Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / JD Fortune Returns to Australia: Carrying the INXS Torch Once Again

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JD Fortune Returns to Australia: Carrying the INXS Torch Once Again · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, it's JD Fortune, and this is Heavy Mag, and
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: welcome to it.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Yes, fantastic. Thanks so much, mate.
• 0:07
  Speaker 3: Look, you are coming back to Australia after the incredible
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: response the 2025 tour has had. What did Australian audiences
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: give you last time that made you think, yeah, I
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: need to come back?
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Oh, first of all, love.
• 0:20
  Speaker 4: I mean, the love was insane. And just the energy
• 0:24
  Speaker 4: for the music, to be honest with you. The people
• 0:26
  Speaker 4: of Australia... there's something in the DNA because of those songs.
• 0:30
  Speaker 4: You know, if you've heard them your whole life and
• 0:32
  Speaker 4: they're just a part of you and it's, it's incredible
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: to like, you know, start a songs and like never
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: tear us apart, for example. And I don't even really
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: sing the first verse or chorus.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: The crowd just, it's so magic. It's magic. And I
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: love that.
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: So yeah, last year was great sold out tour. And
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: this year we're hoping to do the same. So, you know,
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: hopefully you can make it out and any of your
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: listeners or readers or anybody come on out, you're going
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: to have a great time if you're an InXS fan.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Definitely.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: We have to. It's part of our culture, like you
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: were saying.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. Hell yeah.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: It's amazing.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: And look, there's obviously a huge emotional connection between Australians
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: and In Excess. When you're standing on stage singing songs
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: like Never Tear Us Apart and Don't Change, do you
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: ever feel the weight of what those songs mean to people?
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely.
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: And just touring with In Excess when I was, you know,
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: fronting the band, you know, people would come up and,
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: you know, we played this at my brother's funeral or
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: my sister's graduation or a wedding and it's, it's becomes
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: a part of the fabric of their lives. And, um,
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: that's something that I take a lot of, uh, pride in,
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: but I also, I don't ever take it for granted because,
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: you know, um, it's those sometimes a song can mean
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: something so profoundly, uh, deep to somebody that you, you
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: can't dismiss that. And, um, you know, I've always been
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: a big believer that, you know, music is like a
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: time machine. So if you heard that song when you
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: were six years old, and then you're going to see
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: me singing it. If it brings you right back to that,
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: then I'm doing my job and this, and, and, and
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: the song is doing its job. And, um, you know,
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: and I just love that feeling.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Oh, that's so wonderful that it feels like it
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: means just as much to you as it does to
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: us in the crowd.
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: Oh, I'm, I'm, uh, first of all, I grew up,
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: you know, within excess as a part of my, you know,
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: musical DNA and, um, you know, some of the first
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: songs I ever wrote when I was like 11 and
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: 12 were actually inspired by you know seeing videos back
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: in the day on MTV of Michael and Andrew you
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: know writing together and and and I went I really
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: want to do that and I didn't I never thought
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: I would actually be doing it with the.
• 2:37
  Speaker 5: Band yeah how crazy is that yeah yeah oh that's
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: so awesome and Look, has your relationship with the NXS
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: Catalogue changed as you've gone through this journey?
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: Are there songs that hit you differently now than when
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: you first started singing them?
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: I would say, well, I think I'm a better singer
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: than when I first joined the band now. I think
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: I sing better now. You know, they were really gracious
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: and let me go out there and just try whatever
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: I needed to do to get through.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Please.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: You were pretty good back then too.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Angela. Thank you. And, you know, Who knows?
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: Like, I mean, I think if, you know, I play
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: my cards right, maybe I can convince them that we
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: need to go back out on tour as a band
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: and tour the world again and show the people the
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: power and the and the magistrate that is in excess.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: Oh, that would be amazing. For right now, we've got
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: you and that's just as awesome.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Like I said, I'm carrying the torch.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: You are.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: I had lunch with Kirk last year when I was
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: down there. I went to Manly Beach and so we're
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: going to get together again this time. Maybe if we
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: can't get the band together, maybe I can convince one
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: of them to get.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Up on stage with me. Yeah, exactly.
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: I like this.
