ESKIMO JOE
SUPERSIZE ME

With a massive, chart-conquering third album, an international record deal and a full touring schedule, Perth’s Eskimo Joe 
have come a long way since the days of ‘scarf rock’.

“This tour we’re basically going to try to put on a bigger show than we have had before,” explains Stu Macleod,” with some 
visuals, just ramping up the production a lot, trying to make it a bit more of a theatrical experience, tying together a 
lot of songs and expanding out a lot of songs so it’s not just playing songs from the album – it’s actually sort of 
reworking a lot of songs.

“We’re going to try to work in a lot more old stuff because we get a lot of people on the website e-mailing us saying ‘why 
don’t you play this song, why don’t you play that song’… so we’re going to try and play a lot more old stuff off the first 
and second album.”

Nevertheless, songs from ‘Black Fingernails, Red Wine’ are certain to be well received given the album’s success. “This 
album has been the best commercial success for us. When you cross over to the commercial radio market obviously you gain a 
lot more different and diverse fans.”

This shift in market could be attributed to their recent shift in sound - the new album taking a left down the street 
marked ‘stadium rock’.

“It wasn’t so much a decision to go stadium rock as much as it was a decision to strip back on the guitars, try and rely on 
other instrumentation to fill the stage,” says Stu. “So there wasn’t big rhythm guitars any more, it was more about large 
piano and orchestral arrangements, and more having space to create the illusion of size.”

This is also the first album on which the band took on production duties themselves. “It was great actually, it was just 
like recording at home, because we’d do all the songs at home ourselves, and then basically the studio is just a place to 
re-record them with better equipment. So this time round it was just like being back at home, a bit relaxed and laid back, 
and we just had a really good time.”

Beyond this Australian tour, the band are looking forward to promoting their album in the US. “I guess the best thing with 
playing to an overseas crowd is that you know you definitely earn the applause because it’s not based on your image or on 
things they’ve heard on the radio.”

Yen Tran