Listen Like Fans- For The Love Of INXS
Listen Like Fans is a podcast made by INXS fans, for INXS fans — for the love of INXS.
From deep cuts to defining moments, personal stories to passionate debates, this is where fans from around the world come together to celebrate the music, the legacy, and the magic of one of Australia’s greatest bands. Whether you’ve been there since the early pub gigs or discovered INXS years later, this podcast is about connection, community, and keeping the spirit alive.
No gatekeeping. No egos. Just pure love, memories, and a shared obsession with the sound that still moves us.
Listen Like Fans- For The Love Of INXS
Massage, Magic Juice & Michael Hutchence: let's go backstage with INXS's Massage Therapist
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This week on Listen Like Fans, Amalia Camateros takes us deep inside the world of INXS as the band’s massage therapist, healer and trusted backstage confidante from 1990–1996.
From hand massages before shows and private late-night talks with Michael Hutchence to the legendary “magic juice” used by the band and Kylie, Amalia shares unforgettable stories from her first-hand experiences with the biggest rock bands in the world.
Intimate, a bit cheeky, emotional and packed with backstage moments fans have never heard before.
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Website: https://www.inxsaccessallareas.com/
I got a growth.
SPEAKER_00Welcome to Listen Light Fans for the love of Emacs Dells. I'm B, and each week I'll be joined by different co-hosts as we dive into the songs, the stories, and the moments that made us fall in love with this most iconic band on the planet. Let's go. Well, I'm joined today by a very beautiful person in the middle of Arizona. I think you might maybe in the middle of the desert there, but I'll just say a little few things about you first, if that, if I may. Welcome everyone to the show. And today's going to be a little bit different to our normal music. This is more of a spiritual, um, being nice, calming, and maybe a bit of cheekiness, a run away. I don't know. We're going to dive deeply into a personal and intimate perspective of Michael Hutchins, not just the front man, but the and not just the global icon, but the man behind it all. Joining me today is Amalia Kamateras, who worked closely with Michael and members of In Excess between 1990 and 96 as a massage therapist, healer, and naturopath. Her experiences offer a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse into Michael's world from the quiet, reflective moments to the wild, energetic energy we all saw on stage. Welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for having me. I'm really glad to be here. Hello, everybody. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, first of all, we need to thank Kylie for setting this up. She found you on Facebook, I believe. So you you do seem to sort of pop in and have a look at um what's going on in the NXS world?
SPEAKER_01Of course. Of course. They pop into me too on my dreams still. Michael still comes into my dreams.
SPEAKER_00Oh, wow, fantastic. All right. Well, before we get on to that, because I feel feel this is going to be quite special. Is um how did you become so close to the band and become their personal, would you say a a massage therapist? And what what was it that you were saying?
SPEAKER_01I was a I was a naturopath doctor, but what they uh needed at the time was someone to massage them. So I was doing massage and natural nat, I was a naturopathic doctor and healer. And how I got to connect within excess is I guess I guess I better start from the beginning, is I would uh be asleep. And my husband at the time, back then in those, those, that era, would be watching MTV. And I would happen to wake up right at that moment when Michael Hutchins would be staring into the camera, doing his, you know, luxurious thing. And it would be interesting to me, like, wow, interesting. I'd be waking up at that time. A few times it made me notice, and uh that made me feel like there was some sort of connection, like, what's going on here? This is a little uncanny. And and I would just walk past, and Michael's face would be really close doing his thing. And I I got this sense sensation, or more than a sensation, but a jolt of knowing that I know this man, I know him. And after about three or four times it would happen, I would turn to my husband and say, you know, I know this, I know this guy. I know him. And and I know this band, I know them. And he looked at me and he didn't think I was crazy. He just went, Yeah. Because he knows where I'm coming from when I say it. Yeah, he knew where I was coming from, and he could see that on a more deeper level that I would uh that I had some knowingness about this this um front man, and you know, that was that. And then I suddenly, of course, I would start to be intrigued. Like, what's this inks? At first it was like inks, you know, what's inks, you know. And I actually I thought they were a British band. I would never have thought they were Australian banks. I was so you know, phenomenal international and international energy. But I kind of met them before the as on the on the cusp of them becoming internationally known.
SPEAKER_00And and um and so and where were you living at the at this point?
SPEAKER_01I was living on I was living in Victoria, Australia, the naturopath doctor in Rosebud, uh at a healing center called Peninsula Natural Therapies. So I had already been a young naturopath doctor with 14 practitioners and you know, dealing with bank managers and a husband and building a house and doing a lot at that stage. And yeah, what happened is that I was training to get our naturopath um criteria, you know, to be actually to actually graduate, we had to have something like 200 hours of training with another naturopath doctor. So I was training with a very wonderful uh chiropractor naturopath called Ian B. Thomas. And I was following in excess, like, wow, I'm really uh when I first saw Michael, and I don't know if many people will understand what I'm saying about this with here, but I I've known about that the Greek temples, the Egyptian temples. I've worked in the field of priestess, the priestess energy of doing ceremony and uh uh learning about healing and the ancient days, but I recognized him as a priest. Wow. As a as an ancient priest. From back in those days, I recognized him. And um, so then one day, you know, I I would go and see them, and I mean I would see them on MTV. And then one day uh I was training there with Ian at his clinic, and he said, Oh, you know, I got this letter from the NXS manager to go and do some massage for them. And I said, Yes, do it. Are you kidding me? They're fantastic. You've got to do it. And he was very nonchalant at that stage. He'd been doing managing and massage quite a bit for a lot of well-known uh artists at the time, especially Australian artists. And and um I was saying, no, you've got to do it. He goes, Oh, I don't know. I said, Let me write the letter. I'll write the letter for you. I wasn't thinking for me at all. I wasn't thinking it was going to be landing back on me, but yeah, I was saying, yeah, you've got to do it, you've got to do them phenomenal. So anyway, that that was it. I didn't budge him, I didn't say anything like that. And a couple of weeks later, uh in XS's concert was coming up for for open to to come and to go and see them.
SPEAKER_00And what you know was this?
SPEAKER_01This was back in I thought it was 1990, it might have been just before that, too. Okay, doing their big, I don't know if it was the kick tour.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was a kick tour.
SPEAKER_01They came back from overseas and they were coming into Melbourne and back, you know, back into Melbourne, Sydney. And uh the three concerts all sold out in a matter of hours, and I just didn't couldn't believe it. I was like, oh, I'll call at the end of the day, I'll call three concerts, and I was devastated that I couldn't get a ticket. And then the next morning, I was very upset because I know these guys, I know them, I should be there. And the next day, uh the radio said, Oh, for all you people who are very upset that in excess is you know, sold out, we're opening another another concert for you. And so I in my day, out in my day of being there with my clients, my my patients, I for the first time in years, I would say, excuse me, I have to make a very important call. I would never do that. I had never done that. And so I would say, excuse me. I'd go into the next room and call the number to you just have to call the number to get in, talk to someone to get a ticket. And it was busy all day. And so I thought, no, this is not okay. I know them. I should be with them. And so at the time I was working with affirmations, I'm a healer. So, you know, at the time all the affirmations were big. So I wrote this affirmation. I Amalia Kamateros have the best seats in the in excess concert. And I had one, the affirmation in one pocket, and then I had a crystal, because I'm a healer, you know, I'm a spiritual healer, and a crystal in the other. And I was desperate at that stage. I need to get a ticket, and it has to be the best. And I was running that affirmation through the crystal, and by the end of the day, I was feeling really disheartened. Like, why isn't it working? And then at the very towards the end of the day, I thought, you know what? I'm gonna press the button of the phones with the crystal that has all the inform affirmation in it. And so I press the number and she answers the phone. And I said, I need I want the best seats in the in XS constant. She said, they all say that. I said, Yeah, but I know them. And she says, they all say that. And I said, Okay, give me what you've got. Give me what you've got. We've got some back seats, back seats. I still couldn't believe it. It wasn't correlating with what I knew. And and um, and then uh uh the next day, Ian Thomas called me and said, Hello, sweetheart, uh, what are you doing tonight? The next night, the next night, and the next night. So I said, the next tomorrow night, I'm busy. There's nothing in the world's gonna take me away from what I'm doing. He goes, What's that? And I said, Oh, um, and he goes, Oh, I'm sorry. I uh I'm sorry, I thought you might want to come and massage in excess with me. And I said, Are you kidding me? Yes, yes, yes, I would love to do that. So that's how it happened.