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: If you look at it that way, it'd be two-thirds,
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: if there's just two of us because there's six members,
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: you know, one or two thirds of the band would
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: be back together.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: So yeah, whatever. Yeah.
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: Sorry. I don't know.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: I'm not good at math. One third of the band.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Not two thirds. One third.
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: Sorry.
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: I'm not a math teacher.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: All good. And you're also performing pretty Vegas and devil's party,
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: which you co-wrote. Is there a different feeling that comes
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: with singing something you actually helped create rather than stepping
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: into a song that already has such an enormous history?
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: I think in my case it's different because I sort
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: of absorbed all those songs like they were my spiritual
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: children anyway, you know, just, you know, especially playing with
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: Andrew and with the band, you know, and then getting,
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: like you said, being able to co-write a song like
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: Pretty Vegas, I feel it's sort of like the, you know,
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: another child that they've, they have, you know, and that
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: you have to keep, you have to protect it and
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: you have to, you know, raise it up right.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: And you have to make sure that it's, doesn't get
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: into too much trouble.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: But, uh, you know, um, so I, I've never tried
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: to like, you know, do my version of, you know,
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: in excess or do it that way. I think, uh,
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: I think the songs are perfect the way they are
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: and I've never tried to change them. And I think, um,
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: I think the audience really appreciates that, especially, you know,
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: like we were saying earlier, if it connects, if it's
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: a song that you.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Grew up with, that, you know, every note, every lyric,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: every word, and then.
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: Somebody goes and changes it, to the point where you're
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: not like, you go, oh, it's, it's kind.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Of like that.
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: It's doesn't, it doesn't give.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: You the same.
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely. Definitely agree. And look, you joined in excess
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: after winning rockstar in excess in 2005.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: I remember watching that as a kid.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: It's crazy to be talking to you now, but what's something, yeah.
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: What's something about that whole experience that people still misunderstand
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: or don't realize about what it was actually like behind
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: the scenes.
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: I think, well, what people might not understand is I
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: think I was kind of edited to look like like the.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: Asshole, you know, part of my language.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: The bad guy.
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: They needed they needed a, you know, a protagonist or
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: an antagonist. So I think they they were looking at it.
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: I think the ball just landed on me.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: I think they could have done it to anybody.
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: But I think, you know, and God bless all the
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: producers of that show. Mark Burnett. He's, you know, great.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: They did a great show.
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: And, but I think what people wouldn't realize is that
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: it just, for me, it didn't stop. Like once the
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: show ended, I went right into, right into recording the
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: album with them and then flew to Australia.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: To start rehearsing for a world tour.
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: So it was like, I was already on that show
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: for three and a half months on TV in the summer.
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: And then it was like another month in the studio
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: and then another month in Australia.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: And then 22, a 22 month tour. So it was long,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: 22 months.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: And so, and your brain just kind of goes, you know,
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: you're trying to, and all of a sudden you find
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: yourself in a country where you can't speak the language,
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: but they know every lyric to pretty Vegas.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Or devil's party or never tear us apart. And that's
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: how they talk to you. They, They're like, you know,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: thumbing your way to Vegas, man. You're like, hey, yeah, great.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, good.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: I don't know if that pertains to me ordering coffee,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: but okay.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: That's so true. I never thought about that.
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: How did you stay sane during that time, or did
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: you kind of lose your way a little bit at all?
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: Well, I had, you know, the guys were a good
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: role model. They had been down there, those roads, been there,
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: done that. I mean, you know, it's not like they were,
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: you know, novice in any means, but I kind of just,
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: you know, couple of them took me under their wing and, and, um, especially,
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: you know, you kind of get, you know, you get homesick,
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: you know, and you, you, and I was missing my family.
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: I was missing my friends, but I was making all
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: these new friends and new, you know, kind of, um,
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: pseudo family members. And, um, at the end of the day, um,
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: I have an access to thank for, you know, just
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: helping me get through that process.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: I love all those guys.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: Goodness, you seem to handle things a lot better than
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: I think I would. I think I would have had
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: a mental breakdown after that. That just sounds so intense.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Tequila helps.
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: Ah, there you go.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: That's wonderful.
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: And a bit of a different question. If Michael Hutchence
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: could magically appear backstage before one of your shows, what's
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: the first thing you'd want to ask him?
