Eskimo Joe - if the sweater fits...
Posted on May 14, 2004 06:35 AM
By MIKE WAFER


Sometimes you just have to let go of the past, no matter how much you want to cling on to it. For Eskimo 
Joe, and indeed their fans, such a notion rings true now more than ever with the release of their second album A Song Is 
A City. Drifting even further away from their earlier humour-filled material than Girl did, A Song Is A City is a 
completely new stance for Eskimo Joe who, despite the popularity of their early work, are more than keen to shrug off 
their past.

There is no denying it, Sweater was a great pop song. It was fun, it was catchy, and it had a real sense of honesty 
about it. In fact, it is one of the most memorable pop songs in recent Australian music history. The follow-ups, such 
as Ruby Wednesday, were equally as good in terms of pop sensibility and their reluctance to take themselves too seriously, 
but for the band the songs lacked substance, and left the trio feeling ultimately unfulfilled. Looking back, it is almost 
as if the band is embarrassed by their previous flirtations with the kooky, and are adamant that there will be no return 
to clown town, now or ever.

Funnily enough, A Song In A City is not just Eskimo Joe's way of letting go of their musical past, but also their 
emotional past, as the album deals heavily with a breakup that, whilst being perfect song-fodder, was as traumatic and 
unpleasant as any could be. In burying this experience in the past, and archiving it in song, Kav Temperley also hit the 
final nail into the coffin of Eskimo Joe's quirky past. The band, and the man, have moved on, and nothing can dissuade 
them from their calling.

Though it may come as a surprise, Girl was fairly poor in terms of sales, and despite its critical acclaim and massive 
radio play, ended up with disappointing results. The album itself was fantastic, and deserved of its praise, but for 
some reason it was not met with the success it was poised for and (stepping out of line a bit here) deserved. Eskimo Joe 
found themselves without a label and back on the market. After exhaustive negotiation, they ended up with a new home at 
FMR, a fresh batch of songs, and an even brighter future than before. Where they go now is anyone's guess, but at the 
very least Eskimo Joe have cornered themselves a market.



Xpress: Hey Kav, you've got a lot about to happen, are you all excited?
I think I've been in complete denial about what is about to happen, with shit loads of touring and all the rest of that 
kind of shit. I'm trying to run away from the drums slowly Cause Stu's decided to practise his drum skills which is 
always a worrying thing. I'm going down south this weekend and I'm just going to have a sweet time of ignorant bliss, 
and then on Monday we go away to do a video clip and then its all then we start the big national tour and then we come 
back for a week and then we go over and do Splendour and then another little tour and then we go overseas for a little 
while.


Xpress: Where abouts are you going?
Kav: Funnily enough Japan first? I wanna buy a really small camera, so that should be handy. And then we are going to the UK 
and the States and stuff.


Xpress: Hell's bells!
Kav: Yeah it's all about to happen.


Xpress: It certainly is. What's the go with the new record? You guys have really mellowed out.
Kav: I guess so, yeah. I think in some ways it's a lot heavier, I think we're trying to get the heaviness from a more open 
arrangement as opposed to just chugging guitars. Do you know what I mean? That's the vibe. I do actually think stuff 
like Song Is A City, the title track, in some ways one of the more heavier tracks we've ever written because of lyrically? 
I guess it's just bit more weighty now as opposed to heavy I guess the main difference is they're not as upbeat, the 
object is not that kooky kind of fun, that the band started on. 


Xpress: Do you still play much of the old wacky shit?
Kav: Not at all, we haven't played it for years now. Yeah, we stopped playing stuff off the EPs about two or three years ago 
pretty much.

Xpress: What, even Sweater?
Kav: Yeah haven't played Sweater for two and a half three years.


Xpress: Oh, think of the fans mate, think of the kids...
Kav: I am, that's why we don't play it for them anymore, I'm thinking of their health. I appreciate that people like Sweater 
and stuff but it's ridiculous to play a song like Sweater next to the stuff we've got now. You know it's funny because I
reckon when people first heard Sweater they would have kinda thought one hit wonder or whatever, but that song just 
won't die. We probably would have been happy if people had gone 'yeah' and not associated us with that song, obviously 
at the time it was great but we have moved on.


Xpress: So you don't look back on those songs with the same fondness as someone who dug them would?
Kav: Yeah, that's a good way to say it. I don't think we do because obviously we're in our own little world of what we're 
doing musically now. I really enjoy the songs from Girl still, but at the same time I'm like totally into what we are 
doing now so much more. And I'm sure that will happen every time we write a new bunch of songs. I think that's just the 
way of all things.


