Like da-da, you got to come say hi to Kevin." I was like, "Oh man, these guys are just like so lovely." But I remember that tour, and I think at the very end you played me some demos, but I was so wasted. And the first thing I meet is Jay bounding around on a golf cart backstage. I don't want to meet these guys, and then it's ruined some music. But it meant there were opportunities to play all the time. I think we always felt like we were a bit removed from that, but we just did our own thing. We'd play three, four nights a week, maybe three nights a week. There was definitely a Perth scene, like a really strong scene, arguably more than there is now. I mean, as far as I'm concerned, the scene I was involved with was about 10 people. Was there anyone that you could look to? Was there a godfather, like somebody who gave you an old drum machine or some shit? Or did you really just pull it together yourself and with Jan, or whoever else your peers were at that time? He talks about Canyons a bit, but was there a scene in Perth before you. But, here's the thing, as I was reading it just then the more he spoke about it, I was like, "God damn it, he's right." And for someone from Perth reading it, it can be a bit kind of like, kind of cringe a bit. I was extremely excited to catch up with Kevin the day after they had just live streamed a performance of their flawless debut album, Innerspeaker, from start to finish.Īnd like, they try to sort of pair it with me as being isolated artist, the music sounding isolated. They’ve done everything from headlining Coachella to recently passing the billion stream mark for “The Less I Know the Better,” a song recorded in a bedroom in Perth that Kevin actually nearly accidentally gave to me one time. Sometimes the jet lag was so insane, he would curl up and fall asleep in front of the speakers while they were blasting at almost ear-splitting levels.īeing close friends with Kevin during this time, I also got firsthand glimpse of how the world fell for the music of Tame Impala, how they went from being your favorite band’s favorite band … See the Arctic Monkeys covering “Backwards …” to your favorite rapper’s favorite band … See ASAP Rocky sampling “Backwards …” to just about being everyone’s favorite band. Kevin brought a ton of grit, groove, and depth to my next album, Uptown Special, even taking a 37 hour trip from Perth to Memphis in the process.
They were lovely dudes and a friendship and a musical bond evolved from that trip. We were booked to share a festival stage in Australia in 2010 and I remember thinking to myself on the flight to Oz, “Please don’t let these guys be dicks because I like their music too much.” Well, they weren’t dicks at all. If I was transfixed on EP1, when their debut album, Innerspeaker dropped, I was a full-on fan. Plus, they had song titles like “41 Mosquitoes Flying in Formation,” which made you wonder where this dude’s head was at. They basically combined all of my favorite things in music in a way that no one was doing at that time. Kevin’s bewitching falsetto vocals drenched in reverb singing these wonderful yet somehow insolent melodies, swirly psychedelic guitars, and live drums that sounded like they came right off a boom bap hip-hop record. I was absolutely transfixed from day one. I first discovered Tame Impala in the summer of 2009 with their very first EP. Tame Impala graced the cover of The FADER 82 in the fall of 2012 right before dropping their now classic breakthrough record, Lonerism.
Today, I’m talking to my good friend and a frequent collaborator of mine, Kevin Parker of Tame Impala. This is The FADER Uncovered with Mark Ronson. And it’s an opportunity for me to speak to some of the artists that I most admire. The podcast is a chance for us to talk about the past, present and future reflecting on their breakthroughs, diving into their lives when their covers hit shelves, and discussing what the future might hold now. Each episode will be rooted in these musicians’ iconic FADER cover stories, an institution that over the past two decades has told artists’ stories like no other. In this interview series, I’ll be speaking with some of the most influential and groundbreaking musicians in the world, from genre-defining stars to avant-garde trailblazers about their lives and careers. I’m Mark Ronson, and this is the FADER Uncovered podcast.
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