In the space of a month Eskimo Joe wnet from being a bunch of guys hanging out with their mates in Perth and writing the odd song to being a fully together band on the Livid gig. Stu, guitarist for the band explains, "Once upon a time Eskimo Joe entered the Campus Band competition. And we won that by one point. Never played before in front of a live audience".
"The second gig was the second heat and we won that by about 40 points and the third gig was the stat finals and we won that easily," he continues with a smirk. "The sixth gig was the Cake support and the eighth gig was Livid. And it's been downhill from there. We peaked at eight." Contrary to Stu's wayward sense of humour, Eskimo Joe have been receiving on high rotation at Triple J for the snappy single "Sweater".
It's now a year and a
half since the Campus band comp and Stuart, along with other band members Kav
(bass and vocals) and Joel (drummer) are about to release their second EP, whcih
according to Stu contains "Four rockin' numbers and one killer track." Kav goes
on to explain "It's sort of a double A-side EP, so hopefully we'll get some
good radio play off that one. Hopefully that will put us in a good position
with two songs that have good high rotation."
"So then people can say I like your songs" adds Stu.
"People will start referring to us as Eskimo Joe instead of the band that plays
the 'Sweater' song." continues Joel.
While the boys recorded the Sweater EP as part of their prize for taking out the National Campus Band competition, they've had to fund the second EP themselves. They've done the odd dinner recently, ("Someone took us to McDonald's, so we're not going with them" says Stu) but as of yet they haven't signed a recording contract. While they keep their eyes peeled the band is happy gigging around the country and hanging out in their home town Perth in their spare time.
And according to Eskimo Joe the live scene in Perth is still alive and kicking. The sight bands such as Red Jezebel, Turnstile and "this really hot sort of 70's guitar rock band called the Three Orange Whips" as an inspiration. Stu says that Perth is "Very nurturing for bands." Not only are there heaps of venues and a lot of local support, it's easy to get a gig as everybody in the scene seems to know each other. So if Perth is so good why the move to the Eastