Eskimo Joe dig the gig
By Kathy McCabe
May 31, 2007 



Eskimo Joe have never made any pretence about wanting to be a band for the masses.Their third album, Black Fingernails, 
Red Wine made good on the pop-laden promise of the gold debut record, Girl, and double-platinum A Song Is A City.

With sales of more than 280,000, the third record has doubled the band’s local audience and now finally achieved that 
lofty ambition every Australian band sets: a US release.

Frontman Kav Temperley said signing with Rykodisc was a blessed relief after several failed attempts to get across the 
line with American labels.

“It’s head down, bum up now. After we finish this Australian tour, everything gears up for us going to America to 
support the release. And it feels good because these guys are going to put some muscle behind the record,” he says.

Each of the band’s records has a distinct personality so it is no surprise Eskimo Joe have ventured into some serious 
remix territory for the new single, Beating Like A Drum.

Producer Nick Launay, the Avalanches’ Dexter, Sneaky Sound System, P. Money, Nick Littlemore and Bumblebeez have taken 
six tracks and given them unique treatments.

Temperley loves Launay’s mash-up of the album’s title track and hit single, From The Sea.
“They are all so cool; some of them are probably not something you would play at home but they should go down well in 
the halls of Oxford St,” he laughs. “Nick (Launay) pretty much invented the 12-inch so it was a honour to have him do 
it to us.”

Temperley is well aware that Australia is a small place and the band’s continued success inevitably incites a cynical 
backlash.

Going to the US in a few months is perfect timing to escape the brunt of it.

“This is not a very big place and I think it’s just up to the artist to ignore it (criticism). Silverchair is a really 
good example of how to outlive it. So is Kylie Minogue who went from the singing budgie to the pop princess,” he says.

“That’s why it is important for bands to have a chance to get outside Australia. I’m sure more people diss us now than 
ever before because we are a bigger band. But every band I know who gets bigger does so because they have worked their 
arse off. The harder you work, the better your luck is, as they say.”

Eskimo Joe have also made a determined effort – along with the aforementioned Silverchair, Missy Higgins and the current 
Powderfinger album launch tour of hotel ballrooms – to take the live experience for their fans to a heightened level.

“Being able to do a great live show is something you dream about when you are in a room writing on a nylon-string guitar,” 
Temperley says. “People have paid their money to see a rock show, rock stars – not some dudes. I don’t know if we’re quite 
Zoo TV yet, but every band owes it to themselves to pull off a pub performance, a club performance and a stadium performance. For f...’s sake, this is fun.”