Tame Impala on the Rise

Entertainment

Tame Impala on the Rise

Max Joseph – December 9, 2011

Austrailian rock band is bringing back vintage sound

When someone thinks of classic rock music, they instantly think of the early decades. Bands like, Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Miller Band, The Who or even The Beatles. Music with this unique sound and quality has not been attempted since the 80’s. It’s an area that is somewhat off- limits.

Two years ago three friends from Perth, Australia dared to sail on a musical voyage to bring the psychedelic genre into the indie music scene and culture. Like every band, they have a story of how they became what the group is today.

Tame Impala was formed in 2007 by lead man Kevin Parker. The band’s orginal name was The Dee Dee Dums and they toured around Australia for about a year. Parker was the drummer and a vocalist for the band. This is a very hard multitasking job for a musician. The band became huge in Australia and they won the National Campus Band Competition. Which was a competition for the most popular band on Australian campuses.

Things would soon turn south for The Dee Dee Dums. Four members of band left and Kevin Parker was left alone without a band to play with. In order to continue the band he asked two friends from high school if they were interested at all in playing in a band. Parker even decided to change the line-up. Even though he did not know guitar well he entertained the thought of being the ultimate lead man.

Two new members were added by the names of Jay Watson, on drums and a bassist by the name of Dominic Simper. Parker decided that with new members that he should rename the band, they decided on the abstract name of Tame Impala. With a new name, the band had to start over to gain popularity.

For the next year Tame Impala attracted a large amount of attention for mainstream listeners and indie listeners. Soon the band had even gained more popularity than the fan base that The Dee Dee Dums had. Tame Impala toured Australia after they released their EP titled Half Glass Full of Wine. Soon their popularity would greatly increase because of the release of the EP. It was this that got Tame Impala to be signed by Modular Records in early 2009.

After being signed Tame Impala went to work on their first full length album titled Innerspeaker . The band secluded themselves in a beach house for three months to record the album. When the album was finished, the band found themselves on a tour in the United States and Europe. Throughout the next couple months the band toured with various bands as an opening. Bands such as Yeasayer, The Black Keys and MGMT. The band’s best known songs are “ Desire Be Desire Go” and “Lucidity”. Both songs climbed up to the top ten on the indie charts of 2010. Critics say that both of Tame Impala’s best known songs are similar to The Beatles meets Led Zepplin.

The band would tour till mid 2010, playing all over the world. Innerspeaker grew to be one of the top albums of 2009 according to Pitchfork. The album has been to be compared to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon and also The Beatle’s White Album. The album recieved high praise because of its unique vintage sound. In fact, the album was recorded on vintage eight-track recorders. Lead man Kevin Parker’s unique mellow voice has been compared to John Lennon.

The new album has been rising in the charts. It rose so much after the band got done touring, that the success put them back on tour. In 2011 they performed at Coachella and The David Letterman show. Though now, the band concluded the tour and went back to Australia to start recording their next album. Tame Impala is now back working on their second full-length album and it is to be released sometime in mid 2012.