Hoodoo Gurus

FEW BANDS HAVE put out as many consistently interesting and entertaining albums as Australia’s Hoodoo Gurus. From their 1984 debut, Stoneage Romeos, up through 2010’s Purity of Essence and a slew of more recent recordings, including 2021’s “World of Pain,” the band have cranked out perfect power-pop songs matched only by the “strum and drang” [sic] of their rave-up live shows. Along the way, they’ve been inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association Hall of Fame. The group’s lineup has been mostly stable — with a few changes to the rhythm section over the years — but singer/guitarist Dave Faulkner and guitarist Brad Shepherd have been mainstays.

As a songwriter, Faulkner delights in intricate and clever wordplay with subject matter that veers from the comic to the cosmic to heartfelt meditations on relationships gone sour. On 2020’s “Get Out of Dodge,” Faulkner explores calcified thinking and the limits of tolerance with guest vocals supplied by old touring partner Vicki Peterson of the Bangles along with her husband John Cowsill of the