Buffalo Soldier

Ever mindful of our horrendous winters, Grant-Lee Phillips just can’t resist rubbing it in.

“Yeah, I’ve just woken up, having my first mug of joe for the day…yep, things are good here in California, looks like it’s gonna be a bright day,” he teases playfully down the phone as the rain batters the windows of HP Towers.
Having apparently found his feet in LA, Phillips is set to release Virginia Creeper, his second album since the demise of his hugely successful anti-grunge outfit Grant Lee Buffalo. Where his debut solo album Mobilise was a one-man operation/mission statement, Virginia Creeper has a more ensemble feel to it, enlisting the help of ex-Soul Coughing member Sebastian Steinberg and multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion, among others.
“When I made Mobilise, I had a litany of ideas to work through, and when I had a chance to record it I had worked out the parts, so it made sense economically and philosophically, to make the record on my own at that point,” recalls Phillips. “It was like, ‘this is a solo career, I’ll do it all on my own’. I did most of the touring solo acoustic, and singing and writing on my own reminded me about what I like about my earlier material.
“With Virginia Creeper, I wanted more spontaneity in the studio than I might have been allowed had I been on my own, which is where the other musicians came in. It was fun to work with other people again, and the songs are such that there’s simplicity and immediacy so that they didn’t need rehearsing.”
The result is a wonderfully warm and intimate offering, yet from the man who penned the hugely anthemic ‘Fuzzy’, this comes as little surprise. One of the underlying strengths of the album is the hugely personal feel of the record.
“It all comes from personal experience, the imagery definitely comes from the dark recesses of my mind and my sensibility,” he notes. “In fact there’s a song called ‘Susannah Little’ about a native American, and that’s based on the life of my great-great grandmother.”
With a rich history like that in his blood, and an album like Virginia Creeper in the offing, it’s little wonder Grant Lee Phillips is having these good sunny mornings.