{"id":38423,"date":"2019-09-09T07:00:48","date_gmt":"2019-09-08T21:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=38423"},"modified":"2019-09-09T08:56:36","modified_gmt":"2019-09-08T22:56:36","slug":"pat-davern-of-grinspoon-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2019\/09\/pat-davern-of-grinspoon-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Pat Davern of Grinspoon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cI\u2019m still thankful that we\u2019ve still got people that believe we are still somewhat relevant and they want to come and see our shows, and want to hear our music, and we don\u2019t have anything new since 2012 but people are still keen and that makes me extremely happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Release: Legendary Aussie rockers Grinspoon have announced their epic Chemical Hearts national tour, set to make its way around the country in October and November.\u00a0 In celebration of the tour, the band will be releasing a Chemical Hearts vinyl record on the day the tour kicks off (October 11) with a tracklist that will offer fans a nostalgic taste of what’s to come at the shows. In 1997, the youthful Grinspoon uploaded the track Sickfest to triple j Unearthed, not knowing the life-changing success that was to come.\u00a0 What followed was an illustrious career, with seven albums, Top Ten ARIA chart spots, ARIA Awards, 13 ARIA nominations, more than 1,000 gigs, tens of thousands of frequent flyer miles, 7 appearances at the Big Day Out as well as slots at Homebake, Falls Festival, Splendour In The Grass, an NRL Grand Final and a Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony in Melbourne.\u00a0 Despite these massive achievements, Grinspoon don’t have plans to wrap things up any time soon.<\/p>\n

Sitting in his studio in Byron Bay, Pat gave us a call to talk about Grinspoon\u2019s upcoming tour, best of, moments, the possibility of new music, how Tom Gleeson can help the band, and more\u2026<\/p>\n

So to start, it\u2019s been almost seven years since we last chatted, so let\u2019s catch up, how have the last seven years been for you?<\/strong>
\nSeven years that was the Black Rabbits tour? Yeah we did the Black Rabbits tour and we decided that we were going to have a bit of a break for a while, we\u2019d been hammering at it for quite a number of years as you\u2019re probably aware and after that tour I think everyone was a bit burnt out and you know what I think our audience might have been a bit burnt out and I don\u2019t know if there was much desire to hear new Grinspoon music from the general public, I mean we were still enjoying doing it and stuff like that but things had started to wane a little bit. So we just decided that we\u2019d been travelling, trying to crack America, all blah blah blah all that kind of stuff, let\u2019s just have a break, so we did that. We did a couple of one offs, we played with Chisel I think in 2015, did a couple of shows with those guys, and then in 2017 our management and us decided to maybe make a bit of a celebration of the twentieth anniversary of \u2018Guide To Better Living\u2019 our debut record, so we went out and toured for on and off really, we did a tour then we did some stuff for ALH which was called Hotter Than Hell then we did Groovin\u2019 the Moo in May of the following year and then we\u2019ve all been back to normal life ever since then. There\u2019s been a lot of downtime, we\u2019re not in the mode of like it used to be when we had a record deal and we were like tour, stop, write, record, tour, which was kind of our lives pretty much from 1995 \u2013 2012.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re heading back out on the road this October, so if you\u2019ve been living under a rock in Australia and haven\u2019t seen you guys live before, if had to use one word to describe a Grinspoon show what would it be and why?<\/strong>
\nI think it would be \u2018unpredictable\u2019 to be honest with you *laughs*not naming any names *laughs* but I\u2019ve got to tell you we used to be a two shows good one show bad kind of band but I think nowadays all our shows are pretty good, they really are, I think we\u2019ve been around long enough that we\u2019ve got our sound together and we know what we\u2019re doing, but there\u2019s still that element of danger when you come and see a Grinspoon show that you don\u2019t know exactly what\u2019s going to happen and we like the fact that there\u2019s an element of danger in our shows so I guess that\u2019s the best way for me to describe how we\u2019ve always been and to a lesser extent how we still are.<\/p>\n