SPEAKER_00Wow. So there was you trying to get a ticket, and all of a sudden that Ian's got the uh the nod that he's got the jobs and the contract.
SPEAKER_01Because I was saying do it, do it. I I he knew I loved them so much. We'd gone took us to go and see in access. I still thought they were in British, I didn't know they were Australian at all. Oh, you didn't know until you actually not when I went to see them on stage. Oh wow, what a concert. And then it was like, Well, I'm really proud. It's they're Australian.
SPEAKER_00Wow, you gosh, you've told me so much there. So yeah, you you really do feel the energies in that's the beginning of it.
SPEAKER_01That's the beginning of let's go. Let's let's let's move along.
SPEAKER_00Okay, well, your background sounds amazing, and I'm so glad that you're not just a massage therapist that seems a bit ooky-pooky because we do have a few people come onto the onto the shows that you know claim things, you know, that that they are the Jan or anything in Jan's world. But yeah, so what was it like? Who did you meet first out of them? Did you meet um I believe Chris Murphy first?
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, no, there were there was also Michael Long. Michael Long was the man we were mostly connected with. He was the one that was Chris Murphy wasn't there yet in that particular vicinity. There was a room there that we were doing the massage, and Ian was massaging. And I think my first massage may have been either John Ferris or at, or I don't know, you know, one of the band members. It wasn't Kirk, I think it might have been Andrew Farris, I think it or John. Anyway, one of those. And then Michael walks in and he's wearing this robe, like a silk robe. It's like it kind of reminded me of a boxing robe. Like he comes in and and and I see him, and I've got to be cool. You know, I'm I'm cool, like I'm always cool with him. I'm never gonna give away.
SPEAKER_00And how old were you at this point, Bob?
SPEAKER_01Oh, I don't even know. 38. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh, it's thirty, thirty-six, maybe uh something like this. Yeah. And uh Michael, and he's only one year older. I'm I'm one year older than Michael, so it's pretty much his, and when he comes in, it's like, oh, I gotta take a deep break, because I'm a breath therapist at that stage, also. So I knew how to be calm and I knew how to be in my alignment and and not be all goo goo, you know, Michael's coming into the healing room, you know. And he drops his robe and he's got this G string on that's like emerald, like an emerald green. I think it was an emerald green robe, and I and I emerald green is my spiritual colour, so of course it's like, oh boy, you know, this is emerald green. And he was wearing it, and I I had to be very um very cool and collected. And I was, I was. I'm very professional, so there's no worries about that. But it was just, you know, you you're you're you're rubbing shoulders now with with an international level of energy. So it was it was spectacular. And what I noticed is that when they walked down the corridor, they were very friendly. My first noing of them was to the janitor or to the sweeper, hello, how are you? And that really won me over immediately. They were not above anybody else.
SPEAKER_00No, no, and I loved that like that.
SPEAKER_01And I loved that, I loved that. I noticed that and I, you know, took marks, like, oh yeah, this is this is this is a real deal people here.
SPEAKER_00Okay, wow. So Michael Energy String, okay. I'm trying to get over that one first of all. Um, so so that energy that you felt of him being um more than um uh just an average man, how did how did the conversation go with him for that that initial moment?
SPEAKER_01Uh well, I didn't have any uh I I I massaged them four nights in a row, actually. And uh actually it was three nights in a row, and then because I had a dance class I was giving on the fourth night, and you know, I'm always very dedicated to what I say I'm gonna do. So I stayed home and gave the gig to my husband. And so when they met him and they'd met me, and and the first time actually um Ian said to my husband, you know what they said about Amelia? And he they said they they he said Ian said Amelia had them eating out of their palm, licking, like totally eating out of her palm, like they were totally engrossed in her with what she offered and what she was saying to them, because I wasn't just a massage therapist, I was a um uh spiritually aligned. And I don't mean spiritually ungrounded, I mean very present. Right, very present on my duty, on my on my job, in my dharma, um being very real and present and giving them what they need. So I was talking about counseling with them, I was teaching, did a bit of Reiki on them, I did a bit of breath work to getting them calm and teaching them already things that they had not had been taught before yet.
SPEAKER_00Wow. I should imagine John Farris would have really opened up to that. Oh, yeah. He seems the more spiritual one out of all of them.
SPEAKER_01And Kirk, and Kirk, really and Kirk. Kirk and I shared the same birthday, 4th of July. Oh, cool. Yeah, so we had that little special thing too. But um, you know, when I first started to connect with Michael, um, it would be through the massage, you know, and he'd be he'd I'd noticed he'd be very, very shy. He'd have a very shy persona, and he'd be very meek in almost on the phone, like, um, hi, Amelia, would you like could you come? And he was very shy. And I'd say, Michael, of course. And I'd be I'd rebound back strong. Michael, absolutely, of course. It doesn't matter what time, I'm here for you. And so I'd go to his room and massage him. And and I remember the first time he he's a little bit of a brat, you know, he he's impetuous brat in the best way possible. I'm not saying negative, it's fun, he's fun. And and I don't know if I don't know if we can put this in the the uh go for it. Yes, he's a naughty brat because the first time I massaged him, I massaged him, and it was, you know, it was great. I mean, wow, he, you know, he he's a beautiful being all around, inside and out. And I remember massaging him, and my husband was there, and and he comes out of the massage, all sort of like a little panther, you know. And he goes, and my husband's name was Michael too. And he goes, My, yeah, he goes, Michael, I just thought I should let you know that your wife was the first time I had a massage and had a heart on. Oh my god. And my husband was proud, like, oh god, honey. And and it was, I didn't know, it wasn't obvious. It was just he he's just a tease ass, you know? Yeah, he's a tease ass. He he likes to get reactions.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01And uh we held it together, and there's no, I don't think he got the reaction he may have wanted, but it was fun, you know. And he used to he used to always uh tease me because I would at the time I would have a saying like, can I share something with you? I say, can I share? And it was a bit of a habit, can I share? And and Michael would go, uh, Amelia, can I share something with you? Like he used to we used to play around this sort of way. And there'd be times where you know we'd be at the pool and he'd be there. Because, you know, uh Michael and I were we weren't touring with them, but but we were with them when they were in Melbourne and in Sydney and even in Queensland. So in Australia, we didn't do any international travel with them, but while they were on the coastline where we were, we would be able to meet them or they would ask us. And uh initially, when they first met us, if it met me, they said to me, Hey, um, we've got massage therapists lined up in Sydney, but we don't want them. We want you guys. We want you, I want you, we want you. And it was just you and Ian at this point, or me and Ian at the time for three nights, and then the fourth night I stayed back and did my dance, uh, healing dance class with my clients. And then Michael came, and then the fourth, I think that was the third night, third night, and then the fourth time when I went back, he goes, Oh my god, they were saying, You guys are cool. You you guys are a team. We want you, we want you on our team.
SPEAKER_00Excellent.
SPEAKER_01So that's how it happened, yeah. But yeah, you know, we'd be at the pool and you know, I'd be I'd be there, and of course I was enamored by Michael. Who wasn't enamored by Michael? Who didn't want to be close to Michael? I mean, yeah. I I just I was so privileged, I felt so privileged to be with all of them, especially especially Michael. And you know, at the end I'd be there and Michael would come by and come down and sit, sit with me, and we'd have a talk. And then because my husband knew how much I loved Michael, he would leave and let me have that private time, which I thought that was really sweet, you know, because he knew that we had a I had a connection with him. So it happened to be that Michael would come and sit down with me and and just have a little talk. And I think he was hungry. I believe Michael was hungry for something deeper, but didn't know where to go. And I was one of those people, not just as a good friend, he had good friends, but I mean a a mentor, teacher at a deeper level.
SPEAKER_00I think so. Did you did you get to tell him that you used to see his um face coming out of the MTV?
