrowded Australian pubs were a surfer smuggled hash inside their longboards, 391 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:33,080 Speaker 1: and a five hour psychedelic trip was just a pile 392 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:36,600 Speaker 1: of cowshit away. Michael and the boys were a pack, 393 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:42,119 Speaker 1: a gang, six guys sharing a collective experience. By now 394 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:45,600 Speaker 1: the stakes were raised, The crowds were bigger, the girls 395 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:50,840 Speaker 1: were hotter, much hotter. The drugs were more plentiful. In Rio, 396 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:54,159 Speaker 1: the cocaine fell from the sky for real, there was 397 00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:56,159 Speaker 1: so much of it. What didn't go up their noses 398 00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:59,080 Speaker 1: got tossed out their hotel balcony. Same thing on the 399 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:02,560 Speaker 1: bus in Canada had for the US border. Doing blow 400 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,560 Speaker 1: became a game that passed the time toss a hanfle 401 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:07,280 Speaker 1: up in the air and try to snort it as 402 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:10,760 Speaker 1: it falls down all over your face. Why because it's 403 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 1: what rock bands do, right, That's why it's right there 404 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:20,040 Speaker 1: in this particular band's name. In Excess, in excess, so corny, 405 00:25:20,119 --> 00:25:24,520 Speaker 1: yet so fucking perfect. Michael Hudgens learned excess from the best. 406 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:27,560 Speaker 1: He learned long before kick made of a rock and 407 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:30,679 Speaker 1: roll icon, back when in excess we're opening shows for 408 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:33,480 Speaker 1: Adam Ann, for the Stray Cats, for men at work. 409 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:37,040 Speaker 1: He learned from the king of debauchery himself, mister Freddy Mercury, 410 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:39,760 Speaker 1: in the penthouse of a London hotel, where the party 411 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:43,080 Speaker 1: wasn't just coke, but also flamingos and mimes, little people 412 00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:45,840 Speaker 1: walking around with trays of cocaine balanced on their heads, 413 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:49,720 Speaker 1: and circus acrobats demonstrating wildly flexible new ways to fuck. 414 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:53,760 Speaker 1: Michael took notes The Freddie Mercury School of debauchery was 415 00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:56,640 Speaker 1: in session inside that Parisian hotel room, and again at 416 00:25:56,640 --> 00:25:58,919 Speaker 1: a show in Phoenix, where Michael ran his hand up 417 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:01,800 Speaker 1: the short skirt of ay and willing female fan like 418 00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:05,320 Speaker 1: steel to a magnet. Michael sang about being lonely but 419 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:07,600 Speaker 1: with fans and friends like these, he didn't have to 420 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:13,000 Speaker 1: worry about actually being lonely. July ninety one, Wembley Stadium, 421 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:17,720 Speaker 1: capacity crowd seventy two thousand, no less than five opening 422 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:23,800 Speaker 1: bands Debbie Harry, Hothouse, Flowers, Roachford, Jellyfish and Jesus Shones 423 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:28,400 Speaker 1: and then in Excess, leaving the backstage spread of sushi 424 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:31,000 Speaker 1: and champagne behind to take the main stage for two 425 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:33,840 Speaker 1: and a half hours. Michael and his shiny black leather 426 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:36,640 Speaker 1: jacket and those killer black and white pants with stripes 427 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:39,600 Speaker 1: on one leg and stars on the other, Already primed 428 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:42,919 Speaker 1: with booze and pills. Three songs in, he found the 429 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:46,200 Speaker 1: other three pills in his pocket, three doses of ecstasy, 430 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:49,960 Speaker 1: one for him, Kirk and Tim right there in the 431 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:53,800 Speaker 1: middle of the set. It came with the territory, business 432 00:26:53,920 --> 00:27:00,080 Speaker 1: and pleasure, all for one and one for all. And 433 00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:03,360 Speaker 1: although the stage both literally and figuratively was now bigger, 434 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:06,560 Speaker 1: that shared experience of a rock and roll band, that 435 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:09,720 Speaker 1: brotherhood of in Excess, kept them grounded even as their 436 00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:12,640 Speaker 1: egos began to take flight, not that they were ever 437 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:16,960 Speaker 1: truly grounded. They were Aussies, after all, wildlings from down under, 438 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:20,680 Speaker 1: feral and rebellious, just like any truly great rock stars, 439 