For Phil Jamieson, lead singer of Grinspoon, The Big Day Out is an institution. And with the release of their new album, Six To Midnight, it gives this all-Australian band the perfect opportunity to reconnect with their fans. And then some.
On the phone from the mid-north coast of New South Wales, Jamieson chatted about his first Big Day Out and some of his personal upcoming highlights for this years’ mega-event.
Can you remember your first Big Day Out?
I was 15 and I was first in the gate to see Soundgarden, Silverchair and Spiderbait in 1994, I believe, at the Sydney showgrounds.
What was your favourite memory from that one?
I really liked Soundgarden and I really liked Bjork. They’re both fantastic and I think obviously just watching Silverchair, I think they would have been my age. They’re a little bit younger than me, so I would have been sixeen and they would have been fourteen and they were just rocking out; they were very exciting.
It’s a pretty killer line-up this year; is there anyone in particular you want to see?
I’m interested in seeing The Horrors and Kasabian and obviously Tumbleweed are playing Sydney and Melbourne and I’m going to definitely see Tumbleweed because I was a massive fan as a kid. But The Horrors and Kasabian are high on my to-do list.
What are three things that you think a punter should bring when they go to The Big Day Out?
I can tell you three things you shouldn’t bring. You shouldn’t bring a backpack, because basically if you’re wearing a backpack it means you have an added growth on your body that makes it impossible for people to line up around you. If you take a backpack you should have to pay for an extra ticket for that backpack to be attached to your body. Don’t wear thongs; they’re going to get lost, you’re going to get your feet trodden on and that’s bad. Don’t take any kind of illicit substances, because you will get caught with the sniffer dogs and you won’t be able to go to the festival. Once inside the festival, have a great time, but don’t take a backpack, don’t wear thongs and don’t take any illicit substances because the cops will get you.
If you had unlimited funds and could organize a festival anywhere in the world, where would it be and who would be on the line-up?
Unlimited funds? You’d have to get Susan Boyle.
Are you a fan?
No. You’d have to get Susan Boyle, Powderfinger, Miriah Carey, Hiltop Hoods, The Wu Tang Clan, Bridezilla, The Dirty Three, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Stabs, Witch Hats, The Novocains and you’d put all them on a bill and you’d put it out the back of Catherine, in the Northern Territory and… I don’t know what you’d call it. Maybe you’d fly in Lou Reed, Neil Young and David Bowie.
So if you could see Susan Boyle do a duet with anyone in the world, who would it be?
Bernard Fanning. They could do I Just Wanna Wish You Well together. That’d be awesome. I’d love to see Bernard Fanning and Susan Boyle singing I Just Wanna Wish You Well… that would just entertain me to no end.
***