SPEAKER_01Did you ever know I kept I didn't tell him because I needed to be there as a naturopath doctor from for me? I w I needed to keep it where he could not see me as a fan. I mean, this is unusual for me to be on a fan club talking about this because I've never really talked about this side of things. This is the first time on in public that I would be speaking about this because I always kept my role as a naturopath doctor healer for them. So, no, I would never say uh that to him.
SPEAKER_00You'd never go frank girl on him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I wouldn't go fan fan level on him at all. I would just keep my alignment and I suppose I wasn't really thinking that.
SPEAKER_00I was thinking that you felt like a connection with him, and there you are sitting having a a chat with him about him. No, I didn't want to say that.
SPEAKER_01I didn't want to scare him, you know. I didn't want to say, Oh, I have a connection with you. I think everybody would say that. No, I think that's it.
SPEAKER_00I'm not that you were meant to be there or anything like that.
SPEAKER_01And you know, there's one other time that was a quite strong where I was also shy. And at the time I was really working on my inner vulnerability as a woman at the time. So I've been doing the healing work for a long time. I'm a somatic uh experiential healer right now, and I do the shamanic healing work with people. So I take them into their shadows where they're not seeing those parts of themselves, they're blocked from that subconscious part. So I help them see that. So I've always been working on that with myself. And one particular time in Sydney, we're in the Rhinoceros studios, and they were recording a song that I actually never really even heard till just the other day. Can you believe? I was wondering what happened to that song. And it was only just a couple of weeks ago that I heard that song.
SPEAKER_00And what was the song?
SPEAKER_01Uh uh I don't know what it's called, but it's called Get It Back Online.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, back online, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Back online. And they were rehearsing that gotta get it back online, gotta get it back online. That's what I remember. And we're all in the studio. There was probably around eight or nine people in a circle around Michael. Everybody was always around Michael. You know, you'd go to a nightclub and people say, Where Michael? And I'd I learned it that I learned very quick and smart that wherever there was an empty space and a huddle of people in the corner, then Michael would be in that corner. So yeah, I'd look around for that space, that empty space. I'd look around for that huddle of people and so there he is. You know, I'd I'd guide them to there. And and so in this particular Time with the rhinoceros studio, this was like a big moment for me. I was undergoing a lot of inner transformational work at the time, and uh not not uh going into my ego. I look at me, you look at me, just really trying to stay humble with the inner side of me that was vulnerable, very vulnerable. And he has that vulnerable side. Michael has that very deep vulnerable side.
SPEAKER_00So he taught you something, really, as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he yeah, yeah. Really beautiful, deep heart that he has. And who knows if the protection had to be, hey, you know, who the front man when he was on there, you know. And yeah, and I remember him, you know, he was saying, I can't see past a certain point. I'm pretty blind, blindish in a way. And he would just work with his own energy, and that's what made him so incredible because he drew people into his magnetic field. Oh, you see, very magnetic field, the magnetic that's very feminine. That's yeah, he he allowed his feminine. I'll talk about that in a minute. But at the Ranesra studio, um, they were doing this back online, and everyone was in a circle together. Wherever Michael was, everybody were on the tiptoe with him. Really? You know that, right? Yeah, people were on their toes with whatever Michael was saying, they were hanging on every word, and I was the only one not in that circle because I didn't want to be that for him. I didn't want to be another one that was leaching off his energy. For me, for me, I was uh reading a magazine, but I was so in my process of feeling vulnerable that I realized I had the magazine upside down. Uh-oh, uh-oh. So luckily I looked over and thought, okay, no one sees me. I'll just turn the magazine very bless you. Yeah, very, very, you know, discreetly. And then eight. I remember trying to read one little paragraph over and over again because my mind was over there. My mind was with Michael. I'm like, no, no, I had to train my mind. Like, no, I don't want to do that. I don't want to be that for him. I want to be something else for him. I want to be something real for him. I want to be what he needs for him. That's what I yeah. And so, and so finally I couldn't deal with myself. So I put the magazine down and I walked out. Everyone was, everybody was around Michael, everybody was tiptoeing. You know, he'd be throwing papers around, he'd be like, you know, and I and I left my seat and walked out of that studio, and I sang on the way out, gotta get it back online, right? Because I was talking about myself, gotta get myself back. As I walked out the door, I felt a hand grab my arm, and it was Michael.
SPEAKER_00He'd he'd seen you walk out.
SPEAKER_01He followed me. Yeah, he left, he he left the group that was all there for him and followed me. He must have, in a flash, dumped me. I don't know. You know, he that's what he would do. He would follow his instinct like a wild cat, he is. Yeah, yeah. And he followed me out to the kitchen, and we spent two hours out there in the middle of recording, in the middle of the recording hours. We spent an hour and a half, two hours out there talking.
SPEAKER_00Um and what was the conversation? What did he want to talk about?
SPEAKER_01Um, you know, just I think what I was doing is I was staring into some of the things he may have needed to talk about. Yeah. Yeah. Some I was holding space for him to talk about some of the deeper things in his life. And and I, to be honest with you, frankly, I don't remember exactly what it was, but I remember we spent a long time. And and I think we talked about masculine and feminine. We talked a little bit about spirituality, we talked about nature being a path of spirituality.
SPEAKER_00Uh so he definitely enjoyed your this conversation with you. So there he is, like you say, thrashing papers around and being the showman for these small crowd of people. But at the at the end of the day, he wanted to have more of a conversation with somebody on a deeper level, and you were in that room and you walked away, and he needed that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but we also I felt we had a connection. We also have a connection somehow. He still comes to my dreams. Years after I would dream that I'll be walking one way, Michael would be walking another, and somehow, how no words, no words, somehow our hands would connect, and even though I'd be still walking and he'd be still walking, our hands were still connected. This happened several times, his dreams.
SPEAKER_00This is after he's passed him. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So, you know, he he um yeah, and and I understood the depth of of his vulnerability. So I was probably, you know, of course there was a playing around. He was a tease ass. I'd like to tell you one other experience that was so naughty of him. And you know, we'd come in, and you know, my husband would be following me, and we'd be coming in ready to go to massage, and he'd just grab me after I after he hadn't seen me for a while. You know, maybe it might have been four months now or five months. He sees me, he grabs me, bends me over, and growls like a wild cat in my ear. Like totally ravishing me in that in that ear, you know, and and my and I'm I'm totally feeling free. I'm not feeling like anything's wrong here because of like he's a superstar. Who's gonna be jealous?
SPEAKER_00And your husband's in the room.
SPEAKER_01My husband's right there behind me, you know.
SPEAKER_00But he would this be sorry, would this be of would have Michael been coming off stage at this point? Do you reckon that's the big energy of him? Oh no, okay.
SPEAKER_01Uh uh, no, I remember this was I remember this was even before the stage. Like he would just do that with me. He would do that with me. He he he I think he was trying to break that persona in me to to do what all the other girls were doing. And like, like, hell no. You know what I mean? You're professional. I'm professional, yeah. So I think I think he he reveled in a little bit of wanting, you know, women to adore him fully and go crazy over him. I think that was what he was used to, and I never gave him that. I never did that. I wouldn't, I wouldn't do that. I'm I'm there for you as a professional person. And not only that, but I'm there spiritually for you. So I'm not going to play that. You know, he even played cat and mouse with me in one of the uh one of the concerts in Festival Hall in Melbourne. I remember seeing all the models because there was models around and all the gorgeous women. You know, I'm just a simple, you know, a super cool naturopath, fair enough, but not cool. Just like all the models around me, you know. And and uh I was saying I wanted to get my hair done at the time and asked around, asked the guys, you know, what what where what where do you know what hairdressers to go to? And they said, Oh yeah, this is where the girls go. Go go to this one. So I went to this one and I had my hair done, was quite long to hear, and it was they put a uh deep dark violet almost rinse through it. So it kind of had the dark back in those days too, it was like, oh, it's a bit different to have a bit of a colour, slight colour, subtle. Yeah, and I remember wearing um, you know, thigh up to the thigh boots, you know, red, red suede boots. You know, we're all cool in those days, you know, very cool. And um important, you know, got to look cool for the band. You can't, even if as a massage therapist, you know, you gotta look cool. But this was a concert. And I remember looking really good. I'm I felt good. I felt good, I felt alive, I felt part of it, I felt yeah, rock and roll therapist. Yes, that's right. I was in my power, and I was alone in this, in the everyone was there in the audience. And Michael, you know, this might have been four years in after working with him and the whole band. And and um Michael sees me. This is what he would do, not all the time, but he did do these things with me, you know. He sees me, and I must have been, I don't know how far away, maybe 12, 15 feet away from the stage, close by, you know. He sees me and he gets on his fours and starts crawling at me like a wild cat. And he's teasing me like he's and and he's kind of like, I don't, I've never seen that footage. I wish I had seen. I I I maybe should go and do a little bit of research and see if I can find festival hall concert.
