IT'S 2016 and Phil Jamieson is alone cruising through California's famed Death Valley on a motorcycle.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The desert heat is stifling. It's almost 50 degrees in the sun.
But something in that sweat-soaked solitude sparked creativity in the Grinspoon frontman.
It was during that motorcycle trip that Jamieson wrote the bossa nova-influenced track YCBM, aka You Could Be Mine.
Over the years the song has been performed at various solo shows, but finally YCBM is seeing the light of day as the oldest track on Jamieson's debut solo album Somebody Else.
"I guess I was trying to do a spaghetti western thing with that track," Jamieson says. "I was thinking about some imaginary evil person. It's kind of biblical in that sense."
To use the well-worn music industry cliche of "long awaited" to describe Somebody Else, would be a gross understatement.
It's been 10 years since Grinspoon released their final album, Black Rabbits. During the ensuing decade Jamieson has consistently performed solo, with Grinspoon and in musical theatre shows Green Day's American Idiot, The Beatles' The White Album and The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers.
"I feel pretty excited about everything and a sense of relief, in some ways," he says of releasing Somebody Else. "It's finally come and can be shared and they're everybody else's songs now.
"It feels like bit of a new chapter, for want of a better word."
The eight tracks were recorded last year and were co-produced by Holy Holy's Oscar Dawson and Davey Lane, of You Am I.
At first listen, Somebody Else feels well-removed from the crunching riffs and punk energy Grinspoon were renown for on their beloved 1997 debut Guide To Better Living.
Jamieson's punk-ish instincts have been toned down for greater rock-pop melodies. He describes the title track as an '80s-style time travel song where "Doc Brown is on top of clock tower with Marty McFly turning back time and those sliding doors moments, where instead of meeting [Grinspoon guitarist] Pat Davern, I met [The Presets'] Julian Hamilton."
Trouble and Lights On, with their distorted guitar riffs, conjure up latter day Grinspoon, while Rebecca displays a tender side Jamieson kept mostly hidden during his Grinners days.
The spaghetti western of YCBM and the haunting epic Little Pickle offer the biggest diversions.
"As the singer-songwriter and melody writer of Grinspoon, I really don't think about it at all," Jamieson says, when asked if he purposely moved away from Grinspoon. "It all sounds like me, to me.
"Obviously they're dressed differently in instrumentation and production. You can dress up [Britney Spears'] Hit Me Baby One More Time as a metal song if you want. It's all about how it's framed.
"I hate this term, but I wanted it to be organic and not contrived."
People have asked if the title Somebody Else has some existential double meaning, but the honest-to-a-fault Jamieson admits it's simpler than that.
"Of course it should [have a double meaning] and I should think out a great answer, but unfortunately it's just the first single," he laughs. "But it does work.
"I asked my record label what to call it. I wanted to call it Little Pickle. They're like, 'you can't call it that'."
What is apparent on Somebody Else is Jamieson's continued improvement as a vocalist. Anyone who has witnessed his various live performances over the past 15 years, can attest he's come along away from his thrilling - yet sometimes shambolic - Grinspoon shows in the late '90s and early 2000s.
"Doing different stuff like The White Album tour and especially the Green Day tour, where you're doing eight shows a week and 100 shows all up, you've got to figure out what you can't do and what you can achieve," he says.
"It's just self belief really. I think those shows went a long way. Obviously there's some self doubt which goes on in this industry, so it's nice to be out there singing tunes."
At 45 Jamieson and his music have both matured. So what would have the hell-raising teenage Phil Jamieson, who wrote songs like Just Ace and Champion, think of Somebody Else?
"I think he'd be fine with it. I hope so," he says. "But I was bit of a brat back when I recorded that, so who knows."
Phil Jamieson's Somebody Else is released on Friday.
Catch Phil Jamieson and his band live at UC Hub, Canberra (August 5); Oxford Art Factory, Sydney (August 6); Shady Palms, Avoca Beach (August 7); SS&A, Albury (August 20) and The Big Bonanza, Coffs Harbour (November 4).