Grinspoon's Phil Jamiesonuncovers The Lost Gospel

Sun 27th Aug, 2006 in Features

The story goes that, in true anarchic fashion, Grinspoon’s Phil Jamieson snuck off to record the debut long player of his side project band, The Lost Gospel, without the knowledge, or perhaps commercial wrangling, of his manager or record company. Jamieson is dubious and wary of this suggestion, responding with shrewd but insolent disregard. “It’s a bit sensational to say that I snuck off. Do I have to ask for permission? Is that part of the rules? I just don’t think that’s relevant. I did the album because I wanted to. I don’t need my manager’s permission. I’m 29 years old for Christ’s sake!”

The Lost Gospel was conceived back in November of 2004 as a quasi-acoustic duo with Jamieson and guitarist Nick Wright (son of Stevie Wright). It expanded to full line-up in 2005 with bass player Matt Strong (formerly of Custard) and drummer Lee Moloney lured into the fold. Reactions were mixed when they emerged album in hand, but Jamieson has bought himself a ticket to artistic freedom, and he is holding onto it securely and confidently. “The manager of Grinspoon didn’t react very well at all. He said that he didn’t want to manage the project. It was all self-financed so there was nothing anyone could do about it. I had total control.”

He exudes the plush but contextual arrogance of a top dog. “Maybe it’s a bit cynical of me but music has become more of a product than an art. I just wanted to do music for music’s sake without having a massive debt over my head or worrying about having to go on Sunrise to talk to David Koch about how great the album is. I happen to think it’s pretty decent but I’m not going to tell you to buy it. You can listen to Evermore for all I care – you lose more than I do.”

On The Lost Gospel’s My Space page, Jamieson refers to the band as a “passive aggressive machine that just keeps on giving…an unconforming melodrama that is most insincere at times.” His rationalisation of this description is slightly anomalous. “An insincere melodrama is a contradiction, and a passive aggressive machine is just bullshit but it sounds funny and it’s lyrical. I just thought instead of going ‘We’re recreating the boundaries with well-crafted…” Fuck that! I find that press releases are such mind-numbing rubbish. I don’t want some PR person telling people about well-crafted pop songs.”

It is clear that The Lost Gospel allows Jamieson to explore and project a different creative vector. “I think it’s pretty evident that ‘Secret Agent’ couldn’t be a Grinspoon song. It’s cheesy, it’s got hand claps, it’s sort of on the wrong side of gay!” He is also able to blossom and indulge in substantive collaboration. “The Lost Gospel is very much a collaborative effort, whereas with Grinspoon, because of the distances between us, we write individually and bring songs to the table.” However, this up close and personal collaboration can apparently be a double-edged sword. “Matt’s an undiagnosed manic depressive and Nick’s bipolar. They both have quite fragile mental states so it’s a bit of a see-saw. It’s exciting, but also a little dangerous to work with them at times.”

The Sydney album launch was held recently at Candy’s, and Jamieson conveys an almost perverse delight at the way in which The Lost Gospel flew in the face of expectation and thwarted media convention. “It was a media launch, and it was quite good for a media launch. They clapped! We played for an hour and 20 minutes, which I don’t think they were prepared for. And we didn’t really play any of the album – we played all the new album. But I can do that. That’s the really fun thing about this band. I don’t have to do what I’m told.”

Jamieson is currently back in the studio recording The Lost Gospel’s follow-up album, and then he hits the road for a dusting of gigs around the country in September, although he warns that The Lost Gospel generally won’t be a touring band. What can we expect? “It kind of depends on which band shows up – which outfit Nick wears! He sometimes comes as a police officer that wears angel wings, and other nights he comes as a cartoon character called Nick Geekabyte. It depends which Nick turns up!”

Ultimately Jamieson is cavorting merrily through this new venture, propelled by a quixotic perspective he had previously lost. “We mightn’t be great but it’s not bullshit. We’re not searching for your dollar. We just really enjoying music for music’s sake. It’s refreshing for me to experience that sort of mentality again.”

The Lost Gospel’s ‘According To…’ is out August 26 via Universal.