TAME IMPALA

GLASS HALF FULL
    “I used to go watch them all the time and I was this little 17-year-old fan boy rocking up at their gigs. They used to be called the Dee Dee Dums. I knew it was an awesome band. They were my favourite band in Perth actually. I think I told Kevin once that they were in my top 20 bands ever.” This is Jay Watson’s memory of the band he would eventually join and would later become Tame Impala. Back then, things were very different.

    “I joined the band two months before Modular approached us,” he continues. “Those two months before (then) no one cared when we played. Dom and Kev had been playing together for years and we had a good two months of gigs to like seven people at our local pub before we got signed. And they were the best two months ever man!”

    This was in 2008. It’s strange to think Jay’s memories are barely two years old. How things have changed. Led by Kevin Parker and ably supported by Watson on drums and Dominic Simper on bass, Tame Impala have risen the ranks in a considerably short space of time to become one of Australia’s most highly sought after bands and a pre-packaged export in waiting. And while their rise to fame might seem like overnight to us, the members of the band have simply taken it one step at a time.

    “People always think we’re ungrateful because we’re not totally blown away by how quickly things have happened,” Jay laments. “But because it is step by step, you readjust to each step as it comes. Like we’re going to America in a few weeks to tour with MGMT and I've never been to America. When Jodie (Regan, Tame Impala’s manager) told us, I was really excited but because she told us we were going to America sometime in the coming months, it’s not like this completely unexpected, crazy thing. You’re really stoked but you’re not running around the house and stuff.

    “We played with The Flaming Lips in Japan last year and we went onstage with them in the costumes. And it was the most amazing thing ever and you tell people and they’re like, ‘Oh wow dude, how was that?’ and you’re kind of tired and you’re like, ‘Oh yeah it was pretty cool’.”

    With so much happening to them so quickly, it must be hard to take stock of it all. Nevertheless, Tame Impala are continuing on the rock & roll freight train. If success is a step-by-step thing, the next obvious link in the chain for the Perth band is a debut album. And InnerSpeaker changes course somewhat from the Tame Impala we met in 2008. Their psychedelic rock stylings have evolved from the guitar-heavy, Cream and Beatles-influenced sound of their self-titled EP to a more lucid, sprawling experience. Jay is quick to point out the changes to Tame Impala’s sound.

    “I think our music tastes and the sorts of songs we write now are a lot different to the old kind of riff-heavy music. There’s a lot of keyboards, it’s a lot more blissed out, a lot more epic and heavy – not guitar heavy, but keyboard heavy. It’s not electronic music but it’s certainly not rock music anymore – the album is like a bridge between. It’s still rooted in that kind of what I guess everyone calls ‘psych-rock’ but we like to think there’s a lot of electronic influence on the album.

     “There’s a lot of trip-hop influence,” he continues, “and a lot of blissed-out music, especially German music. We listen to an awful lot of Kraut rock and a lot of French electronic music and other types of electronic music. I like to think a lot of the songs aren’t really like Kinks or Cream or whatever people say we’re like. If there was a band in the ‘60s that sounded like this album, I’d like to hear it.”

    Jay is obviously making a point here. Ever since Tame Impala burst onto the scene two years ago, one thing that’s haunted them at every turn is the media constantly on their backs about how derivative their music is and how much it emulates the psychedelic sounds of the ‘60s and ‘70s. While openly admitting that Tame Impala take their lead from that period of music, Jay denies the similarity is so clear cut.

    “I definitely don’t agree that this is a throwback type of music. I think because we use digital recording but we like crusty, unpolished sounds, that often reminds people of older style recording techniques, which kind of reflects ‘60s and ‘70s rock & roll.

    “Melodically we take a lot of influence from ‘60s psychedelia. There are some really cool melodies in that sort of music. But the majority of the album, I haven’t heard anything like it. Other people can say that (we sound like a band from the ‘60s) but I don’t see any direct influence on any of the songs.”

    Jay is very direct in his feelings about such matters. He is also very open and honest when it comes to drug use within the band. Coming from an area of music that is famous for its association with hallucinogenic drugs, Jay doesn’t hide away when questioned about his own experiences.

    “I find weed helps with melodies and, I know it sounds cheesy, but (it helps with) opening your mind to more experimental ideas. But none of us really go near anything harder than that,” Jay insists.

     “I took a bit of acid a couple years ago, and mushrooms, but I've since stopped because I get really bad anxiety. I don’t think anyone else in the band has taken acid or mushrooms for a good while now. Our lives are a little bit too intense to comfortably trip.”

    Yep, things sure have changed a lot in the past two years.

Tame Impala play the Governor Hindmarsh on Thu May 20. InnerSpeaker is out Fri May 21 through Modular/UMA.

Here's the first taste from InnerSpeaker, single Solitude Is Bliss:

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