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Ushering In A New Era With PAT DAVERN From GRINSPOON · HEAVY Music Interviews

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  Hey, this is Pat from Grinspoon and I'm here to talk about our new
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  single, Unknown Pretenders, our new album whatever, whatever, and our huge
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  tour going from September through December. But whatever, whenever, wherever, tour
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  coming at you beaudiful pay We've got a bit to get through by the sound
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  of it. Thanks for joining us, my pleasure mate. How are you
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  very well? Thank you very well and yourself? Yeah, pretty good,
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  pretty good, suns out, happy, beautiful to hear. So we'll start
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  off with a single. Bro So Bruncepin recently dropped your first piece of new
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  music in twelve years with Unknown Pretenders. So how was the reaction for it?
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  I think it's been pretty good everybody. Well, my mum and dad
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  love it, you know what I mean? You though that counts doesn't Mountain
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  doesn't mind it either. Yeah, I'd listened, to be honest with you.
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  Things seem to be going really well. The tour went on sour last
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  Monday. Tickets are selling really fast, and in this climate, with the
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  amount of bands out there that are touring, we're very happy about that.
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  It was first cap off the rank. You know, we've probably got a
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  couple more singles. It was to go before we released the album, and
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  I think it's been a great kind of return to form is a good way
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  to describe. Pretend it's for grimsburn. Yeah, it was a pretty lowkey
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  release too, mate, Like, no one really knew it was coming.
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  So why did you do all like that? Well, you're right, we
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  didn't do any social media or any kind of big build up to it.
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  I think when we recorded the album, we weren't sure how it was all
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  going to play out, you know what I mean. We wanted to do
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  something that we're really proud of, and it had been twelve years since we
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  recorded an album, and we didn't want it to be shit. And if
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  it was shit, then we weren't going to release it, you know,
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  So we thought it would be better let's keep it hid on the quite too.
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  We were really happy with the results, you know, and we got
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  there and we are really happy with results. And yeah, you know,
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  the fanfare starts now on heavy Man fantastic, I like to say, man
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  like, she was a return to form, Like it's a catchys fuck song,
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  like starting with a chunk a guitar riff from yourself for exploding into controlled
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  mayhem? Like was that particular song Chowsen as a statement of sorts to say
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  we're back. It definitely was, you know what I mean. It was
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  kind of for us to put out new music after such a long time.
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  We wanted it to be a statement, and we wanted like our old fans
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  and I guess our new fans, because there were almost a generational band now,
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  like a lot of people's kids are into it who their parents were into
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  the band when we were first started, you know, And we wanted it
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  to be, yeah, something that we could really hang our hat on and
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  say we're back. And it comes in a short two minutes forty one seconds
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  too, so definitely back to the old days. Yeah, you don't want
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  it to be any longer than that. I don't reckon plenty good people's attentions
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  fans these days. Made three minutes four is probably too long. It probably
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  is. We should have cut an extra chorus in a burse I reckon a
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  minute would have been. And it was written over four years ago, say
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  back in February of twenty twenty, so you have sat on it for a
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  long time. COVID. We went into the studio. We went into the
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  studio. We did like though we did gig down and Adelaide in early like
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  January twenty twenty. It was like the Adelade five hundred. It was a
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  corporate show and we went into a little studio called in Adelaide. Oh god,
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  I can't remember the name of it now, I should have said it
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  about ten times today, ghost Note Recorders. And I thought, well,
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  you know, what's everybody got? You know what I mean? Maybe we
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  could do some demos, let's just have some fun. And I think four
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  or five songs demos that we came out of that, and Unknown Pretenders was
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  one of those demos. So yeah, good, good things happened quickly,
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  I guess. And then obviously COVID and then we couldn't do anything. We
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  couldn't see anyone do any gigs. When about we decided during that time we
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  saw it instead of maybe because it was just going to be one song,
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  we're just going to let's just release a single and just just for fun.
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  And in that time, obviously we talked to Universal, our label and our
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  management and what do you think about us doing a full length record? And
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  they were like, well, I've only got something that you guys really want
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  to do and that you're really happy with because otherwise it would just be lip
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  service, you know. And so over that period of time, we had
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  a drop box, as all kind of modern bands do, I guess,
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  where each of the writers would put a song in there or an idea whenever
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  they something came to them. And then in the end it was very diplomatic.