SPEAKER_00I'm sure some of my fans are now writing this down and trying to get it right. We were onto it, we're gonna find this footage.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I hope so. Let them let me know, folks. And yeah, and he he's kind of on his fours now, and he's growling at me, you know, and all of a sudden everyone separates out from me, maybe about three, four feet. I have a radius of nothing around me because everyone's like, Who's this? You know, who's this? I suddenly feel like a special woman, you know, like I feel like wow, you know, my hair and my boots, and I'm standing there and I am not giving up. I am absolutely in my power, you know, and vulnerable, not just not egotistically here I am. Look at me, no, vulnerable, which you know, there's a there's a comment in the spiritual world. Uh vulnerability is the most powerful posture in the universe. We're not talking about weakness, we're talking about being vulnerable with your true feelings, is very powerful. So here I am standing vulnerably in that power. And he comes up and on his knees and hands and crawls and he's looking at me, and everyone's separating out. Oh, who's this? You know? So, so that was that, and I still wouldn't give it over. I still wasn't gonna go, ah, you know, to him. And so, so then he gets back and starts singing. And I thought, I've got to get the hell out of here. Everyone's looking at me, you know. Like I've I I I I for some reason I was like a little mice at that point. Suddenly it's like, oh my god, I got too much attention. So I go to the too much attention, Michael. Come on, you know. Oh my god, what am I gonna do with it? So I go to the other side of the stage, completely the other side of the stage, by some stairs or little sort of going up to the seats, you know, where the seats start going up again. Yeah, and I'm standing there and he comes across and he finds me. Michael Hutchins, wherever you are, we're talking about you right now.
SPEAKER_00He must have had his contacts in that day.
SPEAKER_01He must have, I don't know. He must have. Does he did he wear contacts? I don't know. Did he?
SPEAKER_00I've heard he did for a while, but yeah, he must have to see you.
SPEAKER_01This is not a good one.
SPEAKER_00Unless he can see, unless he can see more than you, as in your aura.
SPEAKER_01No, no, no. He was saw, he saw me. He saw me. It was like cat and mouse game, you know. And he comes over, he was over there now. You know, a couple of minutes later, he wasn't trying to find me. Well, I don't think he was following me. He just went over there and saw me there then. You know, I think that was happening. He comes off stage. Have you ever seen Michael go off stage? Yes, he has quite a lot. Yeah, I haven't, I haven't. I didn't see him come up because I see it been a lot of concerts, and he comes off stage, walks past me, winks at me like I saw you, I see you. I see you. And he actually spanks my bottom, gives me his little slap on the back, twirls around, I think a little bit of a pole that was there, you know. He's just having fun. And then he goes back on stage. And yeah, that that was that was uh that was so fun to be honest with you. And he came, he were talking once, and he goes, Amalia, I adore women. I adore, he didn't say adore, I adore women, and I said, Michael, and I looked right in his eyes. I said, Michael, that's exactly why they adore you back. Yeah, women want to be adored. So he knew he was had that feminine magnetism that understood the feminine very strongly. He understood what they needed. When I was with him, I felt like I was the only one in the world there with him.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and uh I've just come back from um an award for in XS, the APR Awards, they've just won the Ted Albert Award. And congratulations, guys! All of you, you're awesome, fantastic. And the speech um uh was done by the chairwoman who is Jenny Morris, that actually was at a while.
SPEAKER_01Jenny Morris, uh Ian Thomas used to manage, did do some work with her too as a message therapist and help her too.
SPEAKER_00Oh, okay, yeah, yeah. It's a shame she's got sort of thing going on with her friend.
SPEAKER_01I massaged her as well. I used to message quite a few of those.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and in her speech, she did mention you know that that Michael just brought you in when he's speaking to you, it was to you. He made you feel special. He made you feel special, he really did, yeah, yeah. And I think that he made you feel very special, but on a different level again.
SPEAKER_01No, he did, he did. I I I have to say, you know, being in my vulnerable stance as a woman, just not not as a woman, anyone can be in their vulnerable stance, but being a little bit um transparent right now, that I have never felt so received by a man in my life. In my whole life.
SPEAKER_00Just a special man, isn't it? Very special, very special. And we hear about that he was just can't could be so polarized, so polarized by you know, one minute he would be that cat searching for you and being theatric. And then the next minute, oh, can can you come around and uh do me a sort?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he's a he had the full gamut. He he was a I call I see him as a supernova, he was like burning bright. They don't last very long, those supernovas, you know. He was a burning bright star. And I mean, some of the band members are too. I mean, all of them they were very special, all of them were very special, you know. Yes, Michael was the front man, but there were some backbone guys in there that were so real and beautiful, and you know, we had to let's talk about them.
SPEAKER_00Let's talk about the guy. So um Kylie says that um John would have problems with his hands, maybe from um from from Drummond.
SPEAKER_01So John John and Gary.
SPEAKER_00And Gary.
SPEAKER_01In the limousine, you know, times would be on the way to with at the gig and I'd be massaging their hands and you know, giving them a little bit of a pep up, you know, beforehand. And uh John and Michael and I, my husband Michael and I, we and and Kirk, we had a a very stronger relationship than Michael. Michael and I had a a strong affiliate, uh, a can a spiritual connection. I still relate to him, I still thank him for being the man that can show me the beauty of who I am. Oh, that's I still when I'm feeling not well, or when I say not well, when I'm not feeling confident or I'm not feeling, you know, like the beauty or the light that I could shine, I call on Michael. Michael becomes like a guide for me. Michael becomes a uh an a uh uh angelic presence for me. Not not all the time. It's not all the time. He's not I've got my own angels. I'm just saying from time to time, I I call on Michael to say, you know, I know, I remember how you were. Let's let's let's become that. I'm I'm gonna be that for you. I'm gonna be that for the world. You showed me how to do it. That's and that's what I think he was. He was a teacher, and um, I took him as a teacher as well, where I can shine my light and be that exuberant being as well. So thank you, Michael.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's very thank him. Yes, I feel his presence as well. I don't I've never met the guy. I that that like I'm doing this for Michael a lot of the time. Um, but yeah, he is he was a genius as well, you know. He was very intelligent, intelligent, very intelligent. When you watch some of these interviews, he's so together, he's so thoughtful about what he's going to say. And yeah, he's a genius, yeah.