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Oh, I think where'd you hide the rolling papers on
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: the tour bus?
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: No i probably well first i actually had a dream
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: like a reoccurring dream about five years ago that that
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: very scenario i'm getting ready to go on stage the
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: curtain's about to drop down and there's michael and um
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: you know and uh and the crowd kind of goes
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: michael and.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: You know and i'm like and then i go like.
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: Yeah michael and then you come out yeah well yeah
• 8:50
  Speaker 6: right um no i think i'd probably ask him um
• 8:54
  Speaker 6: I think I, you know, I probably ask him what
• 8:56
  Speaker 6: his favorite song that he ever wrote was.
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: I think I would do, I think I would want
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: to know that, you know, I know what my favorite
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: song that he wrote is searching.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: I love that song searching.
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: So, and elegantly wasted is really growing on me as
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: far as like, it was kind of ahead of its
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: time from 97. It was kind of doing some, everybody
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: else was doing the three chord, you know, Oasis rock stuff.
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: And here's an excess being in excess. Like they just
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: unapologetically said, In excess.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: And I love that.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: Definitely.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: Definitely.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: I feel like, look, my husband and I went on
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: a bit of an in excess rampage yesterday and this morning,
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: like just to give us a little refresher. And it's like,
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: these songs really do span across generations.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: Like they just, you can listen to them anytime, any
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: mood and it elevates your mood.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: I think you're so right. Like they just were ahead
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: of their time for a lot of this.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: I agree.
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: A lot of music today is sort of like, pointing
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: at you and telling you something, whereas I've always said,
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: in excess, is kind of like telling you come here
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: come here for a second listen to this come over
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: here you know I mean sometimes it's more profoundly strong
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: to whisper something than it is to scream it I
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: guess if you want to get into like a you
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: know a metaphor for it but I've always felt the
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: same like you just said any time I put on
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: any in excess album by the 10 second mark of the,
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: whatever song it is, I'm just like in a totally different,
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: better mood.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: And I'm just like, okay, this is.
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: Oh, sorry.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: I think we lost you for a second.
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: Do you want to just repeat what you said for
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: the last 10 seconds, 10 or 20 seconds or so? Yeah.
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: I just said, I, I appreciate that music because no
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: matter when I put it on, it doesn't matter what
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: kind of mood I'm in.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: It always makes me feel better.
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: It always like 10 seconds into the song, I'm like, Oh,
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: this is my comfort zone.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: This is my happy place.
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: And I love, and then, you know, then I close
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: my eyes and, and I go, Oh, I remember being,
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: you know, in Europe and playing the song and looking
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: over at Tim and Tim, you know, making.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: A funny face or something, you know what I mean?
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: It just, it brings back memories for me in a
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: different way than it used to when I was a kid.
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: because they started when I was, I think I was
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: three years.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: Old when they started in excess. So I was three.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: I wasn't saying anything about your age. It's just like,
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: I can't, that's, you.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Know, it's just an average gorgeous three-year-old.
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: And, and then by the time, you know, I was 10,
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: I was into like Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and AC, AC, DC,
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: believe it or not.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: And at 10, My grandmother bought me the Dirty Deeds.
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: Album.
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: And then when she heard it, she took it from
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: me and put it on top of the fridge. All
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: I wanted that summer, just wanted that album all summer.
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: I wasn't high enough to reach it. I was like,
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: please give it to me. And so she would go
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: out and I would pull a chair up, put it up,
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: get it, put it on my record player, sneak it.
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: Then I'd see her coming down the road and I'd
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: go back, put it up on the thing and pretend
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: like nothing ever happened.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. That's classic. I've got big balls. That's classic.
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: For my grandmother, that wasn't appropriate. But then In Excess
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: hit when I was about 12. And that's when I
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: realized I wanted to be, I wanted to go from just,
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: you know, kind of, I was, I've been singing since
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: I was five. And I kind of, that really pushed
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: me into wanting to be a songwriter and to wanting
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: to be in a band and to wanting to, I
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: wanted to do what they were doing.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: And make other people feel the way they were making
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: me feel, if that makes any sense, I guess, yeah.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: Oh, I love that story. It's cool to have cool grandmas.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: I also had a really cool grandma. She was French-Italian,
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: and she was a teacher, and she showed her students
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: Jimi Hendrix and things like that.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: I just thought that was awesome.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Shout out to the cool grandmas. Shout out to cool grandmas.
