Matchbox Twenty's Rob Thomas revealed to Take 40 Australia that he feels like an honorary Australian after collaborating with INXS on their upcoming greatest hits tribute album. "I feel like I can hand over my title but I still get to be an honorary Australian, you know, without a doubt."
Thomas is vocal about his appreciation for INXS, having covered one of their songs during a Matchbox Twenty concert a while back. Rob told us it was at this very gig that he first had the opportunity to work with INXS.
"I think it started with our last Matchbox Twenty gig in Wollongong," Rob explained. "Jon Farriss came out (to see the show), and...on our tour...every night in sound-check we would learn a new song by an Australian artist and so we would have to learn it in sound-check and play it that night at the show."
The idea behind the new INXS album, which they plan to release as a tribute to their late former singer Michael Hutchence, is to take the band's great songs and make them more current, without destroying the original feel of the track. Hutchence died in 1997.
Rob was lucky enough to have his pick of songs to record. "I sang 'Never Tear Us Apart' and 'Original Sin'...because I got in early I got to ask!" he said.
Original INXS members Garry Gary Beers, Andrew Farriss, Jon Farriss, Tim Farriss, and Kirk Pengilly are currently without a lead singer after reality TV show winner JD Fortune left the band under rather bizarre circumstances earlier this year.
Thomas added that he does not believe the band should have quit after the death of frontman Hutchence, saying: "They want to continue to make music. I get the sense that once they do this, they can move forward - and do it this time without a circus attached."
Photo: Paul Gero via music.msn.com
Material quoted directly from: Take 40 Australia
