Tame Impala Bring their Psychedelic Sounds to the Shrine

Fred Hernandez

Australian indie rockers Tame Impala will be bringing their nostalgic riffs and throwback song structures to the Shrine Auditorium on Nov. 12.  Kevin Parker (vocals/guitar) formed Tame Impala with Dominic Simper (bass) in 1999 at age 13 in Perth, Australia. They were recording demos in their bedrooms until 2007 when they met Jay Watson who joined them on drums and backing vocals. They used MySpace wisely by posting bedroom recordings on their page, which resulted in Modular Records sending them a message asking for more songs. Tame Impala sent in a demo of 20 songs and was signed with them in 2008.

In Sept. 2008 they released their first self-titled EP. Parker wrote and recorded every instrument on that album. The EP high-jumped the charts and landed at the number 10 spot on the ARIA charts. Many fans believed that the EP’s title was “Antares Mira Sun” because of the artwork on the EP. Parker’s original artwork was influenced by a slide he saw in an astronomy lecture, which demonstrated the sizes between the stars Antares, Mire and the Sun. Following their chart-topping success in Australia, they toured with the likes of You Am I, The Black Keys, Yeasayer and stadium rockers MGMT.

Tame Impala’s impressive debut album, “Innerspeaker” was released in 2010 and they began touring relentlessly in mid-2010 in support of that album.

Later in Dec. 2011, Parker began mixing second album “Lonerism” with producer David Fridmann. Maintaining the status quo, Parker wrote and recorded the majority of the album himself at his home. The album was released on Oct. 8, 2011 in the U.S. and quickly established itself as the album of the year. In Nov. 2012, “Lonerism” won the 2012 J Award for Australian Album of the Year for the second time, which made them the first band to ever do so. The band toured internationally with The Growl in 2013 and went on to play the Coachella and Sasquatch! festivals, also making a stellar appearance on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.”

Kevin Park’s love for ‘60s and ‘70’s psychedelic rock is evident, but there is still a lot more to be explored in the realm of psych rock; “Lonerism” proves just that. Reverb, fuzz, echo and delay are on the surface, a gloss over what is some of today’s catchiest melodies.

Tame Impala will be performing with Delicate Steve at the Shrine Auditorium on Nov. 12. Tickets are available for purchase here.