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: Without that, I don't know, maybe I would have not
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: ended up in music. That tease of not getting that
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: album was just too much for my young brain.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: It was just like, I must have it.
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: Have that. Oh, that's so cool. That is absolutely awesome.
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: And look, we've talked about songs that you absolutely love
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: and love to play. Is there a song, though, that
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: you're kind of a bit sick of playing that you're like,
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: let's play something else?
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: There were a few that I took out of the set,
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: but then it's like a relative thing. You know, like
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: you don't want them over too long, but then when
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: they leave, you're kind of like, well, you know what?
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: They can come back. Like I miss, you know, uncle Jerry,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean?
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Like I miss him.
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: And that, so, you know, sometimes the songs will float in,
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: they'll float out, but I don't think there's one that
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: I would necessarily say, I don't want to play it.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Um, the, uh, you know, um, No, I don't think so.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: Maybe.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: No, I don't think so. No, no. I love them
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: all actually more than Mary.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: Oh, well, look, I think that's good that if you
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: can go, let's swap this one out and do this
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: one for a while. And then actually let's put that
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: one back in.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: I think that's really cool.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: And it gives, it gives the crowd some variation and choice,
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: you know, variety is the spice of life. So you
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: don't want to, you know, I saw a band, I'm
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: not going to mention who they were, but who they are.
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: Because they're touring right now. But I saw them like
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: three nights and all different times.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: And the show was identical every night. No way.
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: Even the jokes that the singer made and how they
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: pointed to the crowd.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: And it was kind of like, oh, this is not
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: rock and roll.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: No.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: This feels more like corporate jukebox kind of manufactured. Just
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: make sure you say this. Make sure you say that.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: And then thank the sponsors.
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: And, you know, it's like, oh, can we just get
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: out and rock for a little bit before we're thanking
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: the beer companies right away, you know?
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: Oh, gosh. Jeez. Did they do that there? Did they
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: thank the sponsors?
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Some do.
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: Some artists will be like, yeah, we want to thank,
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: you know, Carlsberg Draft.
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Coors Light for bringing us here tonight.
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: And, you know, but to me that always, I mean,
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: I love beer, but like to me that always sounds like,
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: If you're playing in.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: A bar band, you're like, hey, make sure you tip
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: your bartender.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Last call, everybody. Like, oh, no.
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: I mean, I'm just getting picky. But when I saw
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: that band make the same, the guy was making the
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: same joke. And then, like, they pull up, you know,
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: somebody from the crowd. And he makes the same joke.
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: And everybody laughs. And meanwhile, you know, there's people there
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: that have probably seen it four or five times. And
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: if that's what you're into, I mean, that's what you're into.
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: But I think as a band, you must, or as
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: a performer, you must try to keep it fresh all
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: the time.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: You can't just... Or else you'd end up being a
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: lounge actor or something.
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: Well, there's nothing wrong with that, but I mean, you know.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it feels like you rest on your laurels a
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: bit or something. And it's, as you said, like a
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: bit manufactured and, yeah, weird.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Piece of your soul dies.
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's weird. I hope I never encounter that.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: You won't. Yeah. And what's the coolest fan interaction you
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: can think of that you've had with NXS?
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: Well, just getting to meet some other idols and stuff
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: like that. But a fan interaction. One time we were
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: in Vancouver, we were playing for the 2010 Games, for
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: the Winter Games.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: And a.
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: Girl came up and she had a song I wrote
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: with Andrew called Devil's Party. She had all the lyrics
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: tattooed from her shoulder down to her forearm.
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: And I thought that was fantastic.
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: I was like, wow, that came out of my head
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: and now it's permanently on somebody's body.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: Oh, that's a lot of responsibility. So that was, that was,
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: that was an interesting one. And then we've had some really,
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: you know, we've had a couple of doozies. We were
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: in New York and there was like a couple, the
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: woman said she had leukemia. She came backstage in a
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: wheelchair and then come to find out they were fraudsters
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: that the husband and wife switched off who was sick
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: and all they wanted was free tickets and some merchandise.
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: And like, you're talking about like people, yeah, that's just gross.
