December 15 [7:55 EDT] -- The members of INXS addressed the death of friend and bandmate Michael Hutchence today in an Australian TV interview orchestrated by the band and released to the media.

The AAP news service reports that the surviving members paid tribute to the singer in an emotional 20- minute session with Australian journalist George Negus, a former "60 Minutes" correspondent.

Tim Farris, who founded the INXS along with brothers Andrew and Jon, Hutchence, Kirk Pengilly and Garry Beers, told Negus he was still numb and a part of him was in denial -- he still didn't believe the man he regarded as a brother was gone.

Andrew noted that the manner of Hutchence's death wasn't tremendously important," it was the loss of the person that mattered. But the band did allude to the theory that mixing prescription drugs and alcohol was a likely factor.

"I can't be angry with Michael because if he did take his own life -- I feel he was sick," Tim Ferris told the interviewer, adding that it wouldn't have been a decision made with a clear head.

"I know there's been a lot of recent things, things like anti-depressants and alcohol mixed together making people suicidal and I think the world's got to take a deeper look at it and make sure that ... we're not giving these people who need ... have a chemical imbalance in the brain, emotionally, the wrong things," he said.

The AAP reports, according to New South Wales Coroner Derrick Hand, Hutchence's death was still being investigated. "When the matter is finally fully investigated," Hand told the service, "I will then look at the question of an inquest."

Hutchence came off as an enigma in the interview. He was described as a shy man who loved deeply and desperately wanted to spend Christmas with his family. The band also spoke about Hutchence's tendency to flirt with women and to flirt with danger. He always wanted to be doing something "extraordinary," they said.

Kirk Pengilly said that Hutchence initially thrived on the limelight, chosing to live in London for that reason that it started to backfire on the rockstar. Hutchence and mate Paula Yates became targets for the tabloids following Yates divorce and custody battle with Bob Geldof. Altercations with photographers, drug and adultery allegations followed, and most recently, the revelation at a TV star Hughie Green funeral earlier this year -- confirmed last week -- that the dead man was Yates' biological father.

The band declined to discuss Yates' relationship with Hutchence but pledged to provide for their daughter Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lilly.

As for the future of the band, the members said they would release the next single, "Searching," from their album, "Elegantly Wasted," as scheduled prior to Hutchence's death, but then they would be talking a long break.

"We know better perhaps better than anyone with Michael's career what he would have wanted us to have done and we're gonna try and do the right thing by him whatever we do," said Tim Farriss.