Yes, Canadians love INXS.
But Kirk Pengilly thinks there's a better reason -- and a different love -- to describe it as fitting a Canuck should be chosen as the replacement lead singer for the Aussie rock band.
"I think there's a lot of similarities between Canadians and Australians, too," Pengilly says.
"The Commonwealth background and a large land mass with a small population tends to make us all real fighters and try to make a name and a mark in the world.
"Plus the love of beer ..."
Ah, the love of beer.
Beer. Mmm ... beer.
Sorry? Where were we? Beer? No, INXS. Oh, right. Sorry.
The new INXS. The one featuring fresh-faced frontman -- and Canadian -- J.D. Fortune, who was chosen, as everyone knows by now, to replace the band's late singer Michael Hutchence through the reality TV show Rock Star: INXS.
That was, however, over six months ago, and since then the second coming of the band has released a new CD (Switch), with a hit single (Pretty Vegas), and embarked on a hot-ticket tour, which brings them to the 'Dome tonight.
And how is the kid holding out now that the honeymoon is over?
"He's a handful, but he's everything we were looking for," chuckles Pengilly, the veteran rock act's guitarist and saxman, who was heavily involved in the Rock Star process.
"We get on like a house on fire, it's just like he's been in the band for 10 years now."
That new infusion of youth has, according to Pengilly, brought out to the shows and to the record stores "a new audience as well as the old."
And for a band that had been around for two decades, selling more than 30 million albums before becoming something of a footnote in the late '90s as a result of Hutchence's death, the new attention and new lease on life is entirely welcome.
"Definitely, definitely a second chance," he says.
"Not many bands have the opportunity to have that happen.
"Not a lot of bands have their singer die or whatever as well, but I think we're very fortunate to have the journey we've had and have a second chance -- it's just fantastic."
Of course, there are those who are still somewhat skeptical of the new INXS.
Part of that is because of the reality TV stigma. But Pengilly says Rock Star was the perfect way to find the right person, because of the three-month process, which included more than merely the singing aspect.
And there are others who, because of Hutchence's charisma and inseparable association with the music and image of INXS, would never accept anyone as a replacement -- be it Terence Trent D'Arby, who was recruited by the band briefly, or Fortune, who's taken the reins for good.
"People just have to understand, for one it's been nine years since Michael died," says Pengilly.
"And the way we've always seen it is that we're a family and when you lose a family member you don't stop being a family.
"For us a lot's happened in the last nine years, so maybe some people ... their last image was us with Michael. All of a sudden they've got this new image they've got to get their head around.
"I guess we've always felt ... we have the right to continue as a band, and to do that we need a singer.
"For us when we perform as a band with J.D., it feels like a band. It feels whole and it feels totally right and just.
"There's no disrespect to Michael in any way whatsoever and certainly we would never be about to ruin our legacy and all that we've achieved with Michael, but we've moved on."
