Phil Smith is embarking on his first solo tour to celebrate his third album, ‘Year Of The Dog’, which is a pun referring to the year he was born.
And it seems we may not see Phil as often locally for some time. “I want to tour as much as I can, especially for the rest of this year. But I'm a bit of a slow learner, and I've only just [worked out] that if you want to move forward [with your career], you've gotta get out of your own city and tour as much as you can. And I guess I didn't have any albums that I was ever really confident of [touring]. The first two albums definitely needed the full two bands to put the music across, but this one is more built so I could play it solo.
“And I've been doing a lot of solo shows lately, so I'm much more confident about hitting the road. I'd like to get back into the studio at the end of the year, so it would be good to flog the hell out of this record.”
Phil has been on the move since he was young trying to find his place, but his search may soon be coming to an end. “Brisbane is starting to feel more like home. It was always based around where I was going to have success with the music that made me feel like I'd found a place to stay. And it's really only in the last three months that that's started happening.
“I've been in Brisbane for ten years, and I know a lot of people but I didn't really feel like it was home, but it's started to now with the music being a bit more forward-moving — it's feeling like it might be a place to settle for a while.”
Brisbane's local music scene is also another highlight that Phil has noticed. “I'm always blown away by the amount of talent there is here, and that goes for all genres of music whether it's punk, straight country, indie pop. There seems to be loads of bands that are always at the forefront of the scene.”
Phil Smith Tour Dates
June 7 - The Bearded Lady (Brisbane)June 13 - Mandala Arts Cafe (Gold Coast)
June 14 - The Treehouse (Byron)
June 19 - The Newsagency (Sydney)
June 21 - Bar 303 (Melbourne)
June 22 - Republic Bar (Hobart)
July 11 - Mandala Arts Cafe (Gold Coast)
