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Embracing The Journey With KAV TEMPERLEY From ESKIMO JOE · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Well, hey everyone, this is Cab Templey here from Eskimo Joe, and
• 0:03
  I'm pretty sure what brings me here today is talking about a song we had
• 0:07
  just have put out called the First Time. So over to you, yeah
• 0:12
  for Cap, thanks for joining us tonight. We've got a fair bit to
• 0:14
  get through, but I think that'll be just a good starting point. Great.
• 0:19
  So, as you say, bro, you recently released this single The
• 0:22
  First Time, which is the band's first new music since ninety nine Ways back
• 0:26
  in twenty nineteen, So it's been a while between dranks. Yeah, I
• 0:31
  mean I think nine to nine Ways I think came out about twenty and twenty
• 0:34
  one, I think, and then we I think twenty twenty twenty we had
• 0:38
  another song called Say Something, But this is certainly the first song that we
• 0:42
  put out post COVID where we've actually played some shows in front of people and
• 0:47
  then recorded a song which is a very different feeling. Right, you might
• 0:50
  want to get your PR team to check that press release makers. I'll crack
• 0:56
  down on them. So how's it been received? Like, do you find
• 1:00
  the fan base was still out there on hungry? I think it's actually where
• 1:04
  we've hit a real purple patch. Actually, I mean since we saw you
• 1:08
  at sandstorin point, all of the shows we've been playing have been these kind
• 1:11
  of big, kind of almost nostalgia fests, and we've noticed that, you
• 1:17
  know, the gigs are filled with people who are like in their early twenties
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  to people who are in their sixties and seventies, and so, you know,
• 1:26
  they're people who would have been you know, five or six when Black
• 1:27
  Fingernails Red Wine first came out, and you know, people who would have
• 1:32
  discovered us when we first put out Sweater. So we've kind of hit this
• 1:36
  really interesting place where we're not like cool or uncool anymore. We just kind
• 1:38
  of occupy this Eskimo Joe shaped hole in the music industry, which is great.
• 1:44
  And so putting out a new song has been wicked. Definitely the biggest
• 1:48
  pick up we've had at radio since you know, kind of twenty ten,
• 1:52
  I guess, so a little while, but yeah, everyone's receiving it really
• 1:55
  well. Yeah, and the songs it's pretty much a reflection of the band's
• 1:59
  history together, mate, So you go into a bit more detail on that,
• 2:02
  Yeah, I mean, all the video clips certainly is a bit of
• 2:06
  a nostalgia festive, you know, all of these highlights over the years.
• 2:09
  You know, when I saw it put together, it was kind of blew
• 2:13
  my mind because I haven't looked at any of that footage for a long time.
• 2:16
  But you know, the song itself, because like I said, we've
• 2:20
  just been playing all these kind of nostalgia festivals. We'd just come off the
• 2:23
  road from doing this amazing festival called Good Things, you know, which was
• 2:29
  like a hol of of band, some of the news, some of them
• 2:30
  old, but you know, there was this tangible feeling when we'd go out
• 2:35
  in front of people and this kind of electricity. You know, we were
• 2:38
  playing these shows where it was like thirty thousand people deep and it felt like
• 2:40
  we're back at you know, the big day out back in the day.
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  And so yeah, this real feeling of nostalgia was hanging around. So we
• 2:47
  kind of got into the studio that you can see behind us in end of
• 2:51
  December early January and got together and started to jam. I had a bit
• 2:54
  of a chorus idea and really this idea of you know, looking back at
• 3:00
  you know, all of those things in you know, from from when we
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  were in our twenties. But you know, like the first time he smoked
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  a cigarette or you know someone you had to crush on all these things back
• 3:09
  in the day and looking back at them, and how we often kind of
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  look back through rose colored glasses as opposed to really what they were, which
• 3:17
  was a much more complex and nuanced thing. Yeah, it would have been
• 3:22
  a lot of fun pointing that together. Like you say, there would have
• 3:23
  been a lot of memories brought back put it together. But did you come
• 3:27
  across any footage that you've watched and you've gone, yeah, I better not
• 3:30
  put that in there. Well, there's probably bits and pieces of that.
• 3:35
  I mean, often, you know, their reflections on where you were in
• 3:38
  your personal life at that point in time, and you're like, oh,
• 3:39
  man, I was in a pretty dark place. I don't think I really
• 3:42
  want to revisit that. But no, it was it was mainly just smiles
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  all around when we watched that video. Because the guy put it together as
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  a guy called Timothy Nelson, and he actually plays in Skies. He's a
• 3:53
  keyboard player, but he's an amazingly talented guy, and we just said,
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  hey, do you want to chuck together a bit of a lyric VI and
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  hears all of our archives so just go for it, and he went to
• 4:03
  town and yeah, put together this whole thing of like, yeah, all
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  you know from you know, playing at things like the Big Day Out and
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  Aria wards and you know old Channel B footage and bits and pieces. So
• 4:16
  it was just amazing to look back because we don't sit around and review old
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  footage, and you know, that's not what I do in my evenings.
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  But so that was the first time that I'd gone back and looked at a
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  lot of that footage, and yeah, it was just putt a big smile
• 4:28
  on my face. It was great. And let's hope the press release has
• 4:30
  got this one right, mate. But it says that the song provides an
• 4:33
  epic new chapter of music for the band. Would you agree with that?
• 4:39
  I would say yes, that's true, possibly because I mean, I guess
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  when we if you rewind a little bit, when we took a little bit
• 4:46
  of a break in twenty thirteen, you know, we've been in this two
• 4:48
  year cycle of like writing a record, recording the record, touring the record,
• 4:54
  and by the time we got to about two southern thirteen, we were
• 4:58
  pretty you know, living in each other's pockets for a long time. And
• 5:00
  we and we were taking it way too seriously, so we just needed to
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  go away and do some other other projects. And like I said, we
• 5:08
  came back together and during COVID and started to record some new music again.
• 5:12
  But this feels like, you know, not to set not to quote the
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  song, the first time that we've come together and really just kind of been
• 5:21
  in that really sweet spot where, you know, when we were recording albums
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  like a Song as a City and Black Fingernails, Red Wine especially like the
• 5:30
  band, we're all kind of pulling in the same direction, and you know,
• 5:31
  we knew exactly what we were trying to create. There was no one
• 5:34
  going, oh, this needs to be a hip hop album whatever. We
• 5:38
  knew exactly what kind of album we were going to make. So with the
• 5:40
  first time, it feels pretty similar. You know, like we all we've
• 5:44
  all been off doing these other musical projects, so we were able to come
• 5:46
  back together and really just enjoy being an Eskimo Joe and all of our friends
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  who've known us for a long time, you know who. We all comment
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  on each other's records when we put them out, but they all kind of
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  reached out and we're like, oh man, this sounds like an Eskimo Joe.
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  So, and I think in the past, you know, most bands
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  will tell you the same thing. You always kick against the last record that
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  you do. So if you've done this kind of big rock and roll record,
• 6:09
  the next rock you're like, oh, we're going to do a you
• 6:11
  know, an electro album, you know, because you just want to kind
• 6:15
  of you know, you just have this thing where you can't help yourself but
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  want to do something different. Whereas this time around, we're like, you
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  know what, we love being an Eskimo Joe, we love what Eskimo Joe
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  is. Let's just make Eskimo Joe music. And so as far as a
• 6:28
  new chapter of epic music, yeah, I'd say that's absolutely correct because we're
• 6:31
  more than ever just really comfortable in our own skin. Yeah, fantastic,
• 6:35
  Broan, Let's rose. A big question is is it a standalone single or
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  part of a bigger album picture. I don't know if we're going to get
• 6:43
  back into the studio and make a full record, because you know, we
• 6:46
  take that shit way too seriously. Where Like, you know, when back
• 6:49
  in the day, when we're making records, like we treat it like our
• 6:53
  job, we'd go, we'd get in there and work five days a week,
• 6:56
  and you know, and by the end of that time we have a
• 6:59
  whole of songs that would go on to record. We pretty much approached it
• 7:02
  in the same way. So we've only probably got enough time to do that
• 7:05
  two songs a year because we've got we've all got all these other projects that
• 7:09
  we balance as well as skis and that's what makes us, like I said,
• 7:12
  really enjoy Eskimo Joe. So we'll probably put out another song before the
• 7:15
  year's out, and if that gets received as well as the first time,
• 7:20
  then we'll probably keep doing that. We'll put out, you know, a
• 7:23
  song or two a year and hopefully that'll keep people happy enough. But it's
• 7:27
  certainly been fun playing the song live. So yeah, now speaking alive,
• 7:30
  mate, you recently wrapped up a series of shows as part of Lookout,
• 7:34
  first of all Win Live and Burns to Tokyo and Incumbus probably like, how
• 7:39
  was that, That's just that's the dream lineup. Yeah, it was great.
• 7:42
  It was like I said, you know, playing these kind of almost
• 7:45
  nostalgia festivals where you look at in the audience, then most people are of
• 7:47
  that generation where they probably still own your album on CD. It's awesome that
• 7:53
  all the shows pretty much sold out. It was about, you know,
• 7:56
  twelve thousand people per show, which is just an awesome amount of people to
• 8:00
  play too. It doesn't feel too big, but you can kind of really
• 8:03
  do a big stadium show. And yeah, all the bands were from that
• 8:05
  era. I mean, we always feel like the indie kids at those kind
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  of festivals because we started as like a you know, Triple J band,
• 8:13
  and we didn't really cross over into that kind of mainstream world until Black Fingernails
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  Red Wine. So I always feel like the odd ones out at those festivals.
• 8:20
  But we certainly had a really good time ours at the Sandstone Point One
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  for that one as well made and it just bring me away how many people
• 8:26
  were there. It's just I've got into a show there that's been in that
• 8:28
  pack man and every band, like I've got to mention the super Users before
• 8:31
  too, they were part of it. Yeah, every band was just phenomenal.
• 8:35
  It was just a really good day of music. Yeah, everyone was
• 8:37
  on fire, everyone was putting in top effort. Everyone was happy to be
• 8:41
  there, from the bands on the stage to the audience. So yeah,
• 8:43
  it was a good day. Yeah. Now, as a bandmate, like,
• 8:46
  you've been touring constantly for more than two decades now, man, so
• 8:50
  I had to have to make you think in one of these interviews. But
• 8:52
  what sorts of things have you learned about yourself and your bandmates turn for so
• 8:56
  long. I think we've learned that none of us still know who stew is
• 9:01
  in the band. Yeah, he's just a man of mystery, No,
• 9:07
  I guess you know, we've kind of learned each other's strengths and weaknesses,
• 9:13
  and we've learned to rely on each other a lot in those ways and not
• 9:16
  even have to have a conversation about it. And we've been through years of
• 9:20
  having arguments about this and that, and we don't really argue anymore. We
• 9:24
  just have a lot of laughs when we go on the road. You know,
• 9:28
  we kind of have I guess you know, times where we're on the
• 9:31
  road and we'll have other people in the band, Like we often have session
• 9:35
  players who play with us because just the three of us when we make the
• 9:37
  records. So sometimes it'll be a really great combination of people and touring will
• 9:43
  just be an absolute joy. And then sometimes it's just the wrong combination of
• 9:46
  people and it just feels like more of a job than other days. But
• 9:50
  most of the time these days, you know, through all of the you
• 9:52
  know, highs and lows of being in Eskimo Joe, you know, we
• 9:56
  play gigs like the Lookout Festival and we have nothing but gratitude, you you
• 10:00
  know, for the position that we're in and the journey that we've had through
• 10:03
  it all. So as far as what we've learned about each other, I
• 10:07
  think we've probably just learnt that the secret to being in a band for a
• 10:13
  long time is to actually be friends with each other. Ah. So I
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  thought you're going to come out with something bigger, epic then, and it
• 10:20
  turned into a lot. Well, I mean, I think that's pretty epic
• 10:24
  question. You've also just started a national acoustic theater tour, Mate, with
• 10:31
  completed shows in Ballarat and Werribee. How do they go? Yeah, really
• 10:35
  good. We've just, like I said, been doing all of these rock
• 10:37
  and roll shows where you know, it's kind of like being a fruit seller
• 10:41
  at a fruit and vegmark. You're like, come and buy my apples,
• 10:43
  you know, That's what it's like being on stage for those shows, whereas
• 10:46
  the acoustic shows, it's just the three of us, you know, back
• 10:48
  to the og three piece, and you can create a really different atmosphere.