SPEAKER_01He he followed Orson Wells, he loved Orson Wells because and I'd say, why Orson was he's Austin was a genius, and I didn't know that. He was intelligent, intelligible. And and John going back to the guys now, because I mean I know you asked me about the guys too. Yeah, um, Andrew was always removed from from me and Michael. He, you know, he would get some massage, not not much, not much. Andrew was the least one that would be he was he was like the backbone, he was like the main nerve of the whole band. I think he was the one that was holding it all down.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's what it felt like. He was holding it the the the brothers in and he was holding the whole thing down, I felt. And so he never got too much carried away with all the outside stuff, and I really respected him for that. And uh John Farris was uh very, very uh happy to have Michael and I on board because we would talk about some of the ascended masters, we would talk about some of the healers of the world and and give him the um capacity to hold more of the unseen healers and ascended masters, and and uh they would you know pump that energy out into the world. So, you know, Michael and I was like, oh yeah, we we're the back people we're the backstage people that are feeding the spirituality to the world, even though they were spiritual in their own way, they're emotionally, emotionally spiritual with their words and such a great connection to the world, yeah. Yeah, yeah, really beautiful, beautiful lyrics. When you really hear them, they were they were a leading edge. And you know, and Kirk and John were very happy to uh have more of the spiritual um food that could sustain them through some of the grueling tours that they were going through. So I think they enjoyed that in us very much. And uh John Ferris invited us to his wedding when he was with Leslie Vega, and that was a beautiful wedding, and Michael was there, and Wilkins, Richard Wilkins was there. I mean, the MTV guy. I mean, there was, you know, it was fun. You know, you get all the I'm gonna wear this to the NX, you know, wedding, and everyone was dressed, and it was beautiful. And uh Kirk invited us to his wedding too with um Marsha Hines' daughter. What's what's her something Hines? Denny, Denny Hines, Johnny Hines, yeah. She was a hoot, she was a hoot too. You know, we got to meet their family, and and John the Farris and and um Andrew Farris and Tim Farris. Tim was great too. Buffy, you met Buffy? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I met all of them. I met Buffy, she she was a very integrated woman, you know, high in integrity. Uh Gary Beers and his lovely lady. What was his lovely lady again? Something with the dark curly hair he had chores.
SPEAKER_00Um would it have been Lauren back then?
SPEAKER_01No, no, another one. I'm sorry, I forgot your name. Anyway, um, it's beautiful, beautiful, beautiful being. And um, and you know, we met her too, and I mean, at one point the Ferris mother was in hospital, and we were I was asked to go in there and consult her. And you know, we'd we'd make uh juices, we'd get the hotel to make juices for the guys in the morning. We'd try to steer them into the natural therapies instead of taking drugs and not drugs, I'm not talking about drugs, I'm talking about you know, the medications if they to their throat, we'd give them the particular mixes that we would make with herbal medicine and herbal extracts that would, and they called it magic potion. I think they even mentioned it in one of the uh documentaries and the bat that magic potion. If we thought at first that uh the magic potion or magic lotion or the something they called it.
SPEAKER_00I think um that was one of Michael's chat-up lines, wasn't it, for Kylie that he had these magic drops. And so these magic drops came from you, and he passed them on to Kylie. So Kylie's like to thank her career for you as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, I met her. I met her, and she was with Jason when they first came to the concert. So I met Helena Christensen and you know, it was um it was beautiful, it was really beautiful, and so we went to the weddings, you know. Even John Farris and Leslie invited my husband and I to come to spend the last day or two of their two week honeymoon. Wow. We were close on a houseboat. We were close, yeah. And same with uh Kirk, we were close together with those guys. Oh I wasn't I wasn't so close to Tim. I wasn't so close to Andrew. They had their own, kept their own space. I'm not sure if they thought we were kind of like too spiritual or you know, natural. I don't know. But I never saw the guys go crazy with with you know, they're always present, you know. I never saw the guys. I thought I saw Michael a couple of times getting lost in the middle of the night, and they found him in them in the next day and they couldn't find his car. And I mean, he was like a child sometimes. He was like a child. He was like a teenage child. You know, and then they never had money. They never had money on them. Everyone else would pay. I mean, these guys were rich or whatever you want to call them, lucratively abundantly rich. And people would pay for them. They never carried money. I never saw them carry money. Oh, let me get it for you. Let me get it for you. I don't think they had the the the um the the the the basic currency on them. They were dealing with people that were dealing with them for them.
SPEAKER_00They didn't have the credit cards back then, did they? I suppose. How funny, how funny. And I've I've spoken to a few people, one being Darren Jones, who came in um towards the end um with them just after Michael passed away. And he he says that that they they were all like children in a way and had to be looked after, put to bed, in fact, even sometimes. Um, and um it it's it's like they they're always being told what to do and how to perform. I mean, even when at the awards, they were just being whisked in, whisked away, you know, and it's that the the they're on, you know, um they're on a time. Um and supposed to yeah, the schedule is always yeah. So if Michael needed to get away and he ran off and uh had some of that free time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he would, and then they'd get lost, or he'd just go into the disappearance of the night, he'd be hanging out with just strangers hanging out.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he wanted to be real.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. And remember they used to always use different names. I remember once Michael was called himself Dr. Strangelove. Yeah, they would always have the Michael would always pick the kooky names, you know, the you know, the different sort of avant-garde names and movie names, Dr. Strange Lovers.
SPEAKER_00Murray Waters and yeah, Murray Murray River, sorry.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Murray River, which is the river in Australia, right? It's a hilarious, just hilarious. I mean, that was so cool. I remember they walked with the because don't forget, you know, we I'm I'm I'm from back then I was in Australia. I didn't I hadn't had I had gone overseas then. Yes, I had gone to Greece and Egypt and uh Switzerland and Bali. I'd been overseas a bit, but didn't we didn't see the Australian bears looking super international, cool with the British boots and stuff. And I remember one time they were walking down the corridor. I I everything about them was like a shift in my consciousness. The boots they were wearing were not from Australia. That was like another, I had to adjust my lens a bit to understand the boots they were, the gorgeous, the the clothes they were wearing, you know, they had shifted quite a bit from the Australian band it bandage from the bandage band age into this overnight almost into this international persona that was so super cool. Mel still themselves, they weren't egotistically going out of range for people.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Would that have been after uh kick, I should imagine.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that kick was the one that's we would have seen that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. So yeah, so where were you when Michael passed away? Oh that must have been hard.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I was in Sedona, I was called up by Sedona. Sedona is a very strong transformational spiritual place. People come here to heal, people come here to learn about themselves. There's vortexes here, there's crystals in the ground. You can see the crystals in the rocks here. Um, you know, there's iron oxide, the red rocks that, you know, I had this whole big spiritual, shamanic, very shaman-ish uh experience that happened. I wrote a book about it, actually. I wrote a couple of this particular book about it, how I was called from Australia to Sedona.
SPEAKER_00What's the book called?
SPEAKER_01It's called Spirit of the Stones by Amelia Kamateros. Thank you. And it's on Audible with my voice, by the way. I read it too. Fantastic. Yes, yeah, yeah. It's really, it's it's it's compelling because things were compelling at the time. You know, as I've gotten older, things aren't as compelling. It's like, where is that compelling energy? Come on, I want that compelling energy. What a fact. And I had arrived in Sedona uh about a year later. So nine, I got here in 1997. At the I got must have got into Maui, Hawaii for six months in the end of 96 or 96, and then spent six months in Maui healing my 15-year marriage, just letting it go because Sedona had now called me and wanted me away from there. And I was unhappy in my marriage too. It was very, it was a difficult marriage for me. So, you know, but I I thank you, thank you. Yes. And you know, we all go through our passage, and that's an initiation that I had to go through. And and and so I I'd been getting these strong messages. I have to go to Sedona, and I tested it and I pushed it away, and I did all sorts of things not to believe it, but it was so powerful that I had people would call me in the expo and go, come, come, you're gonna write a book. And I'm going, No, only old people write a book. Old people with glasses and slippers, no, I'm not gonna, I'm young, I'm not gonna. And so here I am writing a book about all that. So I would, I it was a year later after I got 97, right? November 97. That's when Michael passed. I was driving in the car. I never heard that Michael had passed. This is what happened to me. I was drive, I was driving my car, and there was an interesting beam of light. Like nowadays, if you see a beam of light, like, oh, you know, they're doing something with the satellites, or Elon Musk is probably doing some sort of thing. But back then in '97, you don't see a strong beam of light that didn't have a source. It just started in the dark of the night and then went along. And I was driving, going, what's this? And that night, a friend of mine gave me an owl wing. An owl wing. Okay. Bird, owl bird wing. Yeah. Yeah in the shamanic realm that is a portend to death. Some birth, birth, rebirth, death, birth, death, rebirth.
SPEAKER_00And why did she give that to you?
