Love Letter to a Record: Taylor Roche on INXS' 'Kick'

Music Feeds’ Love Letter to a Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with an album they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, rising Kiwi pop musician Taylor Roche sings the praises of INXS’ Kick (1987).

Taylor Roche released the single ‘day&night’ in August 2022, following ‘similar feeling’, which came out in April. Both tracks display Roche’s hopeless romanticism and fondness for ’80s production. Roche, who rose to fame on TikTok, is promising more new singles before the year is out.

Taylor Roche’s Love Letter to INXS’ Kick

Taylor Roche: Growing up, my parents were huge music lovers, especially my dad. He had folders of CDs in his car for road trips that were full of albums from Queen, Tears For Fears, Toto, ABBA – literally every iconic band you could think of. I remember one album that he would spin more than others and that was Kick by INXS.

There was a song on there, ‘Need You Tonight’, that every time it came on, it would make 7-year-old Taylor groove in his car seat like there was no tomorrow. ‘Need You Tonight’ became the theme tune to every summer family road trip, as my parents heard me constantly requesting “just one more time” from the backseat.

Kick is full of incredible tracks and it’s aged like fine wine. ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ is another favourite of mine. Consisting of strings and a full on sax solo, this track makes me feel like I’m in a movie every time I listen to it. INXS’ music in general drives a lot of inspiration into the music I create today.

‘Need You Tonight’ is driven by a really funky and crunchy bass line, and this was an idea that we kind of grasped for my recent single ‘day&night’. My friend Jake Schrodski, who co-wrote this one, jumped on the bass and just shredded over the track. This ended up being what led the song and is probably my favourite element of the track.

INXS – ‘Need You Tonight’

I found a love for singing and music at around the same time I was introduced to INXS and I immediately envisioned myself on stage performing like the band. I remember dad used to show me videos of the lead singer Michael Hutchence on stage and I became obsessed with how he moved and had the whole audience in the palm of his hand. I knew one day that’s exactly what I wanted to be. Even today I still watch recordings of their 1991 Wembley show just to fuel that fire.

One really random but cool moment that recently happened to me was I was performing with my band here in Auckland and just after we finished, a guy came up to me and was like, “Bro, I don’t know if you know who this is, but you remind me so much of Michael Hutchence the way you perform and move on stage.” I could literally feel my inner child, that little wannabe rockstar, absolutely beaming.

Kick by INXS was bread and butter to the rockstar dream I started chasing as a kid and is an album that, to this day, always feels like home.