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  We kind of went to each of myself and Joe and philho are the
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  main songwriters in the band, and said, okay, you can choose four
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  of your songs and we'll go and record them. And that's what we did
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  that We recorded twelve songs in the end. I think maybe ten or eleven
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  might make the record in the end. And yeah, it was a really
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  diplomatic process, but it was good because green'sman. In the past it's been
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  hasn't been any to put a record together, you know what I mean,
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  kind of knives out. A lot of stabbies go on the record. So
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  it's a really good representation of who Grinspoon are. You've got me who writes
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  more maybe more traditional classic rocky, more radio stuff built with his pop music,
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  and then Joe with his kind of surf punk hardcore leanings. So I'll
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  give you one guest, So who wrote Unknown Pretenders. Yeah, the press
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  release says that Unknown Pretenders kicks off a new chapter for Grinspin, like house
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  new music after twelve years, you know, like we've been spending a lot
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  of time activating our back catalog, being lazy and just doing anniversary tours or
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  package concert tours with other bands, and you know, for us, it's
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  like it is like a new era, Like what are people going to think?
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  I mean, you know, we know what we think, we really
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  like it, but what are people going to think? And you know,
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  we had to go back to Universal, to the record company the other day
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  and met all these people. This is the digital team. I'm like,
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  you guys look like my kids. That stuff going on, you know what
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  I mean. So it is it's a new beginning, new horizons. Yeah,
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  you've sort of pretty much answered this, but I'll just get you an
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  answer properly, Like unto Pretend. It's taken from the recently an ourced album
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  whatever whatever, which comes out on August and night. So I was going
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  to ask if it was a good example of what to expect musically, but
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  telling me that everyone's done four songs each sort of negates Yeah, well maybe
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  negates it may, you know, like there's definitely a lot of crossover,
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  but it's definitely a Grinspin album because that's the way it used to work with
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  us, you know what I mean, Like everyone we were a diplomatic outfit.
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  You know, everything had to go through the council meetings and to get
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  your giga songs worked on and all that kind of stuff. It's just a
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  good representation of where we are now, you know what I mean. I
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  think we've all improved this songwriters, we've definitely all probably improved just people and
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  as the way we treat the band and the way we kind of interact with
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  each other. Then more fighting on stay what it's no more, you know,
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  none of that kind of stuff. Maybe, I mean, we haven't
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  hit the road yet. Yeah, it's just a good where we are.
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  Yeah, most fans mallow as they get older. Made but I said,
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  I've been a fan of Grinspoon from the start, and then that song reminds
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  me of Dead Cat three times. It's like it's just back to the the
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  no bullshit first off stuff. So for gratulations getting younger as you get older,
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  I hope so well, you know, I was saying I've been saying
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  to someone I said recently, like talking about you know what's changed Grinspoon,
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  And the funny thing is about we're really lucky, man, Like we get
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  to go out on the road every once a year or every a couple of
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  years and pretend that we're in our twenties again, you know what I mean,
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  Peter Pan kind of lifestyle, you know. And so for us,
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  it just felt like every time you get on stage, you're reminded of those
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  times and what it was like to record that music and that music, and
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  this is I guess in a lot of ways, the album is like an
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  ode to or a or a look back at our old material and not trying
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  to emulate it, but trying to trying to regain that identity that people really
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  connected with. Actually bring up a good point there, like when you go
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  back to the older stuffe now, people expect you to emulate that material,
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  but it's like that was a period of time, right, there is shit
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  done on any life then that probably isn't happening now. But people just want
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  the old stuff, you know. But like it's not a matter of just
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  sitting down and going yeah, right, all rights. So many factors that
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  have got to come together. If only it was that easy, you know
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  what I mean. I mean, we did a lot of listening to old
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  demos and stuff when we were doing the record, and we did a lot
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  of a lot of work on the band, you know what I mean,
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  as far as what we wanted to do and where we wanted to be and
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  how we wanted this album kind of perceived, you know, And it was
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  really we just came back to we wanted just to be a good time and
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  just to be nostalgic in a way, but also forward thinking in the fact
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  that we're probably write better songs now and we're probably better musicians now. And
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  it was just, I guess, just a grafting of all these different experiences
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  that we've had over the years and trying to put it into musical form.
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  Yeah, see a lot of those lines, right, like this will be
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  your eighth album. So does it become easier or harder to come up with
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  new sounding material? The more you're right, You can tell by how long
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  it's been between drinks that it's not really getting any easier. But we could
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  have thrown somebody together in the intervening years that probably wouldn't have been very good.
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  But you know, there's no point sure and after thirty years, mate,
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  you've still got the same lineup, which is absolutely remarkable, not just
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  the fact that you have, but after you know, like these have been
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  through some hard times, let's say, you know, like but the fact
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  that this are still together, it just speaks volumes for the band itself.
