Eskimo Joe

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Eskimo Joe
Left to right: Joel Quartermain, Kavyen Temperly, Stuart MacLeod
Left to right: Joel Quartermain, Kavyen Temperly, Stuart MacLeod
Background information
Origin Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia
Genre(s) Rock
Years active 1997–present
Label(s) Modular
Festival/Mushroom
Warner
Website Official website
Members
Kavyen Temperly
Stuart MacLeod
Joel Quartermain
For the restaurant, see Eskimo Joe's

Eskimo Joe is an Australian rock band whose debut album Girl went gold in 2001. Their second album A Song Is a City was released in Australia on May 16, 2004 and the first single From the Sea debuted in the top 40 of the ARIA Singles Chart, as well as reaching the top of the Triple J Net 50 and was voted number 3 in the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2004. The band released their third album Black Fingernails, Red Wine in June, 2006. The first single release, sharing the title with the album, "Black Fingernails, Red Wine" has commercially exceeded the results of their previous work, becoming their first top 10 single.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Early years

Eskimo Joe formed in 1997 in Fremantle, Western Australia. Kavyen "Kav" Temperly (bass/vocals), Joel Quartermain (drums) 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 Stuart Leach, now drummer in One Horse Town. Despite the fact that the first heat was one of their first gigs playing together, Eskimo Joe won the competition with prizes of a slot on the Livid Festival and a session in a recording studio. Their name came about after they saw a t-shirt of a cafe in Oklahoma named Eskimo Joe's. At the time they were searching for a band name, so they adopted the name for what was meant to be a temporary period, but the name ended up sticking with them. This was revealed on Music Max's 'Max Session' featuring Eskimo Joe.

In this session in April 1998, they produced the Sweater EP whose title track "Sweater", 'an insanely catchy but lightweight song about a grandfather's poor taste in fashion', received plenty of airplay on Triple J resulting in it featuring in the Triple J Hottest 100 of 1998. A subsequent self-titled EP released in 1999 received airplay with the songs "Ruby Wednesday" and "Turn Up Your Stereo" also making the Triple J Hottest 100 of that year. The band developed its reputation by touring including the Homebake Festival.

[edit] Album releases

EMI's alternative offshoot Modular Records, 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 like "Planet Earth" and "Who Sold Her Out" receiving airplay on Triple J. In addition, some of the band's tracks featured on the TV show The Secret Life Of Us. Their popularity rocketed significantly with the release of the album. Their live shows, reflecting the added textures to their sound, began to incorporate keyboards and an extra guitar.

Although Girl earned gold sales, this was still not enough for Modular, who split with the band. Eskimo Joe then signed a new recording deal with Festival Mushroom Records in 2002, then proceeded to record the A Song Is a City album with Paul McKercher and Nick Launay on production in 2003. The album was released in 2004. Kavyen Temperly said on the Festival Mushroom Records website that Fremantle is theme of the record.

"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."

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 September 2005, a DVD was released with all the film clips from 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. A third single "New York" is due out in early 2007.

[edit] Tours

In November 2006, Eskimo Joe will be playing at the CMJ Music Festival in New York City, returning back to Australia to play at the Southbound Festival in Western Australia and the Falls Festival in Victoria & Tasmania. They have also been included on the line-up for the 2007 Big Day Out concerts.

[edit] Members

[edit] Current

The core members of the band are:

Additional members (when the band play live) include:

  • Paul Keenan - drums
  • Matthew Taylor - back up singer
  • Michael de Grussa (2006–present) replacing Dan Bull (2003–2006) - keys

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Girl
(July 31, 2001)
Modular Records
#29 Australia
(Gold)
A Song Is a City
(May 16, 2004)
Festival Mushroom Records
#2 Australia
(Platinum)
Black Fingernails, Red Wine
(June 10, 2006)
Festival Mushroom Records
#1 Australia
(2x Platinum)

[edit] EPs

[edit] Singles

Year Title Album Chart positions
Australian (ARIA)
2001 "Planet Earth" Girl
DNC
"Who Sold Her Out"
#94
"Liar"
DNC
"Wake Up"
DNC
2004 "From the Sea" A Song Is a City
#33
"Smoke"
-
"Older Than You"
#46
"Life Is Better with You"
DNC
2006 "Black Fingernails, Red Wine" Black Fingernails, Red Wine
#6
"Sarah"
#12
2007 "New York"
-

[edit] DVDs

  • Eskimo Joe - The DVD (2005)

[edit] Compilations

Eskimo Joe tracks Appear On:

  • Triple J Hottest 100 Volume 6 - "Sweater" (ABC Music) 1999
  • The Secret Life Of Us - "Planet Earth" (Liberation Records) 2002
  • Triple J's Hottest 100 - Hottest Box - "Sweater" (ABC Music) 2003
  • New Music Live From The Panel - "Older Than You" (Liberation Records) 2004
  • Triple J: Home And Hosed - Freshly Plucked - "From The Sea" (ABC Music) 2004
  • Year Of The Monkey - "From The Sea" (Festival/Mushroom Records) 2004
  • Sunday Sounds - Aussie Rock - "Liar" 2006

[edit] Awards and nominations

[edit] Awards

[edit] Nominations

[edit] External links

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