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:24,960 Speaker 1: wild and feral and rebellious, but in excess were tougher, 440 00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:28,080 Speaker 1: the most hardened by years on the pub circuit, down 441 00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:31,960 Speaker 1: under three shows at night, first one at midnight, next 442 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:34,800 Speaker 1: at three am, and a final one at six am, 443 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:38,560 Speaker 1: each show at a different venue. They worked day and night, 444 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:42,480 Speaker 1: tough work that made them the toughest, so tough that 445 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:45,639 Speaker 1: you could never imagine that anything could crack the exterior, 446 00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:49,960 Speaker 1: nothing could ever tear it apart. Their connection, their strength, 447 00:27:50,359 --> 00:27:54,440 Speaker 1: their bond. From this vantage point on stage at Wembley, 448 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:57,480 Speaker 1: in front of seventy two thousand rolling on e in 449 00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:01,399 Speaker 1: love with everything, the people, the music mates, you couldn't 450 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:04,560 Speaker 1: even fathom a scenario where it all went wrong, but 451 00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:08,600 Speaker 1: that one random accident, just one punch, could send it 452 00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:32,040 Speaker 1: all spiraling out of control. Nineteen seventy seven, no Elvis, 453 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:37,280 Speaker 1: Beetles or the Rolling Stones, New York and London were calling, 454 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:41,840 Speaker 1: ten thousand miles from either New York or London. In Sydney, 455 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:45,280 Speaker 1: New South Wales, the call came through loud and clear. 456 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:48,520 Speaker 1: The Beatles were done, the Stones were on their way out, 457 00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:55,360 Speaker 1: and Elvis, well, Elvis was dead. The day the King 458 00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:57,680 Speaker 1: left the building for the final time. Was the day 459 00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:00,360 Speaker 1: the band known as the Farris Brothers played their first 460 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:03,280 Speaker 1: show at a house in Whale Beach, just north of Sydney. 461 00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:07,040 Speaker 1: Fresh out of high school, the Farris Brothers, along with 462 00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:10,440 Speaker 1: their lead singer Michael Hutchins, were compelled by punk rock, 463 00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:14,120 Speaker 1: galvanized by the DIY movement. It was in the air, 464 00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:17,400 Speaker 1: the same air breathed by Nick Cave and the Birthday Party, 465 00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:20,880 Speaker 1: who were busy releasing the bats and making an unholy racket. 466 00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:25,120 Speaker 1: The Saints, obsessed with the Ramones and the Heartbreakers, Johnny 467 00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:29,960 Speaker 1: thunders that is not Tom Petty and Midnight Oil fiercely political, 468 00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:34,040 Speaker 1: musically aggressive, another toughest leather OSSI unit made tougher by 469 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:38,120 Speaker 1: the rejection of traditional rock radio. Midnight Oil toreed their 470 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:41,680 Speaker 1: asses off, built up their fanbase and boom Bob's your 471 00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:45,760 Speaker 1: uncle fuck radio. They worked for it and they were rewarded. 472 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:49,840 Speaker 1: The Ferris Brothers, in turn, were inspired by this work ethic, 473 00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:52,959 Speaker 1: just like they were inspired when Midnight Oil suggested they 474 00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:56,120 Speaker 1: changed their name to something more compelling, something like that 475 00:29:56,280 --> 00:30:00,760 Speaker 1: English band XTC. You know, Ecstasy, but it spelled out 476 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:04,520 Speaker 1: with three capital letters in excess picked up where the 477 00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:08,800 Speaker 1: Ferris Brothers left off. They gigged hard year in year out, 478 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:12,760 Speaker 1: three hundred shows in nineteen eighty one alone. Pubs and 479 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:17,360 Speaker 1: clubs packed the rafters, a hodgepodge of patrons, stone surfers, 480 00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:20,520 Speaker 1: and the industrial working class, all sweating because the air 481 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:23,320 Speaker 1: conditioning had had turned off, and all drinking way more 482 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:26,240 Speaker 1: beer than they planned, which was precisely why the ac 483 00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:30,000 Speaker 1: had turned off in the first place. Rock music was rebellious, 484 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:32,840 Speaker 1: but it was also a money maker. The money came 485 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:36,360 Speaker 1: from everywhere, even from fuck off nowhere, way out in 486 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:38,200 