Throughout the podcast, which you can listen to below, Parker opens up and discusses his creative process, even playing a “very candid” a capella voice memo of a Tame Impala song idea at one point around the 29 minute mark. He also touches upon smoking weed to enhance his creative process, as well as being inspired by Pharrell and Justin Timberlake when creating the hook for ‘Breathe Deeper’.
Parker also touched upon the five year gap between Currents and The Slow Rush, saying that while he was still creating music, he felt obliged to collaborate with other artists due to the ideas not sounding like his usual work. “Me making music as Tame Impala, now and always, is a deep dark hole that I have to go into and it drains every bit of me,” Parker said.
“I absolutely did [make new material]… I just didn’t see it as Tame Impala and it kind of seemed more like a drag to think of a song as Tame Impala. Every time I thought of a song, if I imagined it as Tame Impala the idea was loaded with all these things that came with it. It just seemed so much more magical and wondrous a song I could collaborate on with a different artist.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Parker swoons over his love for Rubin’s work on Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Californication, as well as his production for Kanye West’s legendary 2013 album Yeezus. It’s an absolute gold mine for any self-respecting music fan, and you can tell that both parties are super passionate about each other’s back catalogue.
Download some of Kevin’s own Tame Impala stems for Triple J Unearthed’s remix competition here.
