Hutchence's condition raised concerns throughout the recording process. At first he became distraught of being isolated on the island. On the first night, Optiz was awakened at four a.m. to the sound of furniture being smashed upstairs by Hutchence. During one session, Hutchence threatened to stab bassist Gary Beers with a knife after the two had a dispute. Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Farriss recalls another incident where Hutchence shoved his microphone straight through the strings of an acoustic guitar while shouting, "We need more aggression on this track!" In the band's 2005 official autobiography – "INXS: Story to Story", Pengilly recalls, "Michael had very violent moments. He threw his microphone stand around inside the studio, and he threw violent tantrums all the time". The group took a one-month break for the Christmas period, allowing Hutchence time to recover from his condition and the rest of the band time to spend with their families. Before breaking for the Christmas holidays, the band got half of the album completed. Hutchence returned to his estate in France, later joining Farriss in London to write the last remaining songs for the album.