INXS, the Australian pop-rock band, has released a new mix of their album Kick, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. Tim Farriss and Kirk Pengilly, as well as engineer Giles Martin, discussed the revised version and the inclusion of INXS music in Euphoria in a recent interview.
On Apple Music on April 4th, the new mix will be available. Giles Martin oversaw the most recent Dolby ATMOS rework. Martin, the son of the legendary Beatles producer George Martin, has also remixed The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in spatial audio format. This isn’t his first time working on a new Kick mix; in 2017, he remixed the album for a cinematic experience to commemorate the record’s 30th anniversary.
“They all sound different to me, actually – but then, obviously, I’m quite near to it,” Farriss remarked of the songs on the new audio edition of Kick. “It’s got this acoustic guitar that, well, [is] there in the stereo mix, but it doesn’t jump out,” the guitarist said of the title tune. It really shines out in the spatial mix, and it just adds this kind of backbeat swing to the song.”
The album also contains hit songs by the Australian band, such as ‘Calling All Nations’ and ‘Devil Inside.’ “[‘Devil Inside’] sounds very wonderful, since it’s got all this percussion going on,” Farriss said of the latter. There’s a lot of exciting stuff coming from behind you.”
INXS fans are still plenty 35 years after the release of their seminal record. This is a clear indication of the band’s enduring influence on mainstream music.
“It’s strange, but when you talk about Dolby ATMOS, you have to envision a cube,” he continued. You were a holograph cube, and inside that cube was a dot. The sound you want is moved to the location in the cube where you want it to seem like it’s coming from – and you have to think you’re sitting right in the middle of it.”
INXS’ greatest hits collection The Very Best recently clocked over 500 weeks on the Australian ARIA Charts, while the immensely popular HBO show Euphoria featured five INXS tunes in its second season earlier this year, including Kick tracks ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ and ‘Mystify.’
Farriss admitted that he hadn’t yet had a chance to watch the hit show – “Kirk says it’s pretty fantastic,” he said – but the guitarist is aware that some of his music has been included on the show’s soundtrack. “I notice a lot of stuff crop up on my social stream, including comments regarding our tunes. It’s extremely cool.”