SPEAKER_01They gave well because I was they they realized I was on a shamanic path, and the owl represents the inner seeing. It is a very shamanic bird, it's a very powerful, it's like next to the eagle. The owl is powerful in the Native American uh medicine field of living. Okay. And so they gave it to me. He gave it to me, and I remember looking at the owl and going, Well, what are you going to teach me? I wonder, you know, what are you going to teach me? It comes to me. I have to I have to honor it. You don't just back. And then I saw this big beam of light going, it's weird. I wonder if a death is important because look at this big beam of light. And then that night, uh, that very night, or was it the next morning? I think it might have been the next morning. I got a phone call from one of my friends who said, Did you hear that Michael had passed? And I think I uh blocked it out for many years. Yeah. I blocked it out. I blocked out the death for many years. It took me a long while to revisit that whole thing again. Because I'm on my mission too now. I'm on my mission with the shaman and the land and the book. I'm writing a book. And I must have blocked it out until really, to be honest with you, probably around five, six years ago, I went fully into it. I was depressed for two months. I want to say depressed, I mean, of course I'm still functioning, but I was depressed. I watched everything about NXS. I watched the the show where they were star, they were making the new star with Jason, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I I even had a reunion with NXS 10 years later, I'll tell you about that too.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01And that was interesting. And so then I found out, yeah, and and I knew in from my own knowing of my being with Michael that he didn't, there was no suicide. There, I think there was a am I allowed to say what I want to say here?
SPEAKER_00Of course, you can say what you say. This is your personal feelings. You can say whatever you it feels right for you.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. Thank you. Uh, knowing Michael, because you know, when I first saw him on one of the first uh concerts, he was wearing a white shirt with all the Kama Sutra positions printed on the back of his shirt. So when I first saw him, I recognized him as a sex priest. I'm not talking about sex as in S E X. I'm talking about the the temples in those days that were able to heal people through sexuality. I recognized him or knew him. For me, that's what I knew him, because I have done that work before too. In the past, not now, but in the ancient Egyptian temples, they had uh priests and priestesses that would heal the men that would come back from war. And before they would go back to their families and their and their wives, the priestesses would heal them with love, with love, whether it was through sex or touch or healing, they would have to heal the men first and integrate them back into their lives. And so I remembered Michael when I saw him on the that screen when he was like you're doing I I'm lonely, you know, you know, and he and he's got that snake in the background, and like I that's what I presumed. And when I saw him wearing the Kama Sutra, I thought he he's connected to that, but he doesn't know, he doesn't know the power of his sexuality. That's what I that's what I perceived. And so why am I telling you this?
SPEAKER_00I think I know why you're telling me this. So he he was he was depressed in that moment, and sexuality is his go-to.
SPEAKER_01That's right. Thank you, V.
SPEAKER_00That's exactly what we I know. I I I I I get it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I feel I feel that he was so diswrought and upset, and I wasn't there, I wasn't there to to massage him. I'd I was taken away. My husband wasn't there. I mean, you know, it's not my fault. I will my my life took me elsewhere, and a year later he he's not there. So I think that was the way he got to um express and release some of that tension. And I think it went too far because I know how much he loved his daughter, and I don't know, I didn't know him at the time when he was with. I did see the shift after he had that accident with his skull. I saw the shift, I saw him getting dark.
SPEAKER_00Of course, yeah. She would have been around when he had that. So, did he did he mention much about that incident with the taxi driver? No, never, never, never, but you saw a shift in his personality.
SPEAKER_01He got dark, he dyed his hair darker, he was more somber, he wasn't so free and open and crazy. No, he, you know, I thought maybe because he's become a dad. But I'll tell you one other thing I did with Michael that you guys are gonna get a little shocked by this. I think it's very, very intimate, it's very beautiful. And I do want this shared. I think this would be a beautiful experience. But it was his birthday, and I offered him because normally I wouldn't offer. I mean, of course, you know, the hands or yeah, it by the by the six years it'd be like, Yes, would you like a massage? But I was never the one. It would be my husband. I was a bit shy too. I was not confident.
SPEAKER_00And what year would this have been? Sorry.
SPEAKER_0196-ish, 95, 90, 90, towards the end, like 95, end of 95 into 96, he started changing. And I remember I never would, I don't remember going up to him ever saying, Do you want a massage? That was just not me. I would wait and then let him come to me, and he would call me, or he would walk past and say, Can you give me a massage? and that sort of thing. So this particular time was his birthday, and so I actually took the courage. I took the initiative and went to him and said, Michael, I'd like to give you a uh a special massage, anointment massage for your birthday. And I kind of laid on that priest-priestess thing that night. So I'm at it in his room and I give him a chakra. You know, he doesn't know about chakras. I'm teaching him in a way through this because I know he he's hungry for the more spirit side of things, something a bit more food that he would like to feel a little bit more connected to, rather than all the limelight and all the you know, music and all that um all the uh fragmented energy that he had to deal with. So I'm lying him down and I massage his body, but I also use the different chakra oils, and I believe I may have had crystals at the time too. That was different for him. He never had one of those before, you know, and it wasn't weird, it was grounded, it was good. He knows me, it's fine. But then what I did, and I had planned this, I really wanted to bring him back into that uh deeper temple experience. And I know I'm pushing the line here, and if you if you want to cut this out, that's okay. But I'm pushing the line a bit here. But I said, Michael, I'm going to pour a bath and I'm going to put you in the bath after the massage and give you a sacred blessing in the bath. And he was all relaxed and ready, and and I undressed him in silence, no words, in the sacred way of honoring the masculine, honoring the divine masculine in him. So I undressed him very silently. The bath was poor. I put some oils in there, and and then I put him in the bath and I start wholly washing him in absolute sanctimony, in reverence, giving back to him. And I think he spoke a few words and said, you know, this reminds me of the Japanese with the geisha, of of the pharaoh bars. I never knew, heard the word pharaoh, but he taught me that. He taught me things, this man too. The pharaoh bars where there's no talking, it's just silent. And so I washed him. I didn't dry him because I didn't want to be like the mother energy, you know. I just remembered, no, no, this is not about mother-son energy. This is about the holy sacred feminine giving back to you what how much you give back. And so the next day, when I saw him at the airport, I think he was kind of hung over after that. I don't know what he did after that night. He might have gone out and did, well, who knows, God knows what. But I saw him at the and I said, and I went up and I said, How was how was that experience for you, Michael? And he looked at me and he said, It was really interesting. He didn't know. I don't think, to be honest, he knew what to say about it.
SPEAKER_00I don't think he truly tweaked into something a bit deeper then, and he's comes out with um, it was really interesting. Yeah. What's really interesting is that in the room that he um passed away in, there was a bath that had been um used. Water there, that he'd had a bath before it all happened. I wonder if he was in some sort of ritual.
SPEAKER_01I don't know, to be honest with you. I don't know about that, but it might have been unconscious. Do you know what I mean? It might have been on. I'm just telling you what I've experienced, and I'm not a hundred percent sure about that, to be honest with you, but I know you know.
SPEAKER_00That was full stuff that you had with that though. Yeah, and he allowed that to happen and he was open to it as well. Yeah, that's what we liked about Michael, that he had that free, free spirit energy and and wanting to learn, wanting to learn. He was always reading.
SPEAKER_01He's very eager, he's very explorative, very eager, very uh interested in cultural, worldly, deeper things, you know. Yeah, he wasn't a surface guy, no surface. He could be. Oh, he could be totally surface, but the polarity of that was that I think he would really hold a deep space within him, too. And that's why he the poet, where the poet would come out too.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. You know, and the poet, the poet is the seed, isn't it? That's where it all started. You know, when I've spoken to many people, Michael's just in the background, he was just a friend of Andrew's, he was in the background reading his poets or writing poetry, and it wasn't until like about a year or so later they go, the thing, the singer's gone, Michael. Why don't you have a crack at this? He was never pushed into it. He he was happy to be in the background reading his his poetry.
