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Eskimo Joe
In 1997 Kavyen Temperly and Joel Quatermain -
schoolfriends and former members of the band Freud's Pillow - formed a band
with Stuart MacLeod to compete in the Australian National Campus Band
Competition. The first heat was Fremantle punk band Eskimo Joe's first
performance. They won the Perth state final and then won the competition -
a chance to play at the Livid Festival and a recording session in Sydney.
That session, in April 98, produced the band's first EP. The EP's feature
song 'Sweater' was aired constantly on Triple J and became so popular it
reached 33rd in the Triple J's Hottest 100 of 1998.
After
many months of touring the group returned to the studio to record a self
titled EP, this featuring the songs 'Ruby Wednesday' and 'Turn Up Your
Stereo', again Triple J favourites. The band were voted in at number 2 on
Rolling Stone's Brightest Hope For 1999 readers' poll.
A lot
had happened quickly. Facing their first album with a new record contract
with Modular Records, Eskimo Joe sat around a kitchen table and decided it
was time to grow up. While their novelty songs had served them well they
wanted to record an album worthy of forever rather than for the moment. The
nonsensical songs about stereos, alcohol and farting were replaced by
Beatlesque highly relatable songs about the ups and downs about the
day-to-day life of Kavyen Temperly and his girlfriend. The album, called
'Girl' was produced by Ed Buller who has worked with Ben Lee, Pulp and
Suede. Highly regarded 'Girl' sold Gold Record quantities without bothering
the national chart.
Three
years on, confident about their songwriting and arrangement skills
delivered a worthy follow-up. 'A Song Is A City' was recorded in Sydney
with Paul McKercher and Nick Launay then finished off at Debaser Studios in
Perth. Joel Quartermain shifting from drums to join Stu MacLeod on guitars
and old Fremantle band buddy, Paul Keenan, joined the band's live line up
on drums. Again Temperly documented his personal life. His relationship of
four years had ended. He was trying to move on, resettled in Sydney while
the rest of the band remained in Western Australia.
'A Song
Is A City' elevated the band's stature even more, with the first single
'From The Sea' receiving extensive commercial radio support, and
culminating in Eskimo Joe's first hit single. When touring 'A Song Is A
City' finally wound down the band reassembled in West Australia, enjoying
the national success and camaraderie shared with a number of WA acts.
Eskimo had seen a lot of the world now as well as Australia, and it was
time to make another important career change.
Stuart
encouraged the band to produce the next album themselves, thinking they may
never be in a position to take that plunge again. That decision shifted the
emphasis from the songs and their performance to an over-all sound. The
result was 'Black Fingernails, Red Wine', a triple platinum selling No.1
album. As a single the title song stayed in the national Top 40 for 35 weeks.
The
band's fourth album was recorded in Byron Bay with UK producer Gil Norton
(Pixies, Foo Fighters, Maxïmo Park, The Triffids) and engineer Jimi
Maroudas. The album's name 'Inshalla' is an Arabic word which means
resigning oneself to whatever fate holds. Kavyen Temperly explained that
between albums he found himself in Egypt wondering in a dark moment whether
to continue his music career or go back to Fremantle. He chose to resign
himself to fate. The album was put together in the same spirit, instead of
the extremelely focused record they had wanted with 'Black Fingernails, Red
Wine' with 'Inshalla' Eskimo Joe let the songs and the music take them
wherever they led. The end result was that Eskimo Joe willingly allowed themselves
to be pulled in various directions. With the follow-up album it was
important to pull in the reigns.
Although
the new album was written and recorded in four studios it might as well have
been in Eskimo Joe’s backyard – literally in the case of two of the
locations, Temperley's makeshift home studio and the band's operational but
unfinished HQ, the Wasteland. The last two albums had seen them stretch the
Eskimo Joe sound, even getting away from it. With 2011’s fifth album ‘Ghosts
Of The Past’ they embraced their own sound. The album title is a dichotomy.
Musically the band was returning to old ‘ghosts’, lyrically Kavyen Temperly
was acknowledging that they’d gone beyond the love won/love lost of the past.
All three members were now in stable relationships and it was time for the
songs to reflect outward instead of inward. Between albums Kavyen Temperly
exorcized some of the emotional baggage writing and recording an album with
the Basement Birds, an acoustic harmony “supergroup” with fellow West
Australians Josh Pyke and Bob Evans.
As well as being comfortable setting root in their own sound
the album coincided with the band consolidating its Fremantle base. Wasteland is a
studio not just for Eskimo Joe’s exclusive use. The band are also are
co-owners of a record label called Dirt Diamonds, which has released albums
for the Chemist and Steve Parkin, with more to come.
-
Ed.Nimmervoll
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