On the newie a lot of the songs, like you were saying before, are really subtle in their arrangement and that sort of shit 
Xpress: is hard to get that across live?
Kav: No, you've just got to put a bit more trust into it I find. I think in the earlier days, like we really did like a big 
time song-and-dance act to fill up time or whatever, but now it's more a thing of just kind of relaxing and to trust that 
people will just kind of get it, if they don't then they don't get it, it's no biggie. It's just about relaxing basically 
I guess.


Xpress: And Joel's completely off the drums now?
Kav: Yeah he is. Obviously in the studio he can still play drums. But he played a lot of the guitar on Girl and on this 
album. He was just getting bored of playing the drums. I would hate to be in a situation where 'you have to be the drummer', 
he'll become the triangle player next week, he's free to do that.


Xpress: So who have you got playing drums live?
Kav: Paul Keenan, he's been a around for a while now. He's also been friends with Joel for years and years. He's got a similar 
style as well, so he was the obvious choice.


Xpress: So there's no involvement in the writing or recording process?
Kav: No, it's still just the three of us. We've got such a good dynamic with us three. We just did a demo yesterday and it's 
just really good fun with just the three of us. We?ve got other friends who are there as our right hand men. We?ve got 
Andy Wilson from The Avenues, he's been guitar tech for us for ages and he's always there when we are demoing and 
recording, and he always chucks his 10 cents in, whatever ideas. The same as Rodney Aravena from End Of Fashion. 
We have those guys as well so to bring anyone else into the equation. It's so simple when you've got three people
everyone one knows exactly what direction you're going for.


Xpress: I take it it's a fairly unanimous feeling with the three of you that you're outing the kooky side of Eskimo Joe?
Kav: Yeah, well, that kind of happened a while ago. We officially outed the kooky side we were half way through our second 
EP and we thought fuck it, we were over it by then. So when we did Girl it was a very conscious decision to move away from 
that whole thing and also just make an album that we wanted to make as opposed to just mucking around. We actually sat 
down and said, 'let's write some songs here', and I think doing that has given us some freedom to make this album.


Xpress: The name's still kooky though...
Kav: It is but I mean, fuck, The Beatles outdid us with that didn't they?


Xpress: Have you had any people come up and say 'I really loved your old stuff, what are you doing now'?
Kav: No it's usually the opposite way around. For a while I thought that was going to happen, especially when we did Girl, 
but everyone's been really good. 'Like I like your old stuff but your new stuff is even better' and I mean it is. It's 
better music, the other stuff was like, no offence to people who like it, but it was candy, it tasted good in the mouth, 
that's all it was really. The stuff we're doing now has some weight to it. I don't think what we were doing before was a 
horrible thing but we literally would just fuck around, we weren't thinking very hard about it then and now we are.


Xpress: There's a lot to be said for that don't you think?
Kav: I think there is as well. Like just getting out there and doing your thing is really good fun but it does have a very 
short life span. And we did it and we got sick of it as you do and moved on.


Xpress: Yeah for sure. Now there's obviously two schools of thought in this regard; do you see band as a job / career as 
well as fun and an outlet, or would you rather not look at it in that way?
Kav: I definitely see it as job / career but I only really ever say that so I can hang out with my working friends 'I went 
to work today/ and everyone goes 'You don't have a fucking job', 'I do God damn it!'. But it's kind of funny that it is 
our job, because we actually pay ourselves a wage now and we have employees and all of that kind of shit. But all I ever 
do is hang out and write songs and that's my idea of a nice relaxing day and it's generally quite productive as well and 
then at the end of the week everyone says, 'Have you got any new songs'? and well actually I do. And then we demo and 
then we hang out, smoke pot in the jam room and just do our thing and it's all a very enjoyable process. It's funny that 
it is our job and we make money of it. It's a good job.


Xpress: Do you look back on the way things panned out and think maybe you could have done it a different way or a better 
way considering you guys have completely abandoned the early stuff? Did you have to get through those early stages to get 
where you are now? Or could you have by passed it all?
Kav: I think the only way we could have bypassed it is if we hadn't have got a national profile with those two EP's. If we 
had have gotten big from when Girl started that would have been fine. In saying that it is impossible to imagine how we 
would have ever got to a point of really sitting down and deciding that's what we were going to do from after everyone's 
reaction to loving Sweater. It would have been like ?Fuck you. We're going to write some real songs?. It's hard to say
you could have done anything different. It's good to have musical skeletons in your closet. It reminds you that what 
you're doing now is so enjoyable and mature.