SPEAKER_01But he really grew up quick in this band because I see the earlier uh parts of him, earlier uh frontman, he was dorky, he was a real quick quirky, dorky guy, like was not in his body, he was like out of his body, and he was kind of like a teenager trying to get into his manhood, and then yes, all of a sudden, I don't know what happened, but I think the kick tour of going internationally, he got into his body and he was fully present in his body, and that's attractive to anybody. People who are in their body and grounded and present is very attractive, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Also, a vulnerability is attractive too, though, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01And he showed that, yeah, even with his moves and the way he would be just divinely sensually allowing himself to feel every moment. And and that's the tantra, you know. I don't know if any a lot of people probably have heard of this word tantra, and tantra it means in the Hindu philosophy, tantra means the weaving of the opposites coming together, you know, it is about sexuality in its purest form, not sex. We're talking about sexuality, the masculine and feminine coming in together, and that's the that's the motion of you know that that that sexuality that my love making. And Michael was very comfortable, I believe. I I I felt that he was very comfortable in allowing that part of his soul to come through that, you know, the the the divine movements, and he he was unusual that way.
SPEAKER_00I think he's a beautiful thing to see, wasn't it? This feminine and masculine of a man. Um, you don't, it's very rare, very that's why that's why I recognized him for me.
SPEAKER_01I'm not saying that he may have been conscious of that, but for me, in my uh lineage of spirituality is the union of the masculine and feminine, and that's the pathway to union. That's the pathway, and I felt like he had that, and that's what I had too in my own. So, on a soul level, I think we may have connected on that level, even though it wasn't spoken about. And oh, yeah, I recognize you. No, we never had that.
SPEAKER_00You know, we we kept it pretty professional in this way, but I could talk about Michael forever. Um he's uh he's a uh he's just uh an enigma. It just it he is an enigma, and he was real, he was real. Um, but um he's hard to let go of for a lot of people as well. Um, you know, we've got thousands of fans um still talking about him, and they they feel him as a fan, but they also feel his energy still that he hasn't left this earth.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, is that is that so, huh?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's a lot of lot of um men and women that feel that way because it was just a tragic way that he went. Yes, yes, I feel that too, and he's very much missed, and he could never be replaced, but we will talk about JD because you met J D.
SPEAKER_01I did, yeah. Well, what happened? Do you want to tell you what happened there?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you call him Jason.
SPEAKER_01Uh I I've no t no no no it was it was JD. Yeah, it was J D, that's right. Um, I went to UCLA later, years later, maybe 10 years later, maybe 12 years later, I was uh on my book tour, and uh somehow I got heard that in excess we're playing at UCLA, and I was in that San Francisco. I was like, oh my god, I gotta go, I gotta be, I gotta be there. I didn't have any of the Michael Long or Chris Murphy's numbers or anything. So here I am at the gate where the managers would walk past and all the fans were there, and it felt awkward for me to be there because I'm usually back with them backstage, you know, preparing them or or massaging them and with them, you know. And so it was a bit odd, but I need to see them, of course. Oh my God, I've I need to see the guys and they would want to see me, you know? And I was there at the gate and I was tell I remember they're all going, Can we see, can we see the band? Can we see the band? And I'm standing there going, How am I gonna get in there? How am I gonna get in there? And so I saw someone that came by and I said, Excuse me, excuse me, can you please give the card, this business card with my face and name on it, you know, my business card, to one of the band members of Inexis. They would want to see me. They I used to be their massage therapist and they would want to see me. There's no doubt about it. They would want to haven't seen them for 12 years. And I was so close to them, right? Yeah. And that never it never um got to them because how many people would say that, you know?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, true.
SPEAKER_01And they're like, you know, they're they're not gonna bug bug the NXS guys for some check at the at the gate there looking, you know, the the wired, you know, mesh gate looking, waiting. And I felt awkward, but like, how am I gonna do it? I I don't know, I've I have another way. And and then I think Michael Long or someone, I think it might have been Michael Long. Was he still working with them back then? I'm not sure. It was I think it was Dave Edwards at the time, was it? I don't know, but someone recognized me. Someone who uh used to manage them or something. It wasn't Chris, I don't think it was, it wasn't Chris Murphy, it was it wasn't Michael Long, it was someone that knew me and saw me and said, Amelia, oh my god, what are you doing here? And I said, I'm waiting to see an example. I gave a card and they're there, you belong in here, come on in here. And I got in. It was that it was that serendipitous moment where someone, and I'm sorry I can't remember the name, so I can't uh mention your name. I'm sorry about that, whoever you were, thank you. And they take me backstage, and the guys are we've been like, Oh my god, I'm like, Yeah, my God, you don't know what this woman is, you don't know who she is. We you know, this is a person in our life, and she massaged us, she was our massage therapist, and when Michael was here and they were all, you know, uh, you know, celebrating me, and and they didn't have much time, but they said, Oh my god, please, please, please, can you massage JD? He needs you, he needs you, my god, he needs your magic touch, please, please. You know, it's a lot on him, you know. Yeah, I know he was great, he did great. He did, he was the the great guy they chose. And I I saw that whole series and watched everything about an excess when I was ready, when I got ready. And um, and still am watching, and every now and again I absolutely have to give it a break because um, you know.
SPEAKER_00Well, it was a big part of your life by the science. It was a big part of my life, and it's like I I have to stop every now and again, and and then Michael come into the dream and it'll come up again, and and then you know, now on Facebook I'm a little bit more connected to it on a more daily level because I'm the algorithms are you know following what I'm well just going back to JD, JD came over to Australia um last year and I got to meet him, and you will be happy to know he's very spiritual. Oh yes, he is so great. He's giving me tingles thinking about it. Um yeah, so he's over in Canada. Um, he is coming back over here in October as well. Um, so um I did an interview, he's still naughty and cheeky. Um, but he is um a man now, he isn't that boy who was lost. Um uh you know, he went through a few things and it was sad that it ended the way it has, but um he seems he seems pretty good. He's getting into more of a country music, a bit like Andrew. Andrew's into country music, and it does suit him, his voice. Yeah, he's he's great. So he's got a great voice, amazing, and when he's on stage, he's got it. So, you know, like we say, Michael, we can never replace Michael, but the band needed to continue, and they went through lots of different band members. And I think I think JD did a cracking job at helping them. I think so too.
SPEAKER_01He was a nice guy, he was a nice guy, he was just hot on his face. I I I don't feel at the time that the guys were socializing with him. I think he was a a bit alone, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, there was a big age difference as well, as uh new new game to him. And okay, he'd he'd taught and and been in the music industry, but this this is big stuff, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_01Yes, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00He needed to be looked after. It was a shame that you weren't there still for him because I that that would have helped a lot of that's true.
SPEAKER_01No, it's very true. And I I wanted to say also that the the day Michael passed, Michael Hutchins passed when I went and to the the the concert at UCLA and back to the hotel where the guys were staying. They invited me backstage, they invited me back to the place where they were all having drinks and stuff. They were very happy to see me, you know, it was great. And uh, I remember Kirk telling me, because Kirk is such a dear. I mean, what a darling Kirk is. I mean, what a sweetheart. Sweetheart, the sweetest heart you'd ever come across, you know? Yeah, vulnerable, sweet, not not uh what do you call it, presumptuous, unpresumptuous, just beautiful. And I remember him telling me before I told him about my owl wing. Remember I was saying the owl wing was in the Native American um spirituality and and understanding in their shamanic way of being, the owl is a portend to to death and birth. And I never told Kirk that. Kirk told me that that night when Michael died, an owl came to him. Oh my goodness, yes, you're right. I can an owl came to him, and when he told me that, I told him about my owl experience that I was given an owl wing, and then there was this strange light that no one could understand. And so there was another connection that way too. I wanted to bring that around.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yes, he did mention the owl. And Michael was the owl. Is that right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, it was at the owl.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So that's white owl. The very shamanic. And white, white in that shamanic world means spirit, spirit owl. White buffalo, the white elephant, the white tiger, the white owl. It's always seen as the highest spiritual.
SPEAKER_00Well, we're talking more about spirituality and um referencing to things. I I see the number 22 a lot in my life. Um, Michael was born on the 22nd, he passed away on the 22nd, his daughter was born on the 22nd.
SPEAKER_01Interesting, interesting.
SPEAKER_00And when I'm with somebody connected to NXS, there is always the 22 around, and it's a comforting thing. And I just and I I think it's a very special number, you know. It's it's one of those numbers that looks beautiful, you know, it's too little, you know, it's just uh 22.
