Grinspoon embark on their national 'Easy Detention' tour in October, celebrating the release of their seminal albums 'Easy' and 'New Detention' on vinyl.
"I got the vinyl and had a listen to them," frontman Phil Jamieson says. "I haven't listened to this stuff in 20 years, so it was a great trip down memory lane listening to those two records," adding with a chuckle, "and some production decisions that were made."As a band of the CD-centric '90s and '00s, Phil says it was a special moment for him, guitarist Pat Davern, bassist Joe Hansen and drummer Kristian Hopes to hear their music on vinyl.
"[The band] listened together and we had a bit of a moment to be honest – 28 years together in a band and here we are listening to our second and third albums finally pressed on vinyl, so you know, it was really nice."
Spanning two albums, Phil says the 'Easy Detention' tour will be a slightly different beast compared to their recent live outings.
"The 'Guide To Better Living' tour was pretty straightforward – we played that from start to finish – 'Chemical Hearts' was straightforward because it was a greatest hits tour, for lack of a better term. And this tour is a little more nuanced because it's over two records," Phil says.
"We don't tour often so when we do, we want to make it really memorable and important because we don't go out there as often as we used to.
"We're trying to cobble together the breadth of two records that are really quite different in many ways."
Written and recorded between 1998 and 2002, 'Easy' and 'New Detention' represent a tumultuous period of development for Grinspoon heavily influenced by their gruelling North American tour supporting Anthrax.
"1998 we spent a lot of time touring North America for 'Guide To Better Living' [1997 debut album], and the majority of the 'Easy' record was written in America," Phil explains.
"'Rock Show' specifically was written in the back of a Winnebago out the back of the Chicago House Of Blues, and 'Ready 1' was written in San Clemente in a rehearsal studio in California.
"Overall, it's very fragmented and it's a very angry little album in many ways about our American experience.
"I probably antagonised more than I entertained the North Americans on that 18-month tour, which was partly because they were dickheads or partly because I was, who knows. So, that was 'Easy' in a nutshell."
'Easy' is an album Phil considers highly in their discography and the band's collective history, a record of the band proving their worth after the initial success of their debut.
"There's a lot of instrumental stuff happening, heaps of guitar solos, a lot of weed getting smoked. It's a really fun record, I have a lot of affection for that record," he says.
"I love 'Easy' because we were proving our mettle. We really wanted to prove ourselves with 'Easy' and arguably we did, or we didn't, but I still love listening to it.
"The American label passed on releasing 'Easy', probably because I'd written so many songs about hating them."
Where 'Easy' earned Grinspoon wider industry recognition/ infamy, 'New Detention', released in 2002, propelled them from suburban grunge outfit to certified rock band.
"We ended up writing 50 songs for 'New Detention', demoing and demoing and demoing. . . it was a long, drawn-out process of finding the songs," Phil says.
"The bookends of that album, 'Anyday, Anyhow' and 'Hate' I both wrote, were album tracks but also very important in the way the album came together.
"Then 'Chemical Heart' was the first single off 'New Detention'; that changed everything in many ways. Our trajectory moved quite dramatically from that point."
Put together, 'Easy' and 'New Detention' serve as a chronicle of Grinspoon's turbulent and rebellious adolescence as a band.
Given their choices, Phil says it's been challenging for the band to agree on a set list for the 'Easy Detention' tour. "I'm of the opinion you probably can't please everyone on these types of tours," he says.
"I'm leaning towards having subs every night, so the sets are slightly different and some of the deep cuts get substituted. Obviously, between 1998 and 2001 we were writing a lot of songs. We didn't cringe too much when we listened back, that's the most important thing.
"There's a bit of angst, a bit of the stoned stuff going on. . . there's a world of entertainment on these two records," he laughs.
'Easy' and 'New Detention' will be released on vinyl 8 September, 2023. Pre-order it.
Grinspoon 2023 Tour Dates
Sun 29 Oct - Miami Marketta Laneway (Gold Coast)* sold outFri 3 Nov - City Hall (Hobart)* final tickets
Mon 6 Nov - Forum Melbourne* sold out
Fri 10 Nov - The Fortitude Music Hall (Brisbane)* sold out
Sat 11 Nov - Hindley Street Music Hall (Adelaide)* sold out
Fri 17 Nov - Enmore Theatre (Sydney)* sold out
Sat 18 Nov - NEX (Newcastle)* final tickets
Thu 23 Nov - Astor Theatre (Perth)* new show
Fri 24 Nov - Astor Theatre (Perth)* sold out
Fri 22 Dec - Forum Melbourne* new show
Sat 23 Dec - Adelaide Entertainment Centre* new show
