Eskimo Joe
is an Australian rock band formed in East Fremantle, Western Australia in 1997. The band consists of vocalist and bassist Kavyen Temperley, drummer and guitarist Joel Quartermain and guitarist Stuart MacLeod.
Their debut album, Girl
, was certified gold in 2001. Their second album A Song Is a City
was released in 2004 and was later certified double platinum. The first single from the album, "From the Sea", debuted in the top 40 of the ARIA Singles Chart, as well as being voted number three in the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2004.
Eskimo Joe released their third album, Black Fingernails, Red Wine
, in 2006. The album was certified four times platinum. The first single released, title track "Black Fingernails, Red Wine", exceeded the commercial success of their previous work, becoming their first top 10 single, and taking out number two in Triple J's Hottest 100 2006. The group's fourth album, titled Inshalla
, was released on 29 May 2009 following the release of the album's first single, "Foreign Land".
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ESKIMO JOE TICKETS
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History
Early years
Eskimo Joe formed in 1997 in
Fremantle,
Western Australia.
Kavyen 'Kav' Temperley (bass/vocals),
Joel Quartermain (guitar) and
Stuart MacLeod (guitar) formed a band to compete in the
Australian National Campus Band Competition. At that time, Kav and Joel were also in a band called Freud's Pillow, which included
Simon Leach, now guitarist in
Little Birdy, and his brother
Stuart Leach. Although MacLeod was not part of the Freud's Pillow line up, he is credited with co-writing the track "Mr Hoek" on the Freud's Pillow's EP
Pleasure Puppy. They won the competition with and were awarded a slot on the
Livid Festival and a session in a recording studio.
In this session in April 1998, they produced the
Sweater
EP, whose title track "Sweater" was featured in the
Triple J Hottest 100 of 1998. "Ruby Wednesday" and "Turn Up Your Stereo" from a the
Eskimo Joe
EP released in 1999 also made the
Triple J Hottest 100 of that year.
Album releases
Universal's alternative offshoot
Modular, signed the band in 1999. The band entered the studios with producer
Ed Buller who had worked with
Ben Lee,
Pulp and
Suede. The
Girl
album made the top 40 of the Australian album charts on release and went
gold, with tracks such as "
Who Sold Her Out" and "
Planet Earth" receiving airplay on
Triple J. In addition, some of the band's tracks were featured on the TV show
The Secret Life of Us
. During this time, the band's live shows, reflecting the added textures to their sound, began to incorporate keyboards and an extra guitar.
Although ''Girl (Eskimo Joe album)|Girl'' earned gold album|gold sales, this was still not enough for Modular Records|Modular, who ended their contract with the band. Eskimo Joe then signed a new recording deal with Festival Records (Australia)|Festival Mushroom Records in 2002, then proceeded to record the ''A Song Is a City'' album, produced by Paul McKercher and mixed by Nick Launay, in 2003. The album was released on May 17, 2004 and reached number 2 on the Australian Recording Industry Association|ARIA Album Charts. Kavyen Temperley said on the Festival Mushroom Records website that Fremantle, Western Australia|Fremantle is theme of the record.
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| The whole album is really about me, my friends, the people I love and Fremantle. It's the stories that go on between us. It's similar to the people in every place all over the world. For me, that's what I'm writing about. I'm definitely not writing about New York. I'm writing about Fremantle, Western Australia
| ”
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The debut single "
From the Sea" made it to the top 40 of the
Australian singles charts on 29 March 2004, and was number one on the
Triple J Net 50 between March and May 2004. It was also used as the backing track for a series of television advertisements for the
West Coast Eagles Football Club. The album
A Song Is a City
debuted on the
ARIA Australian top 50 album chart at number 2 on May 24, 2004 and reached
platinum status. "
Smoke" was released as the second single and also reached the top 5 in
Triple J's Net 50 in May 2004. The third single "
Older Than You" became their second top 50 Australian hit after the band performed it at the
ARIA Music Awards in October 2004. There was also a fourth single, "
Life Is Better with You".
In August 2005, a
DVD Eskimo Joe
was released with all the film clips from the
Eskimo Joe
EP and the first two albums, a feature length documentary, a collection of live performances, and some rare tracks, including the much loved "Sweater".
The title track from their third album, "
Black Fingernails, Red Wine" was released in May 2006, debuting at number 13 on the
ARIA Charts before peaking at number 6, becoming Eskimo Joe's first Top 10 single. The song also peaked at number 1 on
ARIA's digital track chart. The album, also called
Black Fingernails, Red Wine
, was released just a few weeks later on June 10, 2006, debuting at number 1 on the ARIA album chart. The second single from their album, "
Sarah" was released in September 2006 and features exclusive B-sides including live and acoustic versions of "Black Fingernails, Red Wine" and a cover of the
Pixies' "Hey" recorded this year for
Triple J's
Like a Version. The song debuted at #14 in the
ARIA singles chart and two weeks later it peaked at #12. The third single "
New York" which was released early 2007 only managed to chart at #26. The fourth single from the multi-platinum album "
Black Fingernails, Red Wine" was "
Breaking Up", debuting at #83 on the ARIA Singles Chart. In August 2007 the single "
Black Fingernails, Red Wine" was released as the bands debut single in the United States. The fifth single from
Black Fingernails Red Wine was "London Bombs". The singles from this album were frequently played in the background at the surf club on the aussie drama show,
Home and Away.
The band released a fourth studio album
Inshalla on May 29, 2009. The band has played several of the potential songs from the album at several recent performances, including "
Foreign Land", which was the album's first single and was available from April 6, 2009.