• 10:54
  You know, it's like you play acoustically, you tell the stories behind the
• 10:56
  songs. You kind of approach things differently, and at the end of the
• 11:01
  shows we've been kind of with you know, I tell so many long winded
• 11:05
  stories that by the end of it, I always say, hey, look,
• 11:07
  you know, we're going to come down to the merch stand and say
• 11:09
  hello and maybe you guys tell us your stories. And we've been blown away
• 11:13
  by some of the stories that people have been telling us about their Eskimo journey.
• 11:18
  There's this one family we met on the weekend and it was this Japanese
• 11:22
  guy who had immigrated to Australia in two thousand and six and the first two
• 11:26
  CDs he bought was a song as the City and Black Thing, and I
• 11:30
  was red Wine. So Eskimo Joe became his Australian band. And now he's
• 11:33
  got like, you know, three kids, and the whole family listens to
• 11:37
  the band. And when we did the Good Things Festival, you know,
• 11:39
  his teenage son was up the front, you know, for that show.
• 11:43
  So that stuff blows me away because you know, your music living on past,
• 11:48
  you and having this whole life. And you know, then there was
• 11:50
  this other family rocked up. We called the Sweater family because they were all
• 11:54
  wearing the sweater merch except for the one, like, you know, disgruntled
• 11:58
  teenage son who was wearing a song as a titty t shirt and they're all
• 12:01
  that hating on him. And that's suff I just love that, you know,
• 12:03
  this generational thing where we become for families like the band that the one
• 12:09
  band that all the family agrees that they can listen to. And we only
• 12:13
  get that by doing those acoustic shows because it's just a different feeling. We
• 12:16
  can kind of have those moments as opposed to the rock and roll thing,
• 12:20
  which is all a bit of a different energy. Yeah, So so to
• 12:22
  be fair to say that these shows are a little bit more more intimate,
• 12:26
  I guess, yeah, they're intimate. You know, you get fans get
• 12:30
  to kind of hear what the song sounded like on acoustic guitar before they had
• 12:33
  all the bells and whistles on it. But it just, like I said,
• 12:35
  it just creates a different atmosphere and that's really refreshing for us because we've
• 12:39
  just been on the road doing all these rock and roll shows, so to
• 12:41
  do something different. But hey, look, talk to me at the end
• 12:43
  of the year when I've done thirty dates and I'll probably be like, I'm
• 12:46
  over it. Give me some rock and roll baby. Speaking of those thirty
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  dates, probably like the talk picks up again in Liverpool and New South Wales
• 12:54
  on May the twenty fifth, but another day in New South Wales, the
• 12:58
  travels through Queensland and West Astrida, back to Victoria, New South Wales and
• 13:01
  Queensland and finish it in Rockampton on July the twenty eighth. That's a pretty
• 13:05
  decent runner of shows, man. Yeah, it's a whole lot. And
• 13:09
  like I said, we're really enjoying it at the moment, but I'm sure
• 13:11
  by the time we get to Rockampton, you know, sorry, rock Hampton,
• 13:15
  it'll either be amazing or we'll be over it. No, we won't
• 13:16
  be over it. It's where Weekend Worrior as we go away play a couple
• 13:22
  of shows. I mean, that's that's a pretty good job if you ask
• 13:24
  me. Oh yeah, man. And then I noticed there's also a few
• 13:26
  all ages shows in there too, so people want to bring the kidies along
• 13:28
  they can have a look at the dates and pick and choose. Yep,
• 13:31
  that's right, yep, get a very good one. Mane. All right,
• 13:35
  well, thanks very much your time, bro, always a pleasure speaking
• 13:37
  with you. I'll try and make it along to one of these Queensland shows
• 13:39
  because yeah, please do come and say gooday