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  I think so, I mean, you know, I think about you know,
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  you kind of alluded to all the things we've been through, like,
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  oh my god, trying to crack America, you know, well documented issues
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  in the media. All these kinds of things that we've been through really has
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  tested everything about the band. Friendships, you know, relationships, business,
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  you know, all those kinds of things. And we're out the other side
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  now. And we really are out the other side now. And to be
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  honest with you, since we came back in kind of twenty seventeen, we
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  had a five year break, and I think since then the band has been
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  in its best place have possibly been. You know, we're not trying to
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  sack anyone anymore. You know, we're just no backstab and no bullshit,
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  non lives out. We're just we're just really enjoying the ride. Man.
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  Yeah, good to hear, and you've also announced a massive forty eight day
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  national tour which goes through every state of Australia, including Tasmania, which as
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  also a host of towns usually neglected on tours like country sort of towns.
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  Mate, Like, sounds like you've created a lot of work for yourselves.
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  We have. You know, it's funny like going back to us kind of
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  doing our back catalog stuff. For the past few years, we've really just
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  kept it to the capital cities and larger kind of regional places Newcastle, you
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  know, Wollongong, those kind of places in New South Wales and in Queensland
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  as well. We haven't done a tool like this since that probably the early
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  two thousands, you know. But we came from a regional area. We
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  used to tour heavily in those regional areas when we were younger, and we
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  just felt like, well, why don't we just bring the show to these
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  people. Hopefully they turn up. We're not playing massive venues, We're just
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  doing it so we can get that band back to those places that really kind
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  of helped us when we first started. Yeah, and about half of the
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  shows too, we're all ages made, which is very admirable sudden these days,
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  that seems to be a dying trend. It's pretty amazing that a band
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  of thirty years can do it all ages show, don't you reckon it is?
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  Think that it goes back to that multi generational thing, you know,
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  like people who are you know, the trade or whatever. The apprentice shippy
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  now owns the business, he's got a couple of kids. He brings his
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  apprentices and his kids to the show, you know what I mean. It
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  really does work like that with us. Yeah, did you find that you
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  have to ultra or chain down the show just for the younger ones or do
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  you make the younger ones worse than the adults these days? Got to give
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  them the full show, no matter how old they are, you know.
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  I mean, there's you know, we're not We're not the same band as
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  our kind of outside of music activities is what we probably once were. So
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  the show the shows are probably a lot better, you know what I mean,
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  And they're probably more appealing to everyone, I guess than what they may
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  have been. I used to call us a two out of three band.
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  You know, two out of three shows ain't bad, you know me.
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  We've definitely even though that made us quite exciting because you didn't know what you
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  were going to get stand up, you know. You know, we take
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  our craft pretty seriously, not not too seriously obviously, but we like to
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  put on a good show. We like to people give people value for money
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  and once again value for money, Like we're keeping the concert ticket price down,
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  you know when we go to those regional areas, because we know that
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  it's not easy for people to get out and see bands in those places that
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  are often more economically depressed in places like big cities. So you know,
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  hopefully everything that we're doing will create a really good app must be for the
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  chure. Yeah, what can fans expect from grinsped Live in twenty twenty four
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  May? Like we've discussed this is are we're all getting a bit older,
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  mate, Like you've got more gray hands now than what you have when I
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  first faced here twenty five years ago. But do you do you finally have
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  to adjust your stage show? I guess a bit just to sort of reflect
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  the aching I reckon we've got more energy now for playing the music than we
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  did before. To be honest with you, I really do I think that
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  there's something a little bit Evergreen about Grinspoon in a lot of ways. You
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  know, the approach we take is a lot more as I kind of alluded
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  to before. There's there's no, there's no. We don't want to fuck
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  up, you know what I mean, and we want to give every show
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  as much energy as we possibly can. You know, doing this too is
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  going to be a test because it's a lot of shows a lot of weeks,
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  you know, five shows a week pretty much over a period that period
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  of twelve weeks. So it will be a test. But I think we're
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  up for it, you know what I mean. We're up for it.
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  Everyone's really excited about doing doing it. It doesn't feel like it's going to
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  be a chore. It feels like something we're all really looking forward to its
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  stuff and looking forward. Bro, the band's going to turn thirty next year,
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  so you know people are going to expect you to at least top this
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  run of show this for your thirtieth thirtieth anniversary too. Yeah, okay,
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  how are you going to do that? This is it folks? Over the
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  top? Shit? Well all I pad's been a pleasure speaking with you again
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  today as usual, will make the single Unknown Pretenders is out now. The
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  album Whatever Whatever is out August ninth. The tour starts in September, so
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  the rest of this year, our rest of twenty twenty four is dedicated to
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  Grimspin, So get on it, Get on it all right, rather thanks
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  for you chat man, I'll see it, Thanks Chris, excellent, looking
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  forward to it.