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Grinspoon.
 Sunrise, sunset... has is it really been ten years? After bursting onto the scene out of nowhere (ok, Lismore, NSW) in 1995, Grinspoon have proven to be Australia's undefeated champions of good-time rock through album after album, all the while holding that rare position of massive popularity and credibility. Their current release, 'Thrills, Kills And Sunday Pills' will see them heading out on the road throughout April for the national 'Show Pony Express' tour with Shihad, so for once you really can believe the hype.
"We've just done the Edge Fest over in New Zealand," enthuses Grinspoon's lead guitarist Pat Davern. "Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and all that. This year's been pretty good so far, with the Big Day Out too, and now we're just getting ready for this tour."
So will it feature real show ponies? Now, that would be pretty cool... "No, the single that we've got out at the moment, Hold On Me, was originally called Show Pony, but when we went to the States, the guy who produced our record wanted us to change it because he seriously didn't know what a show pony was."
This will be the third time the Shihad guys will accompany Grinspoon on a big national tour, as Davern explains.
"We've played with them many times, first in 1998 for our 'Pushing Buttons' EP, then for their 'Pacifier' tour, and now this is our third big show with them. I think it should be really good. It's a big bill and we're just gonna put on a big show!"
So will it feature the old favourites? "Well, we won't be playing a lot of songs that we play too much of at all the other shows, the usuals. We've been playing lots of festivals like the Big Day Out and with them you only play the hits instead of showcasing your new record, so we're gonna try to go through the old songs all in one hit and then showcase the new album. We'll play for a lot longer, but overall it should be a good, broad cross-section of old and new stuff.
"The new album is definitely different from the stuff we've done in the past," Davern continues, "so the tour will be a little bit different too because of the songs. We're just exploring different sounds, we're a lot more laid-back now than what we've been in the past. But, you know, I think it's good to challenge your audience."
So the band has grown up a little and got over dead cats? "I don't know!", he laughs, "We're sort of over dead cats... but you never know, on our next record we just might do Dead Cat Times Four!"
Davern adds that the two places Grinspoon always know they'll have a blast in are Queensland and South Australia, "Adelaide was definitely our best show for the Big Day Out, we hung out with all the Australian and English bands, and we all got really drunk in the hotel bars. Adelaide was really fun."
Since Phil Jamieson (vocals) is known to have once compared Queensland with Scary Spice, and Victoria with Posh Spice, I ask Davern which Spice Girl South Australia resembles the most. "Oh god, I can't believe he said that!", he laughs then pauses for a moment. "South Australia would be Sporty Spice, no doubt, you love your football down there, you got the Crows and the Power, so I'll give you that!"
Since we're on the subject, Davern adds that they've met quite a few of what he calls "international bimbos". "We got to meet Anna Nicole Smith and Carmen Electra at the MTV Awards show. And it was funny, but it was weird because these bimbos get to do this high-profile stuff, and it's just really not my kind of thing,"he says disapprovingly. "But I met the Osbornes and they were cool! It was good to meet Ozzy, that was amazing, we got to do the handshake and 'how are you?' It was pretty special for me. We also got to meet Corey from Slipknot at the Big Day Out, which was really cool. We kind of hung out with him as the tour went on and he was a nice guy. But he's not as scary as his mask, they're all pretty straight-up."
After a decade together, Davern's philosophical when looking back over the band's development. "We were living in Lismore, dropping out of university to pursue our music career, but we didn't know whether it would last two weeks or two years at that time. If you'd told us back then 'hey, you guys will still be together in ten years', we would have been pretty surprised, we wouldn't have believed you. But we're signed to a major label now and things are easier as far as getting the money to record go. And I guess the only thing that's different these days is that we're not struggling like we used to."
Davern goes on to explain where he thinks the band will find themselves in the future, "I don't know if we've actually found what we're striving towards, it's all just about progression, every album moves on from the one before and I don't know when we'll reach where we expect ourselves to be. Hopefully we'll get there sooner rather than later." He thinks for a moment and laughs, "It'd be good to be able to play with Motley Crew one day!"
So lock up your daughters. And, er, your cats.
Nina Bertok
 | Grinspoon, Shihad, Grand Fatal and the Cops bring the 'Show Pony Express' to the Entertainment Centre on Sun 24 April. |
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