Embracing The Journey With KAV TEMPERLEY From ESKIMO JOE

Interview by Kris Peters
Eskimo Joe are in the rare and elite class of Australian bands who
could probably never make another album again, but still draw
people to their shows based solely on the quality of material they
have released thus far.
Two songs in particular - Love Is A Drug and Black Fingernails, Red
Wine - have etched Eskimo Joe into Australian music folklore, but
their 27-year journey has seen many more highlights and relatable
songs.
The band built their reputation playing festivals such as Big Day
Out and Splendour In The Grass, but of late have been playing
nostalgia-type festivals featuring classic bands from the past few
decades that are still going strong.
The most recent of which was Lookout Festival which featured
Incubus, Live, Eskimo Joe, The Superjesus and Birds Of Tokyo. It
was a series of concerts that drew consistently high numbers and
reaffirmed Eskimo Joe's standing amongst the country's elite live
bands, despite having not released a full album since Wastelands in
2013.
With the release of their first single since 99 Ways in 2021 - a
nostalgic number called The First Time - Eskimo Joe are embarking
on a new chapter of their careers and learning to embrace the very
fabric of music that excited them nearly three decades ago.
HEAVY caught up with bass guitar/keyboards/vocals Kav Temperley to
find out more.
"This is certainly the first song we've put out post-COVID where
we've actually played some shows in front of people and then
recorded a song, which is a very different feeling," he said. "I
think we've hit a real purple patch. Since we saw you at Sandstone
Point, all of the shows that we have been playing have been these
big, almost nostalgia fests. We've noticed that the gigs are filled
with people who are in their early 20s to their 60s and 70s. They
are people who would have been 5 or 6 when Black Fingernails, Red
Wine first came out, and people who would have discovered us when
we first put out Sweater. We've kind of hit this really interesting
place where we're not cool or uncool anymore, we just occupy this
Eskimo Joe shaped hole in the music industry, which is great.
Putting out a new song has been wicked. Definitely the best pickup
we've had at radio since 2010 I guess, but everyone is receiving it
really well."
In the full interview, Kav talks more about The First Time and its
sonic direction, the film clip that traces the history of the band
over the last 20-odd years, if it is a stand-alone track or part of
something bigger, the shows with Live and Incubus, some things they
have learnt about themselves and their bandmates over 20 plus years
of touring, the just started National Acoustic Theatre Tour and
what to expect, playing the more intimate shows and the higher
level of fan interaction, future plans and more.


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