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: Like to me, that was, And here we all are like,
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: you know, I was almost in tears when she's like, yes,
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: I'm dying and everything.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: And I'm like, I'm so sorry.
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: And, you know, given her anything she wants, she wanted
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: me to leave a message on her on her outgoing thing.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Like, hi, it's J.D.
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: Fortune from In Excess. You've reached Olivia or whatever. And
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: please leave a message. And she was like, thank you.
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: Then a month later, we found out that they were
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: busted because now the husband's in the chair backstage at like.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Some concert, and he's like, I have leukemia. I'm like, oh,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: my God. Karma, baby. That's bad karma.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: I was just about to say, you know what?
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: As shitty as that, oh, sorry, as crap as that experience,
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: it comes back, and it did.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: You know, it's good to see they got busted.
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: How awful.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: What's wrong with people?
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: I don't know. You've got to fix them.
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: And what are you listening to right now?
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Today, I was listening to.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: Some Rod Stewart, a little old Rod Stewart.
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: And I'm trying to pick my opener song before I
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: start my set.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: So I think I know at one point, I'm not joking,
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: I was going to use Britney Spears' Work Bitch as
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: my opener. But like, you know what I mean?
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: And then into the opening song. So I still may
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: do that because I love that. But traditionally, you know,
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: I like to use something like ACDC. But I think
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: this time it might be either Britney Spears or Chuck
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: Berry and around there. I was listening to Maybelline today.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: So, you know, we'll see.
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: It's a bit it's not a big deal, but it's
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: it's it can set the whole mood, you know, before
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: the band goes on to play something. So that's what
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: I've been just doing, just random stuff today. But mostly, well, obviously,
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: I've been listening to In Excess to get, you know,
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: some new songs that we're doing in the set. together
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: and um but mostly i listen to like a lot
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: of classical i listen to jazz chet uh chet baker
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: billy holiday is constantly billy holiday is constantly playing at
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: my house constantly is my summer it's my summer vibe
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: you know a nice glass of wine at night listen
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: to billy holiday in the backyard and uh you could
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: just that's heaven for me that's.
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: Heaven absolutely absolutely i'd agree with that um And I
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: love that you want to keep everyone on their toes
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: with Britney Spears. I think that's a really good idea.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: Yes, definitely.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: Bikini, martini, you better work, bitch. Maserati, you better work, bitch.
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: That would be amazing. And I hope you are in
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: a bikini. That would be fantastic. And look, you've lived
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: such an unusual rock and roll story. If you could
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: erase all the pressure, and expectations and just make music
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: purely for yourself, what kind of music would JD Fortune
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: want to make?
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: Just what I've been doing right now. I've just, I
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: don't really have, and I know this is going to piss,
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: you know, my agent off, but I don't really have
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: a genre that I like that I, I can sing
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: whatever I sing, whatever makes me happy. You know, if
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: it's country, if it's rock, if it's blues, if it's,
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: you know, hip hop, you know, I, I love it all.
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: I mean, I can't, you can't, I don't think you
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: can be an artist or a musician and just say,
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: I'm only interested in this because it just.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: Limits, it limits you.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: And so, you know, and I'm, you know, and I'm
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: not really a big fan of either of any of
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: those genres. Like I don't have constantly, you know, country
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: playing or constantly like, hip hop or rock.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: I like, you know, I like it like a meal.
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: Like I'll have, I'll listen to, I'll listen to, yeah,
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: Bone Crusher.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: By, you know, yeah.
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: And then, and then I'll put on like Dolly Parton, not,
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: not to be, you know, to ride her.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Waves, but something like that, you know, or Willie Nelson.
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: And then I'll put on Rage Against the Machine after
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: I listened to Willie Nelson, you know, because it's all,
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: to me, it's all the same spirit, you know, it's
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: coming from somewhere that's.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: That's real. That's real.
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: I just hope to answer your question, I would write
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: real music that I, that just comes from me, I guess.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. I love that answer. And I'm very much the same.
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: Um, I find that I can listen to a wide
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: variety of music and I feel like if you don't,
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: there's something wrong with you.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: You're just like, I only listen to this. It's like, well, okay.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: You're missing out on.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: It's like, I have a, I have a friend the other,
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: like last year, um, I said, do you want to
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: go for sushi? And he said, oh, I hate sushi.
