INXS composer Andrew Farriss has spoken about missing his late friend and bandmate Michael Hutchence 20 years after his death.

The pair worked together in the band for two decades until Hutchence committed suicide in November 1997 aged 37.

Farriss told the Press Association: “Sometimes I sit here and think one minute he was here and one minute he wasn’t.

“There was no sort of time to really adjust to that idea. That’s been pretty difficult.

“I think of it more in terms of just missing a good friend.”

At the time of his death Hutchence, who suffered from depression, had Prozac and cocaine in his blood.

He was upset after partner Paula Yates told him she could not travel to Australia with their baby daughter, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily, as she was in a legal battle with ex-husband Bob Geldof.

Farriss said that “a lot” of the songs on the final INXS album Hutchence wrote with the band, Elegantly Wasted, were about his personal life.

The Australian star said: “I think he was very frustrated with a lot of things in his life at that point but really it was very difficult for us to really help him with that because a lot of it was personal for him.”

He added: “A lot of people talk about towards the end of his life … the troubles or whatever, but really there was so much more happiness in his life and so much more positivity and things that he contributed creatively and artistically and I wish people would talk more about it.”

The rock band, who continued to produce music after Hutchence’s death, are celebrating 40 years since they formed, and 30 years since the release of hit album Kick.

They achieved worldwide fame with hits such as New Sensation, Need You Tonight and Devil Inside.

Farriss said he would continue to write and record music.