By Kathy McCabe

Copyright news

With his brother Dean, the musician was one of the founding members of the Sydney group, who were one of the first Aussie bands to incorporate rap into their sound and became popular for their blistering live performances.

The band announced Sutherland, who was no longer in the line-up currently playing gigs, died last Wednesday.

“Mike came up playing in the late 80s post punk scene of Sydney with Jawbone Green as a teenager,” the band posted on their social media channels over the weekend.

“He played rugby with Mosman and Norths. He studied Law for a time at Sydney Uni. He was a highly creative drummer, whose contributions to Skunkhour’s writing and recordings cannot go unrecognised.

“He had a wicked sense of humour and a very sharp intellect. He will be missed.”

His bandmate and close mate Warwick Scott paid an emotional tribute to his “very dear friend of 40 years” who left Skunkhour in 2022.

Scott shared how Sutherland had struggled with addiction and was starting to turn his life around before his sudden death, after undergoing treatment earlier this year.

“I spoke to him about a week ago and he was like the Michael I met in 1985 again. Optimistic, full of plans and ideas, funny and full of energy,” Scott wrote.

The musician described Sutherland as a complex character and said they had shared “some incredible times together.”

“He could be arrogant, difficult, unreliable and sometimes downright rude. But he was also one of the most talented, intelligent, funny and entertaining people I’ve ever known,” he said.

“I’m so glad that he was in a good place in his heart and mind when he died. I will miss him like a brother.”

Skunkhour emerged in Sydney’s vibrant acid jazz scene in the early 90s, releasing an independent self-titled debut album in 1993.

As major record companies set up “indie” imprints to attract the self-made popular live groups of the era, Skunkhour was signed to the fledgling Id label in 1994 and released the second album Feed which reached No.21 on the ARIA charts, propelled by the single ‘Up To Our Necks In It.”

The alternative group, whose music was mostly broadcast by Triple J, switched labels to sign with Sony for their third record Chin Chin which was released in 1997 but disbanded in 2001 after the fourth album The Go, frustrated with its fortunes.

The members have reunited several times since 2009 to tour and last month announced a run of shows in October and November in celebration of the 30th anniversary of ‘Up To Our Necks In It’.

“We’ve been through our trials and tribulations like anyone or group of a certain age (cough, cough),” the band shared in the tour announcements. “Most of us had or have side projects and careers in other fields.”

Sutherland is “survived by his three beautiful children, Eleanor, Hamish, and Archie, all of whom he loved dearly.”