By Luke Voogt
Grinspoon “wouldn’t be what it is today” without the cities like Geelong, according to eccentric front man Phil Jamieson.
“The people that live there seem to like our band more than snobs in inner-city Melbourne,” he told the Indy from Perth last week.
The boys from Lismore found their best fans in Newcastle, Wollongong and Geelong during their early days, Jamieson said.
“We’ve been coming to Geelong since 1995 – I’ve lost track of all the places we’ve played there.”
Grinspoon will return to Geelong next month alongside a line-up choc-full of iconic Aussie bands for the last gig of a national touring series.
The band joined the Hotter Than Hell line-up for shows in Adelaide and Gladstone earlier this year.
“Both shows were super, super fun but a little bit silly,” Jamieson said.
“I had a prosthetic thrown onstage – I’m like, ‘what are you doing?’ I’ll be honest … it’s not a regular occurrence.”
The 40-year-old has been “losing track of days” flying across Australia, splitting his time between Grinspoon and playing St Jimmy in the musical American Idiot.
“Tomorrow I’ll fly from Perth to Melbourne and then I’ll fly back to Perth again,” he said.
Jamieson was looking forward to a break from flying around and playing alongside Regurgitator and Super Jesus at the Gateway Hotel on 3 March.
“Forget us – Regurgitator and Super Jesus are sick!” he said.
American Idiot was playing in Melbourne on the same weekend as the Geelong gig, he explained.
“It will be nice and easy – I’ll just ride my motorbike down from Melbourne,” he said.
“I’ll say hi to Ben, Juan and Pete from Regurgitator and give them cuddles.”
Jamieson remembered watching Regurgitator in Lismore in the mid-90s, when, like Grinspoon, the band was making a name for itself.
“We were massive fans of them. I went and saw them and was head over heels for them.”
Jamieson was also a big fan of Super Jesus.
“We were a very bratty noisy punk band, whereas Super Jesus were a bit more classy and refined.”
For Jamieson playing music was all about having a good time and escapism, not singing about “politics” and “rainbows”, or the crowd reaction.
“I don’t think about the crowd at all – I only think about what I’m doing,” he said.
“If you start worrying about the 100 people or 50,000 people in crowd the performance will be different.”
Grinspoon will be back on the road in autumn, playing at Groovin the Moo, before Jamieson gets some much-needed respite.
“I’m going to take a month off in June I think … so I can remember what day it is,” he said.
