Tame Impala

from Wikipedia:

Tame Impala is the psychedelic rock project of Kevin Parker from Perth, Australia. They are signed to Modular Records. The band came to prominence in 2010 with the release of their debut album, Innerspeaker. Their name refers to the impala, a medium sized antelope. They like to see themselves as "a steady flowing psychedelic groove rock band that emphasizes dream-like melody."

Biography

Tame Impala were formed from Kevin Parker's original blues/jazz/psychedelic band, the Dee Dee Dums. The Dee Dee Dums consisted of Parker (drums ) and Luke Epstein (guitar), with the band getting second place at the 2005 AmpFest and winning third place that year in the state final of The Next Big Thing. In October 2006 Epstein was replaced by drummer Sam Devenport, Epstein going on to play with Sugarpuss. The Dee Dee Dums went on to win the WA state final of the National Campus Band Competition. In late 2007 the band renamed to Tame Impala unveiling another new drummer and replacing the two-guitar attack for the more traditional guitar/bass/drums format. Devenport went on to pursue an acting career.

In July 2008 the band signed a worldwide deal with independent label Modular Recordings.

The signing was soon followed by the release on their self-titled debut EP in September 2008. Due to Kevin Parker's original artwork there was some confusion with the EP title and many believed it to be called Antares Mira Sun. The artwork is an interpretation of a slide he saw in an astronomy lecture, which demonstrated the difference in size between the stars Antares, Mira and the Sun.

The cover art is meant to be a painting; an interpretation of a diagram, so those labels are just there to make the diagram make sense. But lo and behold, there were reviews coming out saying "And Tame Impala's new EP 'Antares, Mira, Sun".—Kevin Parker

Tame Impala went to number 1 on the Australian Independent Record Labels (AIR) Chart and number 10 on the ARIA Physical Singles Chart, with three songs, "Desire Be, Desire Go", "Half Full Glass of Wine" and "Skeleton Tiger" which received national radio airplay on the Triple J Network. Tours in 2008 included supports for You Am I, The Black Keys, Yeasayer and MGMT, as well as performances at Southbound, Meredith Music Festival, and Falls Festival, as well as a national headline tours in support of their EP. 2009 tours include a sold out 6 date 'Skeleton Tiger' national headline tour, a 5 date UK tour including Nevereverland UK, V Festival, Groovin The Moo and a stadium tour with The Living End and Gyroscope.

Tame Impala appeared on Triple J's Hottest 100 2008, their first appearance on the list, with "Half Full Glass of Wine" reaching number 75. The song is also on the Hottest 100 compilation.

Tame Impala’s first single, "Sundown Syndrome", was recorded at Toerag Studios in London, with recording engineer Liam Watson, whilst the band was there in March 2009. "Sundown Syndrome" was premiered by Richard Kingsmill on his 2009 show on triple j on Sunday 10 May. It was released in July, 2009 on vinyl and electronically along with a cover of Blue Boy's "Remember Me".

The band embarked on a national tour supporting the single through September and October, 2009.

"Sundown Syndrome" was included on the soundtrack of the Oscar-nominated film "The Kids Are All Right."

"Half Full Glass Of Wine" was used in HBO's hit TV series Entourage as the closing song for an episode.

Tame Impala appeared at Big Day Out in early 2010, performing alongside bands Muse, The Mars Volta, Kasabian and Rise Against, among others.

"Remember Me" appeared at number 78 on Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2009.

Tame Impala's debut album, Innerspeaker, was released on 21 May 2010. In the U.K. it's official release date was 28 June, however iTunes accidentally made it available to buy immediately (not pre-order) on 12 May. The album was released in the United States on 8 June to general and critical acclaim. Pitchfork named it Best New Music.

On a interview with Triple J talking about the album's recent nomination for the J Award, Parker stated that they have secretly been recording a new album. "Jay and I have been recording pretty compulsively and album number two is nearing potential completion already and I'm so excited about it that I'm having trouble keeping myself from telling you all about it." This comes as a big surprise as this statement was released only months after their debut album, Innerspeaker, was released.

The band has been busy touring during mid 2010, with their 'Innerspeaker album tour' commencing on 13 May 2010, as the opening band for MGMT's 2010 American tour. The band returned to Australia to play at Splendour in the Grass festival, which was followed by a European Tour in July (including an appearance at the Reading Festival) and a national Australian tour in October. In November they returned to the UK and Europe for a fifteen date tour, including their largest London headline show to date which was attended by Noel Gallagher, Tom Meighan, Sergio Pizzorno, Noel Fielding, Alexa Chung and Alison Mosshart, the band then went on to the United States for twenty headline dates including sold out New York, LA and San Francisco. They also received four 2010 ARIA Music Awards nominations which include, 'Album of the Year' and 'Best Rock Album' for Innerspeaker, 'Best Group' and also 'Breakthrough Artist'.

On 29 November 2010 Tame Impala's debut album "Innerspeaker" won Australian youth-oriented radio network Triple J's highest honor, taking out the J Award for Album of the Year

On 7 December 2011, Kevin Parker began mixing a new album with producer Dave Fridmann.