Ghostwriters

Rob Hirst of Midnight Oil teamed with Rick Grossman of the Hoodoo Gurus to launch the Ghostwriters, an off-kilter Australian side project whose red-haired, Richard Hell-indebted character offered fans of either group an unexpected point of entry. The band’s layered songwriting and shifting roster of players never quite captured Oil’s signature defiance or the Gurus’ buoyant tone, yet the project’s broad embrace of raw aboriginal garage rock and thickly textured production created a sound that stayed distinct from start to finish.