Aussie Rockers
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PLAYLIST BY KATE CARROLL. AUSSIE ROCKERS For Australians, it was almost love at fi rst sight, but it took a little longer for Eskimo Joe to endear themselves to the tough US market. With three albums under their belt and a little inspiration from Aussie rock gods INXS, they seem to have done it. Meet the Perth trio, along with Brisbane rockers Powderfi nger and Grammy- winners Wolmother. 62 bars&clubs PLAYLIST ESKIMO JOE t’s nearly ten years on since the trio Coast, formerly owned by INXS bass player from Freo (that’s Fremantle for Perth Garry Gary Beers. locals) fi rst stepped onto the national The album also has a dark edge and stage winning the Australian National according to guitarist Stuart MacLeod, this Campus Band competition in 1997, was something that appeared naturally in and with it a host of Aussie fans. the fi rst couple of tracks they wrote and After winning the competition, was deliberately followed through. Ithe trio of Kavyen ‘Kav’ Temperley “We’ve always strived to have a (bass/vocals), Joel Quartermain (guitar) cohesive thread or tone through our and Stuart MacLeod (guitar) were given albums,” says Stuart. “The fi rst couple of a slot at Livid Festival and a session in songs we wrote seemed to have a bit of a a recording studio. The resulting track feel to them; they were darker and had a ‘Sweater’ EP received much airplay on bit of a dramatic, almost theatrical edge. Triple J and as a result made it into the So we continued that through the rest of 1998 Triple J Hottest 100. the songs.” Since then, the trio has become one of Their debut single in the States is ‘Black Australia’s most loved bands, with their fi rst Fingernails Red Wine’. It was released on two albums Girl and A Song is a City going 14 August, 2007 and was followed up with gold and double platinum respectively. their fi rst US tour through the American But it was not until the release of their Summer and Autumn. Meanwhile at home, most recent album Black Fingernails Red they are releasing a special edition disc Wine last year that Eskimo Joe fi nally made featuring remixes of six Black Fingernails inroads into the US market. Red Wine tracks. “I had it in my head, ‘Right, I’m going to On a global scale, the Eskimo Joe go away and write a total rock record. If I’m boys have also aligned themselves going to do it once in my life, this is going to with some serious international issues. be the time,’” Kav says. On 7 July 2007, Eskimo Joe played at “I always think of things in a concept-record kind of way. So I wanted to make a record as if we were a stadium rock band,” Kav says. “If we were like INXS, what kind of record would I want to write?” And then seemingly paradoxically: “And with the Australian leg of the Live Earth the whole record, we’ve tried really consciously concert, a history-making event aimed to not be self-conscious in our songwriting. It’s at raising environmental awareness really easy to want to play it cool – and as soon worldwide. They are also the only Aussie as you do, the songs always suffer.” band to feature on the recently released With quadruple platinum status in Australia, album Make Some Noise - The Campaign Black Fingernails Red Wine is the band’s fi rst to Save Darfur. offi cial release in the US, signed by Rykodisc, The boys said they were thrilled a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group. The that their version of the John Lennon stadium rock sound of this newer album has classic ‘Mind Games’ was included on been favourably compared to INXS and is the international edition of the album. believed to be more accessible to an American The album is part of Al Gore's global music audience than previous albums. Kav admits to activism project, with Yoko Ono personally using INXS as inspiration for making the album. approving all songs on the album and “I always think of things in a concept-record donating the music publishing royalties kind of way. So I wanted to make a record as if we from the CD. In the meantime, the band were a stadium rock band,” Kav says. “If we were like is continuing their US Tour playing at INXS, what kind of record would I want to write?” notorious venues like Mercury Lounge in LEAD SINGER OF ESKMO JOE, Interestingly, the band recorded Black Fingernails, New York, The Kyber in Philladelphia and KAV TEMPERLEY (CENTRE), USED INXS AS INSPIRATION FOR THEIR NEW ALBUM. Red Wine at the Grove Studios on the NSW Central The Viper Room in Los Angeles. bars&clubs 63 PLAYLIST BERNARD