So, tell us what does a Grinspoon show circa 2019 look like set wise?<\/strong>
\nWell, it\u2019s a best of, to be honest with you we did a best of after two albums or something and I don\u2019t know why but we did, so we\u2019re kind of stuck in this situation where we\u2019re kind of keen to do some new music but we need to get together and I guess formulate a plan of how the band is going to go moving forward and our management came to us and said do you guys feel like going back out on the road again and we were like yes because they were like we would really like you guys to release a best of material including albums that have never been included in a best of, so it\u2019s a best of in a way that it\u2019s a live best of and it features a lot of songs that have never been compiled together on the one album, and you know what it\u2019s like with vinyl these days so I think we\u2019ll be releasing digitally and we\u2019ll be releasing on vinyl and going out on the road and probably basically doing a best of set but we\u2019re going to be doing some other things and I don\u2019t want to give too much away but it\u2019s going to be a show, I guess that\u2019s what we need to do now because we haven\u2019t got any new music at the moment we\u2019re really going to try and put on an amazing show. A little bit of nostalgia and maybe a lot of nostalgia as well.<\/p>\n

Now, as we said before the last time we chatted was in 2012 which was the last time there was a new album from the band, has there been talk of a new album from the band?<\/strong>
\nYeah bits and pieces, I\u2019m always writing and obviously I\u2019ve got a studio which we discussed earlier, at the moment I\u2019ve got Kristian\u2019s drum kit set up in the live room he came down a couple of weeks ago, I got him to play on some of my songs and as far as that goes I\u2019m just writing, I\u2019ve got in the back of my mind that I\u2019d like to do some new Grinspoon music so I\u2019m pushing forward with that. So who knows, I mean Grinspoon is a democracy so just because I want to do new music doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s going to happen *laughs*. So hopefully 2020 which is the twenty fifth anniversary of the band we may have some new music, no promises *laughs*. I\u2019d love to as you can tell obviously keen to do some stuff for sure.<\/p>\n

So over time it can be easy to say what\u2019s changed but what would you say is the one thing that\u2019s stayed the same in your time in Grinspoon?<\/strong>
\nSame four guys, same kind of democratic attitude towards the music, a lot of the same crew, there\u2019s a lot of sames it\u2019s really where do I start? We\u2019re a band that thrives on things being the same to be honest with you, we don\u2019t like a lot of change and as far as our organisation is concerned and we\u2019ve had the one manager a long time, as I said the same four band members. The shows have got better and I\u2019m not just saying that I mean they have, like as I said before we were pretty unpredictable in the old days and we were a two and one kind of band and you weren\u2019t always sure what you were gonna get, you could\u2019ve got a fight, you could\u2019ve got a great show, you could\u2019ve got a disaster, so that has probably changed but the things that have stayed the same I guess is the group and the attitude and the keen youthfulness that we try and portray and try and be in our lives.<\/p>\n

For you in terms of moments that stand out, what for you has been that moment you\u2019ve been able to have by being a part of this band?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s a tough one man, we had some great times in the late 90\u2019s, obviously when we got signed to Universal in The U.S., when all that was happening that was huge for us and in hindsight it didn\u2019t work out the way we probably hoped it was going to work out but it didn\u2019t kind of detract from the feeling of getting over there and hooking up with a major label and having all those things that go along with that in the 90\u2019s which was a very different time in music to what it is now. I think also when also when we went back out on our twentieth anniversary \u2018Guide To Better Living\u2019 tour, I mean I had no idea, that was the hugest tour we\u2019ve ever done in Australia and I had no idea the amount of love that was still out there for the band and that was incredible, that was such a beautiful feeling and we were all blown away by the response to the amount of people that came to the shows, to the feeling of the crowds, that was a seriously highlight, man.<\/p>\n

Other side of that, what\u2019s the one thing you\u2019d like to do as a band that you haven\u2019t yet had the chance to do?<\/strong>
\nHave a number 1 album\u2026<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve never done that?!<\/strong>
\nNope, number 2 *laughs* got beat by Eminem, I think it was \u2018New Detention\u2019 got held out by Eminem, and I think \u2018Thrills\u2019 was number 4 would you believe. \u2018Guide To Better Living\u2019 I don\u2019t think even cracked the top 10 but it stayed in the charts for over a year. So if we do do a new record let\u2019s get a steadfast campaign going, like Tom Gleeson for The Logies, let\u2019s go Grinspoon for Number 1. Maybe we can talk to Tom Gleeson for that one; maybe he can get behind us as he seems to have a lot of success when it comes to media campaigns.<\/p>\n

So what do you still enjoy about being a part of Grinspoon?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s different these days because I don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m as much a part of it as I used to be because we aren\u2019t doing as much but I think the best part of it is the fact that it\u2019s still going and it still feels somewhat relevant you know what I mean? I think that I look at a lot of my contemporaries out there that are doing different things to us, I mean we\u2019re still playing the Hordern which is amazing and I\u2019m still thankful that we\u2019ve still got people that believe we are still somewhat relevant and they want to come and see our shows, and want to hear our music, and we don\u2019t have anything new since 2012 but people are still keen and that makes me extremely happy.<\/p>\n

Lastly let\u2019s look ahead to the future, finish this sentence for me, by the end of 2019 Grinspoon want to\u2026<\/strong>
\nStart compiling new music for a new record.<\/p>\n

For a new Number 1 record!<\/strong>
\nFor a new number 1 record, exactly, thanks man! I\u2019m gonna use that in the rest of the interviews I do today *laughs*.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

GRINSPOON ‘CHEMICAL HEARTS’ NATIONAL TOUR<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

FRI 11 OCT\u00a0| METROPOLIS, FREMANTLE WA | 18+
\n<\/strong>Tickets available from\u00a0http:\/\/www.grinspoon.com.au\/<\/a><\/p>\n

SAT 12 OCT\u00a0| METRO CITY, PERTH WA | 18+
\n<\/strong>Tickets available from\u00a0http:\/\/www.grinspoon.com.au\/<\/a><\/p>\n

WED 16 OCT\u00a0| THE FORUM, MELBOURNE VIC\u00a0 | 18+
\n<\/strong>Tickets available from\u00a0http:\/\/www.grinspoon.com.au\/<\/a><\/p>\n

FRI 18 OCT\u00a0| UC REFECTORY, CANBERRA ACT | 18+
\n<\/strong>Tickets available from\u00a0http:\/\/www.grinspoon.com.au\/<\/a><\/p>\n

WED 23 OCT\u00a0| ODEON THEATRE, HOBART TAS | 18+
\n<\/strong>Tickets available from\u00a0http:\/\/www.grinspoon.com.au\/<\/a><\/p>\n

SAT 26 OCT\u00a0| ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE THEATRE, ADELAIDE SA | AA
\n<\/strong>Tickets available from\u00a0http:\/\/www.grinspoon.com.au\/<\/a><\/p>\n

THURS 31 OCT\u00a0| WAVES, WOLLONGONG NSW | 18+
\n<\/strong>Tickets available from\u00a0http:\/\/www.grinspoon.com.au\/<\/a><\/p>\n

FRI 1 NOV\u00a0| ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE, NEWCASTLE NSW | AA
\n<\/strong>Tickets available from\u00a0http:\/\/www.grinspoon.com.au\/<\/a><\/p>\n

SAT 2 NOV\u00a0| HORDERN PAVILION, SYDNEY NSW | AA
\n<\/strong>Tickets available from\u00a0http:\/\/www.grinspoon.com.au\/<\/a><\/p>\n

THURS 7 NOV\u00a0| THE STAR BROADBEACH, GOLD COAST QLD | 18+
\n<\/strong>Tickets available from\u00a0http:\/\/www.grinspoon.com.au\/<\/a><\/p>\n

FRI 8 NOV\u00a0| THE FORTITUDE MUSIC HALL, BRISBANE QLD | 18+
\n<\/strong>Tickets available from\u00a0http:\/\/www.grinspoon.com.au\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Lismore, NSW, Australia<\/p>\n

Band members: \u00a0<\/strong>Phil Jamieson \u2013 Vocals, Pat Davern – Guitar, Joe Hansen – Bass, Kristian Hopes – Drums<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> www.grinspoon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Forthcoming release:<\/strong> Chemical Hearts (October 11)<\/p>\n

GRINSPOON ‘CHEMICAL HEARTS’ VINYL TRACKLIST<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Side A
\n<\/strong>Chemical Heart
\nDC X 3
\nChampion
\nJust Ace
\nPedestrian
\nBlack Friday
\nReady 1
\nLost Control<\/p>\n

Side B<\/strong>
\nHard Act To Follow
\nNo Reason
\nSickfest
\nMore Than You Are
\n1000 Miles
\nBetter Off Alone
\nPost Enebriated Anxiety<\/p>\n