It’s been a long time coming, but Eskimo Joe are back. Their new album Inshalla is set to drop on May 29, and they’re travelling around the country in July to support the release. But before all that I caught up with the band’s guitarist Stuart MacLeod to chat about the new CD, the band’s recent success in Europe, and what it’s like to be home.
You’ve just come back from Europe. What’s it like to be home?
It’s amazing to be home. Leaving home definitely makes you realise how amazing we have it back here in Australia. Stepping out onto the streets of Hamburg in the sleet and the snow, and then you come home and you’re sipping a beer out on your back deck as the sun goes down. That’s quite amazing.
What do you miss most when you’re away?
Family I guess. And the weather.
I believe you’ve got two kids. Are you apart from them all the time that you’re away?
Yeah, at this stage we’re still touring quite lean over in Europe so it’s really just drive, and play, and drive, and play every day. So it’s not really conducive to having two really small bubs on the road. So when they get a bit older, they’ll definitely be down for the hard slog.
What was the response like to your music over in Europe?
They were amazing. They were very excited because a lot of them had been travelling through Australia and seen the band maybe once and bought a CD back. So the excitement of seeing us over there definitely came across in the crowd. There was a freshness to the excitement in the crowd, so it was a real buzz.
Your new album Inshalla comes out later this month. I hear it showcases a fresh sound for the band. How so?
I guess because we’d had some new injections of youth into the band in the form of the little babies that I have, and Kav [Temperley] has also had a son, I guess there’s a real fresh lightness to the band, and a new energy to the band. I guess we allowed ourselves to write a bit more positive, hopeful-sounding music. There is a definitely a kind of real hope on this record, and a lot lighter tone on this record.
This is the first time you haven’t produced your own album. Why did you make that decision?
Well I guess we got to a point where we were very comfortable with writing the way we wrote music, and we really wanted to mix that up a bit, and we did that in the songwriting process. But we thought having someone else’s influence from outside would mix it up even more. And plus, the opportunity was there to work with someone we’d always idolised and always dreamed about working with which was Gil Norton (The Pixies, The Triffids, Foo Fighters). So when the opportunity arose we just couldn’t think of any reason not to take it.
What do you think he brought to the album?
I think his main strength was the rhythm section: working on the drums and the bass and really working on the dynamics and making each section a separate little entity and exciting part on its own. I think the way he works with drum patterns is quite intuitive, in the way that it really does build each section and creates a real dynamic arc for each separate song.
You’re kicking off your national tour in July. Are you itching to get back in front of Australian audiences?
Oh definitely. We played a show up in Noosa last weekend – it was a festival show – and it was just great to get back in front of a home crowd and have some new material to play for them. So we’re itching to get back out in front of the Aussies.
You were part of the Sound Relief concert in Sydney earlier this year. What was it like to be involved with that fundraising effort?
It was an amazing day. We were very humbled and honoured to be asked to be a part of it. It was amazing to be surrounded by all that positivity and hope. There was a real sense of everyone banding together, not only to experience some great live music, but to also know that all the proceeds and all the effort put into that was going to such a great cause.
Eskimo Joe is one of a long line of big bands to come out of Western Australia. What makes the music scene there so strong?
I think it has a lot to do with the isolation. We don’t have a lot of music industries and record companies here looking for the next biggest thing, so bands don’t feel the need to adhere to any current trend to get noticed. So bands have a lot of opportunity to mature at their own rate, and create a sound that’s not heavily influenced by any current trend. And I think that’s a really positive thing, and think that’s the reason a lot of really exciting and creative music comes out of this beautiful place.
You guys have been at this for over ten years now. When so many bands burn out or split because of creative differences, what sets you apart?
I’m not sure. I think it’s a foundation that’s slowly developed over a long period of time, and that we all have a profound respect for each other and each other’s talents and abilities. We also over the years have come to think of songs in the same way as each other. The way we write songs is very intuitive these days. We almost know what each other’s thinking before they say it. And we all rely on humour to keep it all quite light and not get too heavy on the road.
I hear that the upcoming shows will be your only Australian dates this year. What does the rest of 2009 hold?
We’ll be heading over to Europe to do some summer festivals, and also back to Europe around September I’d say. And then hopefully some more summer festivals will arise at the end of the year for Australia. So we certainly will be servicing our Australian patriots.
Image source: Newscom