Joe Sumner has issued a warning in the lead-up to his gig at Bimbadgen in the Hunter Valley on February 18 in support of his father, singer-songwriter Sting.
He is renowned for his off-beat banter on stage and for cracking jokes that frequently fall flat.
"I'm up there by myself and anything goes," he tells Weekender.
"I come up with banter or jokes on the spot - I don't have anything prepared - so if it goes wrong, which it probably will, I'm sorry. I was doing my best."
Sumner and James Reyne are supporting Sting (born George Sumner) on his My Songs tour of Australia. The 17-time Grammy Award winner will perform songs from his time with The Police and as a solo artist - songs like Englishman In New York, Desert Rose, Every Breath You Take, Roxanne, Fields of Gold and Message In A Bottle.
Sumner, though, will be introducing Australian audiences to songs they might not have heard before. His own.
He learned to play guitar and drums when he was a teenager, inspired by Nirvana's Nevermind. He formed rock trio Fiction Plane and released four studio albums before opening for another trio, The Police, on their 2007 worldwide reunion tour.
Sumner's solo music is more folk in nature and features new singles You You You and Looking For Me, Looking For You from his forthcoming debut solo album Sunshine In The Night. He has just released a new live EP, Feelin' The Love, Tastin' The Fear, featuring five tracks performed live on stage in France in November.
"It felt great to get the EP out so quickly. I played 120 or so shows last year and that was one of the later ones," he explains.
"I just felt really good about it and I wanted to share it so that everyone can get some idea of what I'm doing when I play live.
"I am quite a shy person most of the day but as soon as it's show time, for whatever reason, I'm like 'Right, I'm ready, let's do it!' I find the bigger the crowd the easier it is, to be honest."
Sumner hopes to release Sunshine In The Night "in the next couple of months".
"I want to come back to Oz after I release the album, and I'll bring a band for that because the album is not just acoustic, it's got strings and big drums and all kinds of instruments," he says.
"Lyrics are super important to me, not so much when I listen to music, but when I am singing my own. I like to believe in the lyrics I'm singing and feeling - it's all got to be integrated.
"I'm as careful as I can be to not get too explicit about things in my lyrics. What you're singing can affect your whole essence.
"I used to sing a song called Two Sisters about a cheating scoundrel, a philanderer, and it really got to me eventually, after singing it every day for a few years. I was like 'I can't, I'm taking on this character'."
So the song wasn't about him?
"It wasn't based on me at that time, let's put it that way," Sumner replies.
He is enjoying touring with his father, saying with a laugh that it's "good to just get out there and play for people, to piggyback for once, and have the difficult stuff taken care of".
"It can be a real headache organising everything that comes with a tour," he continues.
"It's why I like to travel on my own and tour on my own. I can just be me and I can rent a car, sleep on a couch, and just figure it out myself."
Which brings me to my next question: do you need tough skin to make it in the music industry when your father is Sting?
"I think if you want to put your art out in the world in any sense you have to have tough skin," he replies.
"The world is not a soft place to land.
"There are plenty of nice people but there's also plenty of people happy to tell you that you have no talent. It's something everyone in this industry hears. You have to be tough in general.
"But I don't know if it's especially tough for me. It's tough for everybody, honestly."
Sumner has a quirky sense of humour and loves a laugh. And he loves Australia.
"You can take life too seriously but you shouldn't," he says.
"My favourite film of all time is The Castle. If you think The Castle is funny, well, I'm in a good place and we can be friends. I find I just get on with Australians, almost no matter what, so I am loving this leg of the tour."
Sting's My Songs tour with special guests James Reyne and Joe Sumner stops at Bimbadgen in the Hunter Valley on Saturday, February 18. Tickets are on sale now through Ticketmaster.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Join the discussion in the comment section below.
Find out how to register or become a subscriber here.