Speaker 1: the desert on the edge of the world, where the 487 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:41,000 Speaker 1: boys made a cool five grand for a week's hot work, 488 00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:44,160 Speaker 1: the house band for workers at a strip mine, the 489 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:47,640 Speaker 1: miners all covered in blood, red dirt, some of the Mexicans, 490 00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:50,720 Speaker 1: some of them soon to be cons honest to God, 491 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:56,240 Speaker 1: mad Max shit come to life. But it was a 492 00:30:56,280 --> 00:31:00,320 Speaker 1: good life, a life Michael Hutchins had stumbled into just 493 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:03,160 Speaker 1: a few years earlier when he returned to Australia as 494 00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:06,240 Speaker 1: a teenager after living in Hong Kong for eight years. 495 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:09,640 Speaker 1: He knew no one. He made his way sheepishly into 496 00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:13,080 Speaker 1: Kilarney Heights, high school, all eyes watching his every move. 497 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:17,000 Speaker 1: The girls, of course, were instantly attracted, as they always 498 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:19,720 Speaker 1: were and always would be, and so the boys wanted 499 00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:22,320 Speaker 1: to beat the piss out of him. Look at this dipshit. 500 00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:24,479 Speaker 1: He may have been an Aussie on paper, but as 501 00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:27,680 Speaker 1: far as they were concerned, he was from away, far away, 502 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:31,600 Speaker 1: eight years of British schools, eight years of British customs. 503 00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:36,080 Speaker 1: He had that colonial bastard stink all over him. The 504 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:38,520 Speaker 1: group of boys circled around him and began to close in. 505 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:40,880 Speaker 1: What the fuck was he looking at and who the 506 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:44,680 Speaker 1: hell did he think he was? And then a voice 507 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:48,400 Speaker 1: from the back, leave him alone. The bullies spun around. 508 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:52,160 Speaker 1: Another boy, not a bully, but another new classmate, stood 509 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:54,880 Speaker 1: on the outskirts of the impending beatdown with his own crew. 510 00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:58,360 Speaker 1: He repeated himself, and his crew backed him up. Leave 511 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:01,360 Speaker 1: him alone, the bully, he's decided. They'd mess with the 512 00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:04,760 Speaker 1: new kids some other time. They backed down and fucked off. 513 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:08,360 Speaker 1: Then Michael Hutchins shook the hand of Andrew Ferris, the 514 00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:11,800 Speaker 1: kid who just saved him from an ass kicking. He 515 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:15,160 Speaker 1: gained a new friend, a bandmate even, and with that 516 00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:19,280 Speaker 1: simple fact came the most important thing, the reassurance that 517 00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:24,640 Speaker 1: he'll never be alone again. I'm Jake Brennan and this 518 00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:26,280 Speaker 1: is Disgraceland. 519 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:38,040 Speaker 3: Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and has produced in 520 00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:41,480 Speaker 3: partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be 521 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:44,880 Speaker 3: found on the show notes page at disgracelampod dot com. 522 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:48,320 Speaker 3: If you're listening as a Disgraceland All Access member, thank 523 00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:51,000 Speaker 3: you for supporting the show. We really appreciate it, and 524 00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:53,360 Speaker 3: if not, you can become a member right now by 525 00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:55,560 Speaker 3: going to disgracelamppod dot com. 526 00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:56,800 Speaker 1: Slash Membership. 527 00:32:57,240 --> 00:33:00,800 Speaker 2: Members can listen to every episode of Disgraceland ad free, 528 00:33:01,120 --> 00:33:04,680 Speaker 2: Plus you'll get one brand new exclusive episode every month, 529 00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:09,200 Speaker 2: weekly unscripted bonus episodes, special audio collections, and early access 530 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:14,200 Speaker 2: to merchandise and events. Visit disgrayslampod dot com slash membership 531 00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:16,120 Speaker 2: for details, rate and review the. 532 00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:18,520 Speaker 1: Show, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter. 533 00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:22,240 Speaker 4: And Facebook at disgracelampod and on YouTube at YouTube dot 534 00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:28,520 Speaker 4: com slash at disgracelampod Rock a Roller, He 535 00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:30,040 Speaker 1: The bed Man