Will INXS guitarist Tim Farriss ever play guitar again?
It's been over four years since his finger was severed in a boating accident and reattached shortly after. He says he can no longer play guitar "other than a few beginner level chords" and that as a result INXS may never tour again.
He's suing the boat's owners as well as a charter company in Australia, where the accident took place. In court documents he describes in gruesome detail looking at his "rust, blood and mud"-covered hand and holding his ring finger in his palm while his other digits were "disfigured, badly lacerated and bleeding."
He now says he's considering having the reattached ring finger amputated because it's "an annoyance and unsightly." He hopes to collect damages in the trial and cites his inability to tour in 2017, which would've coincided with the band's 40th anniversary, the 30th anniversary of their multi-platinum album Kick and the 20th anniversary of the death of singer Michael Hutchence. He claims that, conservatively, he could have made over a million dollars on the tour.
Farriss accuses boat owners John and Jill Axford and rental company Church Point Charter and Shipping of negligence. He says they didn't give him proper instructions on operating the boat's anchor, and that the anchor wasn't properly maintained.
The defendants deny this and claim that Farriss had "extensive marine vessel experience and had owned many similar boats." They say he had been told to keep clear of the anchor mechanism, but didn't heed the warning. (Sydney Morning Herald)