Eskimos head for Everest 17th May 2007, 6:30 WST Eskimo Joe. Pic: Nic Ellis We all know that Eskimo Joe are massive in Australia, but a new deal with American label Rykodisc will see the Fremantle trio start from scratch Stateside. To use a frostbitten metaphor right up their igloo, Eskimo Joe have scaled the peak of Kosciusko — ARIA awards, sold-out tours, TV appearances and a chart-topping album nearing quadruple platinum status — and now they set off to climb Mt Everest from base camp. Guitarist Stuart MacLeod looks forward to the challenge of cracking the world’s biggest music market, which begins when the band heads to the US in July for two months of touring to support the release there of Black Fingernails, Red Wine. “It’s going to be pretty exciting,” he said from Sydney, where the Eskies were preparing for their appearance at the MTV Australia Video Music Awards. “It’s going to be fun starting again and a very humbling experience, too. I’m not quite sure how it’s going to go. I’m just looking forward to actually doing it.” Ten years ago, MacLeod, Kavyen Temperley and Joel Quartermain were playing their first shows, including their triumphant set at the 1997 National Campus Band Competition. “It seems like about 50 (years ago) . . . then again, it seems like yesterday,” MacLeod laughed. “We’ve grown together and have such a strong friendship. We’re really like a brotherhood now. We feel invincible sometimes.” Despite those feelings of invincibility, Eskimo Joe were realists when it came to their US record deal. They avoided signing with a major label for fear of being “swallowed up and forgotten about” and lent on their experiences in Australia, where they’ve released three studio albums on as many labels. “We chose a label that had the same kind of vibe as our old labels, Festival Mushroom especially,” MacLeod said. “Rykodisc just had a great community vibe and everyone there puts 4000 per cent in to their work. Because it’s a smaller label we’re going to be given a lot more priority.” Eskimo Joe haven’t had a chance to properly celebrate the US record deal because they have been busy preparing for their national tour, which kicked off in Brisbane at the start of the month and continues through to June 9. The band were rocked by the departures of touring keyboardist Mike Degrassi and drummer Paul Keenan who had been with the band since the original trio expanded to a touring quintet in 2003. “That kind of shook the foundations of our band,” MacLeod says. “He (Keenan) has got a whole new venture opening up for him, so we wish him well with that.” Eskimo Joe stole drummer Shaun Sibbs from local pop-rockers the Avenues, who lost their previous skin-smasher Nick Jonsson to End of Fashion. The Eskies are also plundering the Sleepy Jackson for the tour, with the multi-talented Lee Jones taking over on keyboards and drummer Malcolm Clark looking after the visual elements of the live show. In addition to getting the new line-up match fit, the group have unveiled a special edition of Black Fingernails, Red Wine that includes an EP of hit-and-miss remixes by Nick Launay, the Avalanches’ Dexter, Sneaky Sound System’s Black Angus, Pnau’s Nicholas Littlemore, P. Money and the Bumblebeez. MacLeod reveals that the next and fourth single of the album will be Breaking Up. A fifth single, hopefully crowd-favourite London Bombs, is a distinct possibility. The band have also recorded a cover of John Lennon’s 1973 single Mind Games for a tribute album that also features U2, REM, Green Day, the Cure and Avril Lavigne. But all these things are relative molehills on the pathway to Mt Everest’s summit. The recently married MacLeod is aware the journey could be long and treacherous. “I don’t know if you can prepare yourself for that sort of thing,” he said. “Once it comes along, you’ve just got to ride with it.”