INXS: Story to Story: The Official Autobiography

What was your favorite part of writing this book?

INXS were such a great band, because they bridged the underground with the overground in the Eighties. They were one of the bands who defined MTV and ushered in the video age, but they came from a fertile, experimental music scene half a world away in Australia. They really married sound to image in a powerful way and made the most of that burgeoning medium. They also made a tremendous impact internationally at a time when the world was less connected. Exploring their history and roots, from playing Australian mining colonies through to selling out arenas was fascinating.

Were you a fan of the music going in to the project and did you find that your opinion of the musicians or music changed during the process?

I have yet to take on a project where I’m not a fan of the music. I think that would be hard. To write a good biography or autobiography, the writer must be immersed in the subject. Music is so important to me that I can’t imagine listening to music I don’t like for months while writing about the people who made it. I had more respect for INXS after writing the book, because I learned that most of them are well-rounded players with interests and abilities beyond the scope of what they played in the band. I was particularly floored by Andrew Farriss. He is a very talented songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. They’re an interesting bunch, all of them with distinct personalities and I enjoyed getting to know them all very much. Most of all, as I learned what was going on within the band during the writing and recording of the albums I gained a much deeper appreciation for their legacy, as I hope readers do as well.

You lived in Australia during the interview process. What was this like?

I lived in Sydney, in Potter’s Point, in sax player Kurt Pengilly’s flat while researching and doing interviews. Australia is gorgeous and Sydney is a fantastic city. For my purposes, the experience was priceless. Living there, visiting the pubs and clubs where the band began made their history literally come to life before my eyes. Kirk was essential in paving the way for me to speak to intimates of the band who had never gone on record about Michael Hutchence. Writing the official autobiography of a band who had lost their spiritual and symbolic leader was a difficult task as it was, but trying to capture a sense of him without the honest, unpolished impressions of those people would have made it impossible. Visiting the band’s old haunts, many of which hadn’t changed much, also made Michael real to me. For every story I heard about a legendary gig or pub where they’d had adventures, I visited the venue where it had happened, even if it had been turned into something charmless like a cell phone store. Enough of them remained intact for me to be able to spend a night there, watching entirely different bands entertain entirely different crowds, but still get a sense of the past. Being in the same space with the stories I’d heard in mind coalesced well enough for the band to say that I’d captured the times incredibly well for someone who wasn’t there. It was really important to me to recreate the band’s early days in as much detail as possible because they have such an interesting back story.