Tame Impala
2007-present
Perth, Australia
Tame Impala is the psychedelic music project of Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. In the recording studio, Parker writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. As a touring act, Tame Impala consists of Parker (guitar, vocals), Dominic Simper (guitar, synthesiser), Jay Watson (synthesiser, vocals, guitar), Cam Avery (bass guitar, vocals), and Julien Barbagallo (drums, vocals). The group has a close affiliation with fellow Australian psychedelic rock band Pond, sharing members and collaborators, including Nick Allbrook, formerly a live member of Tame Impala. Originally signed to Modular Recordings, Tame Impala is now signed to Interscope Records in the US, and Fiction Records in the UK.
Parker originally conceived the project in Perth in 2007. After a series of singles and EPs, Tame Impala's debut studio album, Innerspeaker, was released in 2010; it was certified gold in Australia and well received by critics. Parker's 2012 follow-up, Lonerism, was also acclaimed, reaching platinum status in Australia and receiving a Grammy Award nomination for Best Alternative Music Album. Tame Impala's third album, Currents, was released in July 2015, and like its predecessor, it won ARIA Awards for Best Rock Album and Album of the Year. Parker won the APRA Award for Song of the Year 2016 for Currents' first track, "Let It Happen". The fourth studio album, The Slow Rush, was released 14 February 2020. At the 2020 ARIA Music Awards the group won five trophies.
2007-2008: Early career
2008-2009: Tame Impala EP
2009-2010: Sundown Syndrome
2010: Innerspeaker
2011-2014: Lonerism
2015-2017: Currents
2018: Other projects
2019-present: The Slow Rush
Parker's decision to make the music for Tame Impala in the studio by himself is a result of Parker liking "the kind of music that is the result of one person constructing an awesome symphony of sound. You can layer your own voice 700 times for half a second if you want, and I just love that kind of music". However, Parker has to translate his music to a live setting with the band, and the band doesn't play the songs until they have been recorded. "The only jamming that's done as a band is done a long time after the song is recorded for the sake of the live environment. It's good for us, because we can take a song that's been recorded and do what we want to it: slow it down, speed it up, make it 10 seconds or 10 minutes long. It gives us a lot of freedom."
Parker's music is heavily influenced by late 1960s and early 1970s psychedelic rock, which is achieved through various production methods. Parker said that he has a "fetish for extremely sugary pop music" from artists like Britney Spears and Kylie Minogue. Parker also loves "fucked-up explosive cosmic music" in the vein of The Flaming Lips, with whom Parker collaborated on the track "Children of the Moon" in 2012, for the release The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends.
Jay Watson Dominic Simper Julien Barbagallo Cam Avery
Nick Allbrook Loren Humphrey