The first time Kevin Parker “discovered emotion in music”
Tame Impala revolutionised the game by merging indie, synth-pop and heavy production. Mixing psychedelia with elements of electronic and dance music, albums such as Lonerism and Currents were instantly added to the canon of all-time indie essentials. The man behind it all, Kevin Parker, is held up as one of the finest musicians and producers of our time – but who inspires him?
The Australian singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist is clearly a man of many talents. Being a multi-hyphenate that seems to dominate every channel of music making and producing, Parker’s influence only grows by the year. As well as his own work on Tame Impala, he previously held down the role of drummer in the influential outfit Pond, as well as collaborating with Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Gorillaz, The Flaming Lips and more.
Kevin Parker’s own brand of high-production indie clearly borrows from a whole host of references outside of the world of guitar music, but the artist grew up with the classics. Parker was part of a musical household with a father who played guitar as a hobby and loved sharing his favourite albums with his son. He was raised on a diet of The Beatles, The Beach Boys and their class of rock ’n’ roll pioneers.
When sharing his favourite music, Kevin Parker picks out an eclectic mix of classic rock in the form of Cream’s Disraeli Gears, Serge Gainsbourg’s poetic storytelling, and Air’s experimental take on electronic music. His reference points when it comes to making music are clearly incredibly broad, but when it comes to adding the feeling in, one influence sticks out.
It seems that classic rock ’n’ roll owns Parker’s heart. Reflecting on his childhood spent listening to his father’s favourite records and picking up the guitar to follow in his footsteps, the bond between Parker and his hobbyist-musician father played a significant role in his career. However, one artist especially sticks out as the soundtrack to those sentimental days: the Shadows.
During an interview with The Drone, Parker recalls his first experiences with guitar as he tried to accompany his father. He said: “I learned guitar by playing rhythm guitar to his Shadows leads. He wanted to play Shadows lead riffs, because he loves Hank B. Marvin, and he got me to play the chords in the background.”
Parker picks out the track ‘Sleepwalk’ especially as not only one of his favourite songs of all time, but one of the most sentimental. “Listening to my dad playing guitar along to ‘Sleepwalk’ by The Shadows was probably the first time I discovered emotion in music,” he says of the song.
Holding major emotional significance for him, he continues, “It really got inside me, the melancholic emotion in the music. It was like I was watching a movie or something. I didn’t really know what was going on or why I was feeling these feelings.”
Not only was it the soundtrack to a special memory between him and his father, but the song was a catalyst to Parker putting feelings into his own music, and he credits ‘Sleepwalker’ for teaching him the emotional power of music. So, while Tame Impala’s music might be stylistically worlds away from the Shadows, we can thank the band for Kevin Parker’s subtly sentimental lyricism.