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: And I said, have you ever had it? He went, no,
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: I've never had it, but I just know I'd hate it.
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: And I went, well, that's the problem.
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: You've got to try some stuff. Yeah.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: You're missing out. What are you, five?
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: Like, geez. What are you, five?
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: Oh, gosh.
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: And we'll wrap this up shortly, but you're about to
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: spend October traveling around Australia again. Be honest.
• 22:02
  Speaker 5: Yes, ma'am.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: What are you looking forward to most?
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: I'm just seeing all my friends down there and Australians
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: to me are my second, it's my second home.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: I love you so much. I love you guys so much.
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: And I cannot wait to just be in front of
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: the crowds again and see, you know, people that came
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: out last year coming out again. And also, you know,
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: speaking of sushi, can't wait to have some sushi in
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: Australia because holy crap, And, you know, and have some
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: of your amazing coffee, which is great. You guys have
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: unbelievable coffee and also beer. Your craft beers down there
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: are very, you should be very proud of those beers
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: because they're like a food group.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: They're just like a food group.
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. There's some that are really good. And I'm
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: glad you said the thing about coffee because I speak
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: to a lot of people from.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: Overseas and I usually.
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: rag on their coffee um and you guys have i
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: believe is it is it jim hortons or tim.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Hortons jim hortons yeah.
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: And are they they're like mid for you guys like
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: they're okay.
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah they're yeah they're like a grab and go kind
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: of thing um also we you know we have our
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: starbucks and stuff like that but there's nothing better than
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: grinding your own beans being at a especially like um
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: there was a place called i think it was called
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: jet fuel that i went to when i was in
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: sydney and holy smokes like one cup of coffee and
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: you're set for the day and you don't have any
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: crash or anything.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: It's all pretty good.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: Sorry. No, you go.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: No, please. No, no, please.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: Oh, I don't understand why our coffee is so good,
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: but it is. And it's crazy.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: Like I've been to America a couple of times in
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: the U S and for so many Italians there, the
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: coffee for some reason is just crap.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: It's incredible how like, It's a little known fact that
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: Australia has probably the greatest coffee in the world.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: It's amazing.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: And finally, if you could take one thing from 2005 J.D. Fortune,
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: the guy who had just won Rockstar in excess and
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: give it to J.D. Fortune standing on an Australian stage
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: in 2026, what would you give him?
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: I'd probably give him better footwear, I'd probably give him
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: a better pair of shoes, and to be more, you know,
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: you don't need to look like you're uncomfortable to be
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: a rock star when you're, you know, wearing boots, or
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: Doc Martens, or whatever.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: You looked cool, you fooled us.
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: It was cool, yeah, but you know, it's like, I
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: had a really bad accident, I tore my ligament in
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: my leg by slipping on some champagne that was on
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: a stage I had like almost wooden wooden sole shoes
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: on and as soon as I hit it just my
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: knee my knee bent this way instead of instead of
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: bending like this it went like that yeah it did
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: and then I woke up in a in a stretcher
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: on my way to the hospital and I was just
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: thank god it was the last song of the night
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: it was don't change and I just remember like being
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: the back of this ambulance and like where where are
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: we going and they're like we're taking you to the
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: hospital mate I was like oh my goodness so when
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: did that happen last time you were here no that
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: would have been oh we're talking 20 years or 15
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: 16 years ago yeah i was in saskatoon saskatchewan yep
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: and at the beginning of the night i would throw
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: out these uh champagne plastic champagne flutes yeah on like
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: the second or third song and empty and people would
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: be like what i don't even know what this is
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: about and then on the second last song i'd have
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: the they would wheel out a case and it would
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: have two or three bottles of champagne on it and
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: then i'd and then you see everybody scrounging, where the.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: Fuck did I put that cup?
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Where's that cup?
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: Where's that cup?
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: And so I would do that, and then I got
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: someone on stage, and I was literally singing, and then went, whoop,
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: and that was it. And I tried to do the whole, like, hey,
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: I'm okay.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Apparently, you know, people were like, yeah, rock and roll.
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: Exactly, exactly. I mean, that's a pretty classic way to
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: introduce yourself.