FANNING (CENTRE) SAYS POWDERFINGER’S NEW ALBUM IS “MORE ATMOSPHERIC AND LESS FRENETIC” THAN THEIR PREVIOUS ALBUM. POWDERFINGER fter an 18-month break underclass that lives literally hand-to- Jon Coghill (drums/percussion) has success in the UK and Europe, to pursue individual mouth on its streets,” says Fanning. remained intact since 1992. recognition in the US has mostly projects, Powderfi nger “And here we were recording in And it’s one band that Australians eluded them, a fact that on the whole A has re-united this year one of rock music’s most famous can’t seem get enough of. The doesn’t really seem to bother them. to record their new album Dream studios, in the shadow of the Rolling commercial success of Powderfi nger’s For their new album, Powderfi nger Days at the Hotel Existence in the Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, second album Double Allergic in enrolled the skills of producer Rob legendary Studio 1 of Los Angeles’ Prince and dozens more.” 1996, with hits like ‘Pick You Up’ and Schnapf, known for his work with Sunset Sound. And there’s little doubt LA is a ‘DAF’, signalled the beginning of the bands such as The Vines and Beck. With fi ve studio albums already long way from home for a band that Australian public’s love affair with According to Fanning, he helped under their belt, this was the fi rst started out in 1989 as a high school the Brisbane boys. Since then, the the band mould a “brighter and less recorded outside Australia and lead cover band. After several changes in next three albums – Internationalist, dense sound”, which he believes is a singer, Bernard Fanning, calls the LA the fi rst couple of years, the current Odyssey Number Five and Vulture step forward. experience an “eye-opening” one. line-up of Fanning (vocals/guitar/ Street have all gone to number one “Most of the dry, punchier rock “The romance of fabled keyboards), John Collins (bass on the charts, winning ARIAs for songs that were featured on Vulture wealth and excess of the world’s guitar), Ian Haug (guitar/backing Album of the Year in 1999, 2001 and Street have given way to ones that entertainment ‘capital’ was blunted vocals), Darren Middleton (guitar/ 2003. But despite overwhelming are more atmospheric and less by the obvious poverty of the keyboards/backing vocals) and success on home soil and some frenetic,” he says. 64 bars&clubs PLAYLIST f any Aussie band has cracked their recent US tour, they sold-out In 2005, the band headed to Los A string of promotional the US market recently, it’s shows across the country. Angeles, working alongside producer appearances on US television in Wolfmother. The fi rst band to But before US adoration, Dave Sardy (of Marilyn Manson and 2006 including Late Night with I win a Grammy award since Men Wolfmother had to crack the Oasis fame), to record their self-titled Conan O'Brien, the 2006 MTV Movie At Work 25 years ago, the Aussie Australian market. Until the band was debut album, released in October Awards and The Late Show with trio took out the award for Best Hard conceived in 2000, vocalist/guitarist 2005. Their fi rst single (a double David Letterman went a long way Rock Performance earlier this year Andrew Stockdale, bassist/organist A-side) debuted on the Australian to determining a similar fate for the for their single ‘Woman’. Probably Chris Ross, and drummer Myles music charts at number 29, and the band in the US. The deal was sealed just as tellingly, their song ‘Love Heskett, were pretty much “jamming album itself at number three. Their when while covering Led Zeppelin Train’ is being used by Apple for an in anonymity” until releasing their Australian success was sealed when song ‘Communication Breakdown’ ipod commercial. independent EP in September 2004. they achieved a record breaking six for the legendary band’s induction It seems Americans love Appearances at high profi le music songs in the 2005 Triple J Hottest to the hall of fame in November Wolfmother’s blend of psych rock, events, such as Homebake and Big 100, breaking the previous fi ve- song 2006, lead vocalist Robert Plant which has been compared (not Day Out, and consistent radio play on record held by Powderfi nger, Queens turned to guitarist Jimmy Page and always favourably) to the work of Led Triple J followed, pathing the way for of the Stone Age, Silverchair and The famously remarked: "These guys are Zeppelin and Black Sabbeth. And on their success at home. White Stripes. pretty good.” b&c THE WOLFMOTHER BOYS ARE “JAMMING IN ANONYMITY” NO MORE. WOLFMOTHER bars&clubs 65.