[2] [3]
Tours
In November 2006, Eskimo Joe played at the
CMJ Music Festival in
New York City, returning back to Australia to play at the
Southbound in
Western Australia and the
Falls Festival in Victoria & Tasmania. They also performed on all legs of the 2007
Big Day Out concerts.
On 7 July 2007 Eskimo Joe performed at the
Australian leg of
Live Earth in Sydney.
At the end of July, 2007 the band played a secret gig in Perth under the bill of The Andy Callison Project as a warm-up to their US tour.
[4]
The band performed in New York, Houston and Los Angeles between 17 and 26 January as part of the annual G'day USA - Australia Week 2008. The band also performed at the 2008 East and West Coast Blues and Roots Festivals (Byron Bay and Fremantle, respectively).
Eskimo Joe performed at the
Sound Relief benefit concert on 14 March 2009 at the
Sydney Cricket Ground.
[5] Sound Relief is a benefit concert for victims of the
Victorian Bushfire Crisis and the
Queensland Floods.
[6] Appearing with Eskimo Joe at the Sydney concert were,
Coldplay,
Hoodoo Gurus,
Icehouse,
Jet,
Josh Pyke,
Little Birdy,
The Presets,
Wolfmother,
You Am I and additional artists.
[7] Pior to the benefit concert the band performed in Perth under their
psuedonym, The Andy Callison Project.
Members
Current
The core members of the band are:
- Kavyen Temperley (1997–present) - bass/keys/vocals
- Joel Quartermain (1997–present) - drums on recordings/guitar/keys/backing vocals
- Stuart MacLeod (1997–present) - guitar/backing vocals
Past
A number of musicians have played with the band on tour and on recordings. They include:
- Dan Bull
- Fergus Deasey
- Paul Keenan
- Michael De Grussa
- Shaun Sibbes
- Lee Jones
Discography
- 2001: Girl
- 2004: A Song Is a City
- 2006: Black Fingernails, Red Wine
- 2009: Inshalla
Awards and nominations
Awards
- 2001 ARIA Awards, Best Video - "Wake Up"
- 2002 WAMi Awards, Most Popular Local Original Band
- 2002 WAMi Awards, Most Popular Local Original Album - Girl
- 2004 ARIA Awards, Producer of the Year - A Song Is a City
- 2004 ARIA Awards, Engineer of the Year - A Song Is a City
- 2005 WAMi Awards, Best Commercial Pop Act
- 2005 WAMi Awards, Most Popular Act
- 2005 WAMi Awards, Most Popular Album A Song Is a City
- 2005 WAMi Awards, Most Popular Single/EP - "From the Sea"
- 2005 ARIA Awards, Best Group - "Older Than You"
- 2006 WAMi Awards, Most Popular Act
- 2006 WAMi Awards, Best Commercial Pop Act
- 2006 ARIA Awards, Producer of the Year Black Fingernails, Red Wine
- 2006 ARIA Awards, Matt Lovell - Engineer of the Year
- 2006 ARIA Awards, Single of the Year - "Black Fingernails, Red Wine"
- 2006 ARIA Awards, Best Music DVD
- 2007 WAMi Awards, Best Commercial Pop Act
- 2007 WAMi Awards, Most Popular Single/EP - "Black Fingernails, Red Wine"
- 2007 ISC Songwriting Competition (first place in performance) - "London Bombs" [8]
- 2007 ISC Songwriting Competition (second place in rock) - "Black Fingernails, Red Wine" [8]
- 2007 ISC Songwriting Competition (honourable mention in rock) - "New York" [8]
Nominations
- 2001 ARIA Awards, Breakthrough Artist - Single for "Who Sold Her Out"
- 2002 ARIA Awards, Breakthrough Artist - Album for Girl
- 2002 ARIA Awards, Best Video - "Liar"
- 2004 ARIA Awards, Best Group - A Song Is a City
- 2004 ARIA Awards, Album of the Year - A Song Is a City
- 2004 ARIA Awards, Best Rock Album - A Song Is a City
- 2004 ARIA Awards, Single of the Year - "From the Sea"
- 2004 ARIA Awards, Best Cover Art - A Song Is a City
- 2005 ARIA Awards, Producer of the Year - "Older Than You"
- 2005 ARIA Awards, Engineer of the Year - "Older Than You"
- 2006 Jack Awards, Best Bass Guitarist, Kav Temperley
- 2006 Channel V, Oz Artist of the Year
- 2006 ARIA Awards, Best Group - Black Fingernails, Red Wine
- 2006 ARIA Awards, Album of the Year - Black Fingernails, Red Wine
- 2006 ARIA Awards, Best Rock Album - Black Fingernails, Red Wine
- 2006 ARIA Awards, Best Cover Art - Black Fingernails, Red Wine
- 2007 WAMi Awards, Most Popular Act
- 2007 WAMi Awards, Most Popular Album - Black Fingernails, Red Wine
- 2007 WAMi Awards, Most Popular Live Act
- 2007 WAMi Awards, Most Popular Music Video - "Black Fingernails, Red Wine"
- 2007 WAMi Awards, Best Male Vocalist - Kav Temperley
- 2007 MTV Australian Video Music Awards, Best Group
- 2007 MTV Australia Video Music Awards, Best Rock Video - "Black Fingernails, Red Wine"
- 2007 MTV Australian Video Music Awards, Download of the Year - "Black Fingernails, Red Wine"
- 2007 ARIA Awards, Best Group - Sarah