It takes a certain kind of person to marry a woman who has been twice-convicted of murder in a foreign country, and Colin “Thunderstrike” Sutherland seems just that special man.
According to an announcement in The Seattle Times, 27-year-old Sutherland is newly engaged to Amanda Knox, the Seattle native twice convicted in the murder of Meredith Kercher in Italy in 2007.
Sutherland—who has known Knox since middle school and reportedly wrote to her as she sat in an Italian prison—is no stranger to the strange. The long-haired Brooklynite with a penchant for leather is a ghost hunter who plays rock shows in haunted venues, according to a video posted on a crowdsourcing website that has so far raised more than $5,000 for their project.
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A band member describes Knox’s future husband as “A Rock and roll musician, a seeker of truth and a spiritual being.” His bio on the site lists him as a “believer” and describes him as “a nomad by nature, [who] believes in the power of stories, spiritual forces and the freedom of living among and through them.”
Thunderstrike, the bio says, has “lived and played music in parts of the US, France and Nepal.”
The project apparently pits Sutherland against his skeptical bandmates Winston Shaw and Shelby Martin. Shaw is described as the “purveyor of sexy devil country music, co-host, joke teller, and general skeptic” who helps him hunt ghosts.
“Now for those, like Colin, that believe in ghost stories, the experience is a fun, spiritual, and spine-tingling kind of communion,” the site promises. “For skeptics like Winston, the ghost story is an amazing experience in people watching, Americana, and the power of storytelling.”
The Facebook site for his band, The Johnny Pumps, shows the quartet laughing it up as Sutherland, holding a beer, falls into a band member as his long hair sweeps across his face.
Sutherland graduated from Sarah Lawrence in 2009 where he studied French and was active in the theater program, according to his bios in a number of playbills. As an actor, he studied movement and voice at the Ecole International de Theatre Jacques Lecoq in Paris.
The website for his band The Johnny Pumps describes the music as a mixture of genres. “It’s rock, it’s impure metal, and it’s cut with a punk edge that will make you wanna dance. It’s slag rock,” the site says before going on to describe the band members.
"Blake likes to watch Jeopardy by candlelight. Colin likes flat soda. Fred likes to take cat pictures. Eliran enjoy all outdoor activities. One of us used to be a woman but we won’t say who. So long, and thanks for all the fish.”
When reached by The Daily Beast, Johnny Pump’s lead singer Fred Spitz declined to comment.
The band’s last events are listed in 2013 and there is no mention of the pending nuptials for Sutherland, or whether his move to Seattle will spur a breakup or, perhaps, point them towards retro grunge.
