Kevin Parker onThe Slow Rushand loosening up in quarantine.
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Tame Impala makes music about learning to adapt to lifes changes.
Kevin Parker songs are excursions into the inner reaches of a worried mind.
Rihanna repurposed the album closer New Person, Same Old Mistakes for her 2016 albumANTI.
I just find it a bit cringe.
In any other circumstance, I find it a bit show-offy, you know?
Now, were in this time where everyones doing it.
Everyones doing it just for the sake of doing it.
Ive been relishing that.
Tame is unique in the landscape of modern music because its body music with cerebral lyrics.
I like that theres this weird contrast.
But this is my natural habitat.
In many ways its kind of business as usual for me; Im just doing my thing.
But not touring is a bummer because Ive grown to love performing.
When I got signed by a record label, we just started touring and touring nonstop.
But I like to see touring as its own separate thing.
I trust the promoters weve worked with.
I know my managers not going to push us.
Well only do it when we can do it safely for everyone, not just us.
So just like everyone else, I have no idea.
Maybe there are other ways.
Maybe it doesnt have to be 10,000 people.
At the end of the day, I love traveling and I love playing for people.
Do you put a lot of thought into stage presence?No.
In fact, the thing that Ive learned is to put less thought into it.
Back when I used to think about it, Id overthink it.
I was kind of terrified of my shadow onstage.
I got this image of you as, like, a football coach studying the other teams.
Im trying to enjoy it.
But I cant help but think about what it looks like from the audience.
These days, when I go to a concert, Im thinking,All right, blow me away.
Its so valuable just to stand in the crowd.
you could still learn something.
you’re able to still get the perspective of someone in the audience.
I was watching my friends band, Pond, play the other day.
Well, not the other day … a few months ago now.
In the Before Times.Previous era.
I started taking notes on my phone.
Its so enlightening, especially cause theyre my friends.
I know them so well, and I knew what they were going through psychologically.
It made me give myself pointers.
Like, its okay to be kind of obvious on the stage.
But I like to think Im still able to enjoy a live show [as a fan].
Itd be really depressing if I wasnt.
Its just more difficult to wow me, I guess, because I know how things work.
Fans were surprised whenThe Slow Rushdropped and youd redone the single, Borderline.
Every song, especially if its a single and I hear it all the time.
Then Im like,Oh, God, I wish Id mixed the vocals differently.
I think its pretty natural to want to change things.
Thats why finishing an album is so hard.
You want to keep altering it, but you have to stop yourself because you cannot ruin it.
It didnt sound, even genre-wise, the way I originally imagined it.
The way I originally imagined it is how it sounds now.
Im sure that probably pissed a lot of fans off because they got to know and love the song.
But sometimes youve just got to be selfish.
I hated it when George Lucas redidStar Wars, you know?
He released the old versions and theyre all different.
Its like,Whyd you do this?
It was fine the way it was.
But I think this is different.
I think it came out better.
It can be finished sounding pretty similar to the original demo, or it can completely change.
I hate the idea of going back to my past to find inspiration.
Thats where most of my inspiration comes from.
Its just imagining yourself clicking on the radio station.
As for Tame Impala, I dont know.
Sometimes I have visions of it visions of how I feel about it.
Youve got to get over, and you cant see the other side.
Having finished the album, now I feel like I can do anything.
I could do any kind of music and it would be something new and good.
Theres a liberation being on the other side of releasing an album.
I dont know where its going, but Im excited.
All I had was my knowledge of 60s psych and other kinds of rock music.
I didnt know how to work a drum machine.
I think theres actually some truth in it.
Ive been trying to make the same music all along.
Ive just gotten better at doing it.
Theres something really boring about someone doing something that theyre already a master at.
I dont know if I agree.
Theres something to be said for that kind of mastery.
But repetition doesnt work for everyone.
David Bowie never stayed in the same place for very long, and that suited him.
Well, there doesnthaveto be, obviously, but thats a quality that I like.
Do you worry much about sales?I dont.
I mean, if an album were to flop, I would be disappointed.
Im coming from a musical background where all my favorite things werent appreciated commercially.
So why should I worry that something Im doing isnt?
What are your foundational records?
Thats something I didnt really appreciate until I listened to them.
I like the Chemical Brothers.
Kanye West is a big one.
I do what I do quite easily because I can use a computer, but someone like Stevie Wonder …
I listen to it just going,Oh my God, how did he do this?
Theres always one rock artist who commands the respect of all the hip-hop guys.
Its the beauty of hip-hop.
I put so much effort into the textures of my music and the grooves and the way it flows.
So, to me, it makes sense.
I think people are starting to realize that none of that shit matters.
Green Day are making pop music now.
Just because you play one kind of music doesnt mean youre that thing now.
What do you think changed?
Do you think it was crowds cross-pollinating at festivals?
Do you think it was the internet?The internet had something to do with it, right?
The internet has made music accessible to everyone.
Everythings available to you, which is great.
Things are less distant and foreign than they used to be.
All other music sucks.
It seems to be less of a thing now.
It does make it interesting now in that its like,Where is music going?
It blows my mind.
Speaking of Top 40, you worked with Lady Gaga.
Rihanna covered one of your songs.
Generally, my drums are big and blasty, kind of sizzly.
When something is sizzly, it takes up a lot of space.
Pop drum sounds are mostly clean, really short sounds.
I struggle to imagine how my drums would be in a pop song.
Its a frontier that I havent traversed yet.
Also, its one of the hardest.
I like a challenge, musically.
Everyone would have a No.
So, it doesnt matter how simple it is.
Thats not something that makes it easy.
In fact, it being simple is something that makes it difficult.
To make a really intellectual sound is easy because you have all the dimensions to work with.
It can be long; it can be complicated; it can be thought-out.
It can be anything you’re able to do, you have an entire palette to work with.
But pop has to be concise and simple, which is the most difficult thing.
Is that where you want Tame Impala to be at this point?Yeah … unintentionally.
And I was like, What?
But I actually didnt think it sounded that similar, which I was kind of happy about.
Its more like the methodology is of a piece.I agree.
It makes you think about everything thats happened and everything that will be.
It was a really emotional experience.
It hasnt really hit me how far Ive come.
Everything thats happened hadnt hit me yet as hard as it did the other day.
I was quite emotional, in fact.
Times like those are the kinds of emotions that fueledThe Slow Rush.
Like,Wow, Im really at this point in my life.
Im not floating along.
But on the new album you sound like someone whos learned to take things more in stride.
When you dont have to feel like youre in control of your life, its daunting.
When something is coming, and theres nothing you’re free to do about it, its scary.
Making music that embodies that [feeling] is kind of like therapy.
No one has control.
Thats the moral of the story.
When the whole world is out of control, its strangely comforting.
I know thats probably not the most tasteful thing to say.
Like, this isnt a good time.
I dont want to sound like Im celebrating the coronavirus.
Youre saying its less frightening because everyones going through it together.
We were meant to be there all summer.
I do summer in Australia and summer in L.A. to venture to avoid the winter.
Perth was the obvious answer.
Australias isolation never helped us before, but for once it has.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
