November 1997 saw the shock death in tragic circumstances of INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence. A quintessential rock star and the ultimate sex symbol, he’d fronted the Australian outfit for over 20 years helping them become one of the biggest acts of the ’80s and ’90s.

His untimely demise looked like the end of the road for a band who had shifted 30 million records, scoring hits like, ‘New Sensation’, ‘I Need You Tonight’ and ‘Devil Inside’. Now, on the back of a new greatest hits compilation, Definitive INXS, the band return to live action with a new singer Jon Stephens former frontman with Aussie outfit Noiseworks.

“No-one will ever replace Michael,” says long time INXS bassist Andrew Farriss. “At the same time we all have a passion to perform and to continue doing what we love. The whole reason INXS became famous in the first place is that we were a great live band. We’re still a great live band and Jon’s a fantastic singer.”

Farriss, whose brothers Tim and Jon are also long-time members of INXS remembers clearly the last time he saw Hutchence alive and hearing the news of his death, “We were rehearsing for a tour, working on backing vocal parts,” he recalls. “I saw him stand up and go to leave. We shared a joke, kind of a Monty Python ‘ministry of silly walks’ thing. It was such an ordinary everyday conversation for us to have, but that was the last time I saw him alive.”

“When we heard that he was dead it was kind of surreal – we went into shock. It was very hard to handle. But in time you get over that. We’re more into looking at the positive side of his life and celebrating it, which is the right thing to do.”

According to Farriss the members of INXS went through a period “intellectualising” about the long-term future of the band. They all involved themselves in a wide range of songwriting, production and live projects (Farriss has produced albums for acclaimed Aboriginal band Yothu Yindi.) “Then we did a couple of shows in Australia including a big one in Sydney for the opening of the Olympic stadium, which we did with Terence Trent D’arby on vocals. The reaction was way beyond our expectations and then we decided that we should try and find a permanent frontman. It’s tricky trying to find someone to fit the bill and we didn’t rush around hunting for the ultimate singer. Jon just arrived on the scene and fitted in perfectly.”

“We went to North America to see how the fans would react. A lot of them made positive comments and by the time the show finished, many of them had tears running down their faces. Michael was such a well-known celebrity that the rest of the band could be ignored at times. People are now beginning to realise that there were others in the band who were important to the sound we created.”

INXS, as their moniker suggests, had a reputation as a bit of a party band. Have they cooled down on the rock ’n’ roll excesses or are they still up for it?

“It depends on what we’re doing at the time,” Farriss says. “It’s unhealthy to walk around like a monk. On the other hand it’s not good to go on too many binges these days. But the mythology of youth is less important to audiences these days. It’s like Keith Richards said, ‘What’s all this Peter Pan shit?’. Who said you had to be tinkerbell to play rock and roll? We’re still up for a good time!”