Words by Christel Escosa
Photos by Richard Kelly

Tame Impala are charmingly unaffected when I meet them after climbing about ten flights of stairs (the elevator was going all broke-down on my ass so I figured a trek up the stairs would be less of a health hazard) to talk to Kevin (vocals and guitar) and Dom (bass) on a rooftop over London’s Tin Pan Alley. I remember hearing of this band that had done virtually nothing in ‘offical’ music terms, being plucked out of virtual obscurity by the uncannily savvy Modular Records. They had no myspace friends, one song on their player, no home-made EP releases. And despite perhaps thoughts that Tame Impala have written songs that the Beatles could maybe have written but never released, all evidence points to the boys being perfectly aware of who they are and what they’re doing. And you know what? They do it well.

Tame Impala just like to play what they play, and somehow found themselves living every music-loving teenager’s wet dream. Taking in their easy-going stride the fact that they are being heralded by some as the beginning of a psychedelic rock revival, the lads are low key and chilled out, with an unfazed acceptance and almost wondrous exasperation at their lives to date.

The two of you have been musical companions for the last 9 years right? That’s a long time, how old actually are you guys?
Kevin: We’re both 23.

How did you guys meet?
Dom: We went to school together, so we started playing together during year 9 music class.

And how did you bump into Jay (drums, who wasn’t present)?
Kevin: We played in a band together at the time and he played drums in another band in Northam, which is a town in rural Western Australia. And they asked us to go play with them one day, and we went over then and saw them play and we were like, hmmmm…

Stealing him!
Kevin: So we began weaving the web of stealing him.
Dom: It was about a year from when we first played with him in this other band before he joined us. We kind of planted seeds in his brain to come join the dark side.

What kind of kids were you in high school?
Kevin: We kept to ourselves a lot. We were kinda the only people who liked music. I started off a rebel..
Dom: and like, people in bands weren’t the cool kids at our school, it was the footy players who were cool.

Was there more of a jock culture or something?
Kevin: Kind of.

You all grew up in rural Western Australia?
Kevin: No that was just Jay.

And you two grew up in Perth? What’s going on in Perth?
Dom: What do you mean? Nothing much!

Just what is going on in Western Australia? I mean, in terms of music and stuff, besides you guys.
Kevin: It’s got a pretty intense music scene, like kinda closed off and close knit and everyone knows each other and they all kind lash themselves into a frenzy about how great Perth is. And most people in Perth will tell you how great Perth bands are. It’s kinda a bit sad like that. We weren’t really that into the scene or anything there, it’s really easy to get sucked into the cycle of just playing in the same venues –
Dom: with the same bands.

What kind of music do they all play?
Kevin: Theres a lot of experimental stuff, but that’s only just been recently. There’s a lot of well…indie. Stuff. It is a huge range though, everyone makes an effort to do their own thing which encourages a lot of genres to come out.

Cause I’ve never been to Perth. And I just have no idea whats going on on that side of Australia. Is there a lot of people there?
Kevin: Not as much as here!

Is this is your first time in the UK?
Kevin & Dom: Yes.

And you’ve travelled around Australia quite a bit haven’t you?
Dom: Yeah we’ve done Australia like, ten times.
Kevin: We’ve done Australia.
Dom: It’s so good to play somewhere that’s not in Australia.

Really? I read in an interview that you guys summarised “Brisbane loved us, Sydney didn’t really get us, Melbourne was good, Perth was just like the hometown show”.
Dom: That was talking about the MGMT tour, cause we got such a different reaction for each of the shows.

So the Sydney MGMT crowd didn’t get you?
Dom: Well there was no one really there!

Really?
Kevin: Oh just when we were playing, cause we were the first band on. It was this huuuge stadium, and by the time we were playing there was only a small amount of people crammed at the front. Even though there was actually enough of a crowd to fill out a normal sized, smallish venue, but it was this massive stadium, and so there was all this space behind our crowd in this huge shed.

You guys also supported Yeasayer.
Dom: YEAH They’re my favourite band! They are so cool.

Was it just the one gig in Sydney?
Dom: No it was the whole tour, but it was just three shows.

How was it hanging out with them?
Dom: They’re really cool guys, we partied together. They’re really funny.

Did you guys intend to get famous, being in a band?
Kevin: No, in fact we had very little ambition. In fact a lot of the recordings have been around for a long time. And we had absolutely no desire to spread them to a bigger audience than to just our friends. And so it was just kinda lucky that we got signed, or that they sort of found us. Like the single, Half Full Glass of Wine? Is like 4 years old. And its been on our myspace for like, four years. I mean, people occasionally encouraged us to release an EP, cause that’s what you do in Perth. Do a few shows, release an EP, dot dot dot, it’s all the same thing, so we just like, couldn’t be bothered.
Dom: I think it’s got something to do with our personality, we’re pretty lazy. We’re not the sort of people that go out and sell ourselves. So everything we’ve been doing has kinda been shoved in our face – well not, shoved in our face but…

Is it welcome though?
Kevin & Dom: Mmm..Yeah…
Kevin: Yeah…Its something different.

PR’s back quick quick! Best face on! [laughs] So how long have you guys been doing that Blue Boy cover?
Kevin: About a year?

Are you cool with everyone loving you doing a cover? Cause it IS a great rendition.
Dom: I think it’s good cause we play a lot of songs that people don’t know, so it’s something that the audience can connect with.
Kevin: Its kinda like a drawcard. It’s like [stage whispers] “The audience is bored! Remember Me!”

Explain the mmm-bop reference on your myspace?
Dom: We have lots of people think that we’re brothers and call us like, Hanson.
Kevin: Well when we’re in sort of, slightly rougher areas of Australia, we get “MMM-Bop!”

I used to love Hanson.
Dom: Yeah, they’re pretty bad-ass.

You guys come across as kinda hippie in your online representation of yourselves. And of course there’s the whole psychedelic reference and elements in your music. Are you hippies?
Kevin: I think that the way we generally live, it’s quite communal. We share a house, Dom doesn’t live there, but the other two guys that we’re playing with live there, and there’s a big group of us and our friends who all kinda do stuff together. So the whole psychedelic thing is quite well aligned I guess.

Are you okay with being tagged as a psychedelic rock band, or hippies, or even the new trippier Hanson?
Kevin: Yeah, whatever! It’s all good.

You’re just making music, man. So what else do you wanna do and where else do you wanna be? You’ve done a LOT in a short space of time.
Dom: I wouldn’t mind just having a day off to explore, cause we haven’t had a day off since we’ve been here. And there’s London all out there, I just want to jump off the building and run around!

They were crashing in a different place every night during their London stay, and flying off to Berlin at the end of the week. They were just a couple of easy going guys who found themselves not only on a rooftop above the famous Denmark Street in London (a far cry from Perth where the two train lines pretty much go back and forth between two stops for the whole day), but also in the eye of a whirlwind that perhaps no one knew when or where it would deposit them next. So tame they are, yes, in the sense that they are “without the savageness or fear of humans normal in wild animals”, but in an Impala sense, they for sure ain’t no African deer caught in no Chevrolet’s headlights. Ha!

The self titled Tame Impala EP is out now on MODULAR RECORDS.