SPEAKER_0122 is um apparently a master number. That the double numbers can be a master number. And I think I'm not sure exactly, I wish I would could tell you right now, and I could look it up quickly. But number two, the two two, as far as I'm aware, is the gateway, like a gateway, like the two poles, the two poles. It's like the polarity, it's like going through the polarity, and like the Gemini twins in a way, apparently, in the shamanic astrology, the uh in Gemini, the the constellation of Orion. Uh uh, not Orion, the Gemini is close to the double, the twins are close to Orion. And apparently, the the souls on the planet, in a in accordance to shamanic astrology, they come through that portal. The souls come through that gateway. And the two the the two two was a strong a portend back then in particular for the new age, the new, the new era, the new way.
SPEAKER_00It's all it's this all connection that we all connect together, and in a way, Michael has brought a lot of people together. You and I are here because of Michael and in excess. Um, I've got the show together for that, and the music is connected to a lot of people. Michael's words are now out there forever, and still I read something the other day is I used to feel the music when I was a kid. Now I understand the lyrics as an adult.
SPEAKER_01Beautiful, beautiful, and the lyrics. Wow, Andrew and Michael, wow, what a polarity that was, huh? Yes, what extreme polarity. Like the the the upright, sober guy that didn't laugh much, you know. I used to think I wanted I wanted to shake Andrew sometimes, just like, come on, just let go a bit. Like, let's get crazy a little bit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I don't think he's learnt too much more.
SPEAKER_01No, no, but he was he held it together. He was the backbone in in a sense of that that whole thing. And Michael, he was the back guy that held it together. Michael was the front guy, and together they come and make beautiful lyrics. I mean, really meaningful.
SPEAKER_00Meaningful.
SPEAKER_01What's that song where they have the placards and liberate and deliver?
SPEAKER_00That's Andrew's song.
SPEAKER_01That was incredible.
SPEAKER_00I mean, Andrew wrote that.
SPEAKER_01Even a dear friend of mine, DJ, last night. I was there, and he he I was saying, you know, I'm gonna do the NXS concert, uh, sorry, interview today. And he said, Oh, you know, they were brilliant, they were brilliant. He's this guy, uh, DJ guy, he's you know, he's very strong with what he likes and doesn't like it. He goes, Oh, they had some great music, and he particularly liked that song. What was it called? Met mediate?
SPEAKER_00Mediate, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Mediate, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was very good. Yeah, it took a long time for Michael to learn the lyrics of that. He had them on pieces of paper and he used to throw them off into the audience and to oh, he would do, he would throw papers around all the time anyway.
SPEAKER_01He was just like a little, you know, impetuous, like, oh, I'm done with that. I remember one night we had a dog, Michael and I, my husband and I had a dog called Jara. It was an Aboriginal uh name for I because the dog had beautiful eyes, and uh Jarra would be in the car, and at the end of a gig, we'd be invited to Michael's room. And it didn't happen all the time, but there were there were a good handful of times that we'd be go back to the room with Michael Hutchinson, the band, and not all the band members. Uh, I think they had their wives or their girlfriends I would go to, but Michael, you know, and Natalie and Bruglier and and you know, whoever there, Kylie and all the young kids and all the people there would come and and we asked if we could bring our dog into the hotel. The dogs are not allowed in the hotel, you know. And and Michael goes, Yeah, yeah, bring her in, bring her in, you know, and shh, bring her in, yeah, quick, quick. You know, we'd bring the dog in, and the dog was great. I mean, the dog, everyone loved the dog, and this the dog was the sort of dog that would you'd throw the frisbee and the dog would jump up 12 feet, suspend super dog, and then and then jump down. Like he'd be on the wind, you know, windsurfer, and my husband used to take her windsurfing and he was. Uh Labrador uh Kelpie, maybe?
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Something like that.
SPEAKER_00A bit of a mix.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, a bit of a mix. And and uh Michael Hutchins says, Let's order something for the dog the dog wanted on the menu. And so he said, How about a hamburger? So he orders a whole hamburger plate with the hamburger and the chips and everything on there for the dog, you know. And back then, I think I don't know if it cost 25 or 35. I think it was 35. And back then, that's a lot. Yeah, that's a lot. And he, you know, he was like, Oh, let's try to get that to the dog for the dog, you know.
SPEAKER_00He was so Michael was so fun, yeah, and caring, and caring, thinking of the dog, so much fun.
SPEAKER_01I mean, everybody wanted his energy, everybody wanted a bit of that energy because he personified the joy and the fulfillment. You know, of course he was lonely at times, you know. He'd be who wouldn't be lonely after a big concert? I mean, my same with me if I give a conference talk or if I give a big dance now, I give ecstatic dance to the people now, you know. And after a big woo-hoo, you know, it's like you go back home alone, it's like what just happened, you know? So I would always have that um understanding and hold space for him that way. It's been great talking with you.
SPEAKER_00Yes, it's been wonderful having you on. Thank you. You've been really an absolute pleasure. Um, do you like my pictures? Michael's been in the room with us. Yes, yes, looking over my uh shoulder of my big microphone there.
SPEAKER_01I love that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it's what it's won by Chris Caro, that was. Um, so he's um he's a he's a great friend as well, photographer. Well, I wish you well in life. Um, are you going to stay? Are you going to make any more books? Write any more books?
SPEAKER_01Yes, I have another book after this one that I wrote. Uh, that one that I mentioned, Spirit of the Stones. I should have it here to show people, but it's I could go and get it, but I won't, I won't do that. Spirit of the Stones is the first book that was uh how the calling of how I was called from Sedona to come here and do some specific uh shamanic work here with the rocks, powerful rocks here, powerful. Like nothing you've seen, nothing you've seen anywhere else. Almost like, you know, it's powerful, yeah, like uh like Uluru and um Ayers Rock in Australia, but not one big rock, but many different rocks like that here. And then I fin just finished publishing my second book, which is called Transmissions of Earth Spirit Wisdom. And that's the title. And the subtitle is a shamanic way of seeing, being, and healing. So they're like little excerpts of downloads of spiritual awakenings that are very deep and yet uh easily digested for for to teach people uh new ways, new, newer, deeper ways of of seeing things in their life, integrating uh experiences in their life. So that's two or three pages each little chapter. So you can read it and open it in the day and for that morning and get a little download and activate, you know, to embody it through the day, and they're like teaching. So that one's called transmissions of earth spirit.
SPEAKER_00And how can we get hold of these?
SPEAKER_01Are they on Amazon, on Amazon, on M2, through my website, which is called Earth Spirit Wisdom. So Earth Spirit Wisdom.
SPEAKER_00Excellent. Yeah, well, thank you very, very, very much again.
SPEAKER_01And uh yes, thank you, B.
SPEAKER_00I know it's lovely. I feel like I learned to give you a warm hug. I've never done that before with somebody over there, but oh, you're just gorgeous.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. Thanks for doing this. I mean, Michael feels you, Michael. Michael is absolutely with you and feels you and is thankful.
SPEAKER_00And he doesn't need to thank me. I'm just thankful that I'm doing it.
SPEAKER_01Um, you know, we're keeping his leg, you're keeping the legacy alive, you know, keeping his legacy alive in in many ways that a lot of people are not. So it's powerful.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I did feel that the music business has forgotten him in in a large capacity. Yeah, you know, you see photos, and everyone's like, you know, they've got the Elvises and whatever, and Michael should be there. He's just he he just didn't put like no one pushes it for them. Yeah, but anyway, I'm glad you are.
SPEAKER_01I'm glad you've been well. You're welcome to reach out to me if any questions or anything, you know. Just know I'm here and all the best for you too.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. And I have touched an Arizona stone, a river stone. Yeah, it has come to me before now, and it felt very powerful. It's very powerful. Well, enjoy your day if that whatever's left of it, and uh, yeah, mine is just beginning, so it what a great beginning. Bye-bye.
SPEAKER_01Bye, bye.
SPEAKER_00Well, thanks for listening, everybody. It's been absolutely fantastic. If you want to know more, then check out the links that are in our description and send a message.
