Music Feeds’ Love Letter to a Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, guitarist Max Jacobs of Sydney indie-pop band Loretta describes their love for INXS’s iconic 1987 LP ‘Kick’.
The local trio have just unveiled their anthemic new single ‘Dad’s Mercedes’, produced by band member Nico Scali (Guitar/Keys) and mixed by Jarryd Shuker (Hein Cooper, Art of Sleeping). The song explores a narrative of two young lovers chasing after one another. “It comes from a happy place where nothing feels like it needs to be too serious,” the band explains. “We made sure to capture that feeling sonically; it needed to feel youthful.” Stream the song below.
Loretta’s Love Letter to INXS’s ‘Kick’
I think it’s safe to say that INXS will always hold a certain place in our hearts. They were the first band we started paying attention to that could be considered a ‘pop’ band.
Individually, the three of us all started getting into this record around the same time in late high school. It was quite a formative time for our musical vocabulary. As teenagers who were listening to a lot of straight-up rock music at the time, as well as some Top 40 pop, INXS were extremely eye opening as to what a band could sound like.
Michael Hutchence’s attitude and vocal delivery across the whole album, as well as his unique lyrical perspective, was so inspiring to us, especially as we were starting to get more invested in writing our own music. But it wasn’t just Hutchence’s vocals that had us so captivated, INXS had such an original and uncompromising sound, as a band that was touching on such an adventurous sound for the time. Their influence on other favourite bands of ours such as ‘The 1975’ or ‘COIN’ only further cemented their place in our minds as one of the greatest bands of all time.
‘Kick’ felt like the bands creative pinnacle, and we were often in awe of every aspect of it.
Further Reading:
Watch Delta Goodrem And Josh Teskey Cover INXS’ ‘Never Tear Us Apart’
INXS Manager Chris Murphy Dies At Age 66
Watch Amy Shark Cover INXS And Play A Trio Of Hits At The NRL Grand Final
