Music legend enjoys Clontarf stop on tour

Image: AshenMoon's Yohai Portal, Garry Beers and Toby Rand.

Australian music legend and former INXS bass player Garry Beers has found a renewed passion for music with his new band, which based themselves at Clontarf for a couple of days this month.

Beers and his band AshenMoon were in town ahead of a Brisbane gig as well as shows in Melbourne and Sydney. AshenMoon was co-founded by Beers and lead vocalist Toby Rand and features Yohai Portal on guitar and Jackie Barnes on drums.

“Our manager is from up this way, Scotty, and his friend Dan (Nebe) offered the use of his amazing (Team Musicare) studio facility for our rehearsals,” Beers explained.

“Jackie Barnes, our drummer, lives up on the Sunshine Coast. It was central and Dan also offered for Yohai, Toby and I to stay in his house, so it worked out perfectly.

“It’s a great little facility. The whole Musicare thing (offering people of all abilities the chance to play music) is brilliant. It’s a wonderful thing.”

LA-based Beers, Portal and Rand spent a couple of days on the Redcliffe Peninsula before having to hastily jump on an aeroplane and head south ahead of Tropical Cyclone Alfred’s arrival.

The Brisbane show, which was cancelled, was going to be Beers’ first in Australia for 12 years.

“The last time I played was with INXS, 12 years ago, that was nowhere near here, probably in Brisbane,” he recalled.

“Good old Cyclone Albert put himself down on the guest list.

“We just wanted to get into Australia, show that I still exist and the band exists, because … COVID stopped us playing live. We had to cancel two tours, Yohai our guitar player got ill so we waited until he got better. It took us a while to get back on track.

“We had the album ready and kind of finished in 2019 and now we’re just re-addressing it all with new members and Yohai. It’s a bit of a work in progress … it didn’t need to be rushed.

“We’ll come back later in the year and do more extensive shows.”

AshenMoon released an EP about 18 months ago and is building a following of lovers of hard rock.

“It’s a lot rockier than INXS. I’m a bit of a headbanger,” Beers said.

“I mean ACDC played at my school dance. What chance did I have to not be a musician.

“They were so loud and so incredible. I was 17 and thought I want to do that.

“That’s the stuff that makes me happy like Zepplin and Queen and Deep Purple. ACDC … good old Australian rock.”

Beers enjoyed international success with INXS but says his connection with music is probably stronger now than it’s ever been.

“We have a song After You’re Gone and it’s like that … You never appreciate something until it’s gone and I think in a way that’s what it was with INXS. I loved touring, I loved the guys, I loved the music,” he explained.

“I’ve been living in LA for 20 years … I’ve got an American wife and young family. I saw Toby on the Rockstar Supernova thing … the was a spinoff from the Rockstar INXS I did a year before.

“I saw him perform a couple of times, when they were filming the show, but I never met him. Then I met him at a party. He was a surprise guest at a party of one of the producers of the show.”

He introduced the pair and encouraged them to play together. They did Need you Tonight. Beers said he was handed a left-handed guitar which he played upside down.

“I think we found something in each other that was missing with other songwriting partners,” Beers said.

“We recorded an album in 2019, signed a record deal in February 2020 … basically the week COVID hit. Then the record company folded, tours got cancelled.

“It’s interesting because we’re starting all over. It’s not INXS and I don’t want to go out as INXS. I’m really proud of the original music of Ashen Moon. I’m just hoping it gets heard, is appreciated and people love it.”