KEEPING COOL

The Eskimo Joe story is one that goes way back – the mid-to-late nineties in fact – but it proves that talent and persistence is the key, when you want to make a name for yourself in the fickle world of rock and roll.

Joel Quartermain recalls the daggy punk metal band Stuart MacLeod, Kavyen 'Kav' Temperley and he played in as they attempted to enter a local band competition.
“Only really Triple J was around at that time and it was difficult to get out of Perth – the internet didn’t exist at that time for example. But winning the (National) Campus Band competition meant getting an air ticket!” [Ed’s note: they scored a slot on the 1997 Livid bill as part of the competition’s prize]

More than a decade has since passed, with the boys from Fremantle now presenting their latest LP, ‘Ghosts Of The Past’. Somewhat of a departure from their previous offerings, the lads looked back and pondered what had, and hadn’t, worked on their past albums during the making of ‘Ghosts...’.
"It was kind of a critical evaluation process," Joel says. "We'd sort of looked at ‘Inshalla’ and thought, there are so many different styles and ideas on that record. It was about halfway through touring it that we decided on the direction for this one.
"What we ended up wanting to do was to strip it right back; you know, to have two guitars and stuff and have something that sounds like a band playing a bunch of songs in a group. You know, from that perspective rather than starting off with a groove or an acoustic guitar or a piano? If you can do that and the song stands up, that’s good.”

Joel says the trio never expected making this record would be particularly straightforward.
“You make adjustments and have ideas; and then you do a second or third record and you throw away a whole lot of thinking; it's always tough because there is more pressure do something that sounds better, more mature. So we went back to basics and we played to our strengths and really took it from there. We’re not a jam band or anything like that.

“In Perth, you don’t feel a lot of pressure – it's not like you go to the pub and bump into people from your record label. You sort to forget all of that and get into a room and write songs. The pressure comes after the creative process when you have to sell the record after the promotion is done. Right now we’re doing that."

The ‘Ghosts Of The Past’ LP evolved from a major writing session, and a few basic ideas. With these ideas in tow, the band started doing runs to a little house - “an amazing spot with 180 degree views of the ocean” - in Margaret River.
“That was (Kav and Stu’s) inspiration. Each of them started to come up with lyrics and choruses and ideas of when they were kids. It was a kind of nostalgic and gave a certain feel to the album. So I went with it, Stu went with it and Kav went with it," explains Joel. "We talk about relationships and things that happen in your past and the things that help you to move on."

With the album debuting at #3 on the ARIA charts, the lads now have the impetus required to start touring again.

"It's been a long time; maybe two or three years since we’ve done a big move around Australia. With the last record, we concentrated on going to Europe and you end up playing with people who haven’t heard of the band before! Australia though is a fair bit different. I guess it's where the pressure is really on. This is where people grew up with us. So we've been rehearsing our butts off for this tour. It's like were training for a title fight! We want to come out lean and mean. We're also feeling really confident about it – we're going to try some things that we haven't done before and we will evolve - but we are ready."

Eskimo Joe play 600 Sounds, as part of the Armor All Gold Coast 600, on the Gold Coast, October 22. goldcoast600.com.au