Australian four-piece rock band Bourbon Street – all original members – formed in Byron Bay, in early 1987. The band enjoyed immediate success on the live circuit as a ‘70s-styled, high-energy cover band and soon began writing their own songs.
During the next six years, Bourbon Street performed more live shows than any other band in Australia. They won multiple awards and released three albums before disbanding in September of ‘93.
Their debut LP, Stronger Than Dirt (1988) opens with a cover of Neil Young’s ‘Powderfinger’ – the band’s traditional opener for live shows. A young Brisbane-based group at the time were largely influenced by Bourbon Street and chose the song’s title as their band’s name – Powderfinger.
Meanwhile, Stronger Than Dirt went on to become a cult classic. It was re-pressed four times and is still in popular demand today.
In 2005, the band started writing again and began touring their native Northern Rivers area. Their fourth album, Banned for Life (co-produced by Powderfinger’s Ian Haug) was released in February, 2007. The album yielded three minor hits with Silver Dollar, Natural Blonde and Rosie’s Bar & Grill, all receiving extensive airplay in the Northern Rivers region of NSW.
A communal mid-life crisis hit the band shortly after the album’s release and the group went their separate ways for the next several years. In November of 2013, the band was lured out of assumed retirement by the Airlie Beach Music Festival organiser, Gavin Butlin.
The reunion ushered in a successful return to the stage and brought the band back together.
Since then, Bourbon Street have regrouped regularly for special appearances in and around their Northern Rivers area. Their current repertoire features fan faves from their albums and the usual mix of high-energy covers from the Doors, Led Zeppelin, Stones, AC/DC and the like.
See them at the Beach Hotel on Sunday, March 15, from 4.30pm.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
