Heritage Hotel, Bulli

November 30

Phil Jamieson doesn’t like being called Phil Jamieson.

“I don’t like my name. Phil is a daggy name. All I ever think of is Phil Collins, or the dad from a TV sitcom,” he said.

No disrespect to fans of Genesis, but the Grinspoon frontman isn’t necessarily having a go at the name ‘Phil’ itself – just that he doesn’t want to have a record on the shelves with ‘Phil Jamieson’ on the front cover. Not yet, anyway.

Jamieson is currently midway through a NSW tour under his own (disliked) name, playing solo and acoustic as opposed to his regular day job leading the Australian rock icons of Grinspoon. Playing intimate venues and pubs rather than the big clubs he has become used to after 18 years with the Lismore-born band, Jamieson is relishing the new opportunity, the new crowds and the new vibes.

Well, sometimes.

“It’s been really fun, but the only thing is that it’s solo, and I’m lonely on the road,” he laughed.

“Because I’m doing everything myself, it feels intense. It’s a fair bit of travel, a fair bit of twiddling my thumbs, but the show itself has been great; it’s the interim stuff that isn’t. Yesterday I got a plane, train and bus. It’d be tough if it wasn’t good, but it’s fun.”

Playing a combination of “reimagined and rearranged” Grinspoon songs, originals and covers, the Phil Jamieson solo tour is a constantly evolving beast. He says the audience, not him, will determine the setlist each night.

“It depends on the crowd. I write about 30 songs on a sheet of paper, and cherry-pick them depending on the mood of the room,” he said.

For fans expecting a set of hits, Jamieson says that is not the vibe of the show. He said he worked hard to avoid a “Grinspoon unplugged” feel,  interpreting the songs with only his voice, an acoustic guitar and harmonica.

“I won’t say what I play, because that’s part of the surprise and the fun of it is taking a song that people know and twisting it into a reggae version or a Chris Isaak version,” he said.

“I can f... with the songs because I wrote them.” 

He calls the tour, which pulls into the Bulli Heritage Hotel this Saturday night, a “social experiment”. After almost two decades with the grunge-tinged rockers, doing the hard yards and small rooms with a new project is a new challenge, and a new way of interacting with the fans that have so staunchly supported the group.

“In smaller venues you meet more people, and the amount of love that I get for our band is overwhelming,” he said.

“With Grinspoon tours I rarely get to press flesh or meet fans after. But playing these smaller venues solo, I can meet people. It’s quite flattering, very humbling to hear what people have to say about us.”

Aside from the solo venture and a still thriving career with Grinspoon, Jamieson will spend much of the summer on his motorbike. 

Part of the Rock N Ride venture with the Big Day Out festival, Jamieson and a host of friends, musicians and celebrities – including Chris Joannou from Silverchair, MTV host Kate Peck, Art vs Science and Kinggswood – will ride from the Gold Coast to Adelaide, visiting Headspace centres along the way to raise awareness of youth mental health.