Hoodoo Gurus (referred to as the Gurus by fans) are an Australian rock band, formed in Sydney in 1981, by the mainstay Dave Faulkner (songwriter, lead singer and guitarist) and later joined by Richard Grossman (bass), Mark Kingsmill (drums), and Brad Shepherd (guitar, vocals, harmonica). Their popularity peaked in the mid to late 1980s with albums Mars Needs Guitars!, Blow Your Cool! and Magnum Cum Louder.

They followed Kinky with Crank in 1994. The 'Crank' world tour took the Gurus through USA, Canada, Europe and included a one-month tour of Brazil. Faulkner also composed the soundtrack to Laurie McInnes' 1994 feature film Broken Highway. In 1995, the Gurus collaborated with The Masters Apprentices frontman Jim Keays on an updated rendition of "Turn Up Your Radio". The song was included on a new Masters' Best of album, as well as being issued as a single. In 1996 they moved to Mushroom Records for the release of their next album, Blue Cave. The band then undertook a national tour of Australian tour with US outfit The Posies and local band Drop City. Touring commitments were curtailed when Kingsmill severed tendons and nerves in his arm as a result of an onstage accident. Once Kingsmill recovered, the Gurus completed their 'Circus Maximus' Australian tour by end of 1996. In January 1997, Faulkner announced that the band would be breaking up in December. March was the Gurus undertake another tour of Brazil, where they played a concert in front of 40,000 people. The Gurus commenced their final Australian tour, the three-month 'Spit the Dummy' tour, in October 1997. The tour coincided with the release of the double compilation album Armchair Gurus/Electric Chair, which made No. 29 on the national chart. The band played its final show in Melbourne on 11 January 1998. The show made up for dates missed during December 1997, when Faulkner was ill. In November 1998 Mushroom had issued the Hoodoo Gurus' live album, Bite the Bullet. The songs had been recorded during the band's 'Spit the Dummy' farewell tour. The standard, single album version was joined by a limited edition, triple CD version subtitled Director's Cut. It included the additional CDs, Doppelganger (a collection of live-to-air Broadcasts from between 1983-1996) and Bubble and Squeak (a collection of outtakes and oddities). Although Hoodoo Gurus officially split in 1998 they signed with Acadia Records, who released the band's career-spanning compilation Ampology in October 2000.

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