MacLeod says there is a lot of joy and hope on their new record.
After twelve years and three studio albums, you might think that Eskimo Joe would be comfortable with the ‘rock star’ image they’ve acquired along the way. Lead guitarist, Stuart MacLeod, reveals that’s not the case.
“I don’t know if we’re keen to embrace the term ‘rock star’ anymore after the last record,” he says.
MacLeod is referring to the hugely successful ‘Black Fingernails, Red Wine’ album which debuted at number one on the Aria Charts and sold four times platinum in Australia in 2006. The title track won the Aria for single of the year and the band played to sold out crowds on their ‘Beating Like a Drum’ tour.
It’s no surprise that Chris Martin is a fan of the Aussie trio, but MacLeod laughs as he recalls: “We met him for the Sound Relief Concert and I gave him our album.”
“I guess it’s always an honour to be respected by your peers and getting the respect of someone like that who plays to so many people on such a daily basis and has written music of such amazing quality. It does make you feel confident in your own abilities.”
Eskimo Joe’s upcoming album ‘Inshalla’ carries an undertone of uncertainty: it is an Arabic word which translates to ‘God willing’.
“Kav [bass/ lead vocals] had a trip to Cairo and you really hear this word everywhere and it means ‘what will be will be’,” he reveals. “For us it really sums up the album, we were really resigning a lot of things to fate and a whole new style of writing music and the way we created the album and it was very challenging and different and we didn’t quite know if it’ll work and we sort of just let the chips fall where they lay.”
One of the challenges the band faced, was the decision to bring on a producer after the success of self-produced ‘Black Fingernails’. MacLeod reveals they were willing to relinquish some control for a chance to work with their dream producer, Gil Norton, of Foo Fighters and Pixies fame.
“That sort of outweighed the need to take control of this one again…We very much love being in the studio and having complete control over what we’re creating and that was difficult to relinquish when Gil entered the whole scheme of things but I guess over a couple of weeks we sort of learnt to let go a bit, which was hard.”
While MacLeod refers to Norton as a “whinging knob” at one point during the conversation, he does harbour some genuine affection for the Brit. “He’s great fun to have around and we sort of just gave him a lot of shit and he gave us a lot of shit and it was a foundation of humour that we built upon,” he says.
MacLeod admits that Norton taught the band some vital lessons in putting the record together: “It was good to analyse the drums and the bass and the rhythm section in general, and that work on the dynamics and building each section and building excitement, which was a really good lesson.”
Despite Norton’s presence being a significant change for the band, the trio also faced some other milestones, namely fatherhood for both MacLeod and lead singer Kav Temperley.
“I don’t think it’s possible to have such a dramatic life change and for it to not influence your music. A lot of the songs on this album are quite obviously dominated by related themes. And I think it lightened up the mood in the jam room and allowed us to create a bit more positive music with a bit more of an uplifting tone. There is really a tone of joy and hope on this record.”
While songs such as ‘Sound of Your Heart’ and ‘Your Eyes’ are lighter and uplifting in tone, the album is not without its darker moments. First single off the record ‘Foreign Land’ was inspired by Heath Ledger’s death. Eskimo Joe were in New York during the incident, and the loneliness of someone from Perth passing in a foreign city resonated with Temperley because after all, the band are natives of Western Australia.
Although MacLeod identifies with feeling homesick when touring, he is quick to point out that while it is difficult not to miss the comforts of home, “At the same time, it’s a pretty amazing job that lets you spend as much time at home in your off-season.”
Being together for twelve years has fostered a bond amongst the group and that helps personally and professionally. “You get to form a deep sort of brotherhood and a deep understanding of how each other work so the song writing process becomes a lot more intuitive. Often times you surprise yourself with how in sync you are with each other and that’s always a bit of a positive,” he says. “Especially when in the past, you might’ve been thinking different things and it was difficult to reconcile.”
MacLeod is comforted to know the band is still recording together after all this time: “We’re still, you know, good mates, we’re still brothers so it’s very heartening to know that we can keep doing this for the rest of our lives really because the dynamic between us is so strong and intuitive and we’ve got a profound respect for each other’s abilities.”
The band also owes much of their success to their ability to continually change and grow musically over the years.
“I think if you haven’t grown musically and learnt a few different things about yourself and making music with each new album…then the process would become quite stagnating and it wouldn’t be as enjoyable. I guess the day that stops happening is the day we decide to call it quits,” says MacLeod. “[But] I don’t see that happening for a long time.”
Inshalla is released on Friday, 29th May and you can catch Eskimo Joe at the Hordern Pavilion on Thursday 6th June. Tickets available at www.eskimojoe.net or through Ticketek.
