Grinspoon relive the fights, the trashed hotel rooms and the split scalps of rock’n’roll

CULT Aussie altrock bank Grinspoon reminisce with Kathy McCabe on the good times and the not-so-good times ahead of their 20th anniversary tour.

GRINSPOON loved a drink, loved a fight and were the enfant terribles of the halcyon era of ‘90s Australian alternative rock.

After winning Triple J’s inaugural Unearthed competition in 1995, the post-grunge band from Lismore in northern NSW incited a bidding war among the major Australian record labels and eventually signed with the Universal “indie” imprint.

By the time they released their debut album Guide To Better Living in 1997, they were tearing up stages (and the occasional hotel room) around the country, inciting fierce moshpits which only the brave — or incredibly inebriated — would enter.

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Grinspoon when they were young ... and kinda scary looking. Picture: Supplied.

Fast forward 20 years and Phil Jamieson, Pat Davern, Joe Hansen and Kristian Hopes have reunited after a three-year hiatus to indulge individual pursuits.

As they release the 20th anniversary edition of their debut record — including a vinyl version for the first time — and embark on a sold-out national tour, frontman Jamieson and guitarist Davern reminisced about the “glamour” of blood, sweat and beers of their early days on the road.

Davern said fights would invariably break out when the quartet were confined to small spaces with too much time on their hands.

“People would get tetchy overseas, all the driving. The first American tour we did, there were five of us in a Chevy Suburban SUV with all our gear in the back,” Davern says.

“We would be playing cards in the back seat; it was highly competitive. And I challenge anyone to travel those distances and not have disagreements.

“There’s been heaps of fisticuffs.”

The crowd behaviour in the day was hardly moderated by the occupational health and safety rules that apply now.

There were no plastic cups and the barriers between the stage and a revved-up audience were more for show than security.

Consequently any fan who thought it was a good idea to throw a bottle or can at the band could get close enough for a shot.

Phil Jamieson needed seven stitches after someone in the crowd hit him with a beer bottle. Picture: Brett Costello

“At a gig in Deniliquin in 1999, someone got me with a half-full VB throwdown,” Jamieson recalls.

“I got knocked out, there was blood all over my face, and I crawled off stage.

“They asked if I could go back on. No, I was not going back on.

“Pat was asking who threw the bottle and everyone starts pointing at this guy and they kicked him out.

“He got me good, seven stitches.”

Davern, as the oldest member of the band, took safety seriously.

He would occasionally admonish the crowd for throwing projectiles at the band, particularly when they kept hitting his hands as he was playing.

He soon learned that ignoring the behaviour seemed to end it faster than a lecture.

“I did get a bag of vomit in a chip packet thrown at me in Adelaide,” he says, laughing.

“My guitar tech at the time asked me ‘Whose girlfriend did you do?’ I don’t know anyone in Adelaide.

“And Lindsay McDougall from Frenzal Rhomb also vomited on my pedals and down the back of my amp. Our crew punished him. I didn’t have to say anything because they went him.”

Post-grunge survivors Grinspoon celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut album. Picture: Dylan Robinson

One the biggest gigs of their early career was opening for The Angels in 1996 at that Sydney beer barn, Selinas, in Coogee.

Their fee for the show was $150 but was never paid because of an incident in their bandroom at the hotel.

Jamieson says it was all the fault of their friends from Sydney band Def FX, in particular guitarist Dave Stein.

“At the time we had been befriended by Def FX and they came along to the venue to support us, we were on about 6pm,” Jamieson says.

“It was a big deal to play with The Angels, that was an honour.

“We got to the hotel room after the set and Dave the guitarist from Def FX proceeded to throw Coke all over the ceiling and this sugary syrup was dripping down everywhere.

“The commotion from the room was heard outside and Billy Moore, the (North Sydney) league player who’s now on Fox Sports, and Brent Eccles, the drummer from the Angels marched their way into the room.

“Looking back on it, if I was Brent Eccles, I would have been pissed too because it’s not cool to trash hotel rooms or band rooms.

“I think I was quite apologetic but maybe Kris and Billy Moore had a scuffle. And we never got paid for the gig.”

Butter wouldn’t melt in their fighting mouths. Picture: Supplied.

Guide To Better Living featured a handful of songs which remain among the most popular in their canon including Champion, Sickfest and Just Ace, achieved phenomenal platinum sales — a big deal for a small band then — and scored an ARIA Award nomination.

It also featured one of the band’s most frenetic and intriguing crowd favourite’s DC X 3, which stands for Dead Cat Three Times.

“It’s a hex inspired by Drugstore Cowboy and the cowboy hat,” Jamieson explains.

“I was driving to rehearsal and passed a dead cat on the side of the road.

“I was super stoned and when I saw it, I thought it was a hex. I kept thinking someone should pick that cat up, it’s a horrible thing to see.

“And then I remembered I left my lyric book at home so I did a U-turn and the cat was still there when I was passed again.

“I get home, grab my lyric book and then drive past the cat again. Dead cat three times. The guys were already at the rehearsal room and they were playing the music and the song just came out of mouth.

“A lot of those songs were written just from things I saw. Pressure Test 1984 was a fire extinguisher on a wall, Boundary is about AFL, Scalped is about someone who lost their hair.

“I was 19, I didn’t know anything else.”

Guide To Better Living anniversary edition is out now.

For all dates and ticketing details, grinspoon.com.au.