Tame Impala

Fri 4th Mar, 2011 in Features

Tame Impala lead singer Kevin Parker is en-route to a show in Melbourne when I speak to him. Later in the night he’ll be drumming for Perth compatriots Pond. This time he’s chatting to me about Tame Impala, not the band they all thought would necessarily “make it”.

Winning gongs like the 2010 J Award, topping FL’s album of the year list and being nominated for industry bigwig awards like the Australia Music Prize ( which was awarded to Cloud Control last night ), the boys from Tame Impala are happy to take a pat on the back if it means more people are listening to their music. One thing is for sure, this kind of attention isn’t going to change the way they do things. “If the national loser kids association voted our album the best album of the year that would mean as much to us as an industry award,” Parker claims, “but it is good to know that radio stations like triple j and industry people like what we’re doing. We still feel kind of weird whenever we hear one of our songs on the radio, we haven’t graduated from the frame of mind that they’re doing it just to help us out.”

Not only have the band been making waves at home, those as far away as the UK have felt the swell building. A tour towards the end of 2010 saw the Perth band play to some big UK crowds, where not only did they get to show people what they were made of, they were also introduced to some rather important individuals, as Parker explains: “We met with a couple of people from some publishing companies, who seemed very excited, but I think that was just their personalities”.