It’s going to be a massive second half of 2017 for Grinspoon with the announcement of a 26 date national tour and a deluxe edition celebrating the album which kick started their career A Guide to Better Living. Grinspoon will play two Perth shows, firstly at Dunsborough tavern, Dunsborough on Thursday, August 24 and then at Metro City in Perth on Friday, August 25. The band has not had a tour of this scale since they went on hiatus in 2013, Hockey Dad will support them nationally. The re-release will feature 49 tracks including the original 16 tracks along with live tracks and unreleased recordings. CLAUDIA MOORE caught up with Grinspoon drummer Kristian Hopes to talk all about their latest tour and anniversary release.
Firstly what inspired you to tour again after your 2013 hiatus?
We started the hiatus because we were all pretty over touring and needed a bit of a break. During the hiatus we did a couple of gigs with Cold Chisel and we had a really good time, which was part of why we decided to tour again. The 20-year anniversary just seemed like a great time to tour and gave us some great material to tour.
Have you missed being on the road after so much time off?
It was really good to have a break but we are very excited about doing it all again. Feels really right to be back on the road again and we are all getting along very well and its just gone to plan.
Why did you decide to release an anniversary edition of A Guide to Better Living?
It’s probably one of our better albums, which is why it made sense to reboot this one. We were rather tentative about the whole process as we wrote the album 20 years ago. I think re-living the album again has almost turned us back into kids again, we were only around 20 when we wrote it so its been that whole process of going back to the place we were at. We all really enjoyed rekindling that fire we had when we were young.
What’s it been like re-listening to the album 20 years on?
It’s been really fun and exciting so far it’s all gone really well. We are only a couple of shows into the tour but its all been really great, the tour has gone gangbusters, we have nearly sold out all our shows which is awesome. It’s been cool to see some of our fans coming and bringing their kids and bringing in a whole new audience that introduces a new element to the tour.
What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learnt in the past 20 years since the release of your first album?
Touring has changed a lot since when we first started out which has made the whole experience different. The biggest lesson we have learnt is music also in general is constantly evolving and changing so we as a band are also constantly evolving with the times. One of the biggest changes for us has been technology, when we recorded A Guide To Better Living there was no editing or fancy tools to enhance the music.
What’s next for Grinspoon after this tour?
We don’t know yet! We are planning on seeing how this tour goes and what the response is like and how we feel at the end before making any massive decisions. We may come back and record more music or it may all end here we will just have to wait and see. We are just hoping everyone snaps up the final tickets and comes to see the show.
The anniversary addition of A Guide to Better Living is available from June 23rd Preorder album bundles are available from www.grinspoon.com.au.
