Grinspoon: Chemical Brothers

Grinspoon play the Arena on March 14. Chemical Heart is in stores now.

“We haven’t done it for ages, so it’s nice to actually talk to people again. It’s been a good eighteen months or so since we’ve been on the promo trail, and I’m enjoying it because, y’know, at least people still want to talk to us.”

I’m speaking with Phil Jamieson the exuberant fellow who holds the microphone for Grinspoon. And yes it has been, as they say, eons since Grinspoon had some new aural merchandise to talk up. But here they are, once again, ready at the gates with a new single, Chemical Heart. For some this new track might be something of a surprise package, but for others – dare I say it, the real fans – this will simply confirm the breadth of this rock’n’roll quartet’s palette.

Someone suggested to me that this was a courageous single for Grinspoon to release. Do you feel courageous?

“I don’t feel courageous putting it out as a single, but I was definitely tentative when it actually came to releasing it. We’ve always recorded songs like this, on our records, but never released them as singles. But in the past eighteen months we’ve ended up with a new manager, and he is of the opinion that these songs (let’s call ‘em rock ballads, eh) aren’t our weakness but one of our strengths.”

“It’s a new album and we just didn’t want to release a two and a half minute yell at people song, like the last three or four singles.”

The title of the new album New Detention is that a political title or does it relate to the period of time between albums?

“It’s not meant to be a political title. It is in fact the line from a song that I forgot to mention on the last album. The new detention / it’s a forgone conclusion / because it’s the current lack of inspiration. Which makes up the first few lines of the new album. It all ties into the artwork, which I got to do this time, and school. This could be our new detention because we could be locked into touring this album for the next five years. I don’t mean for it to sound negative, I just thought it was a snappy little title that I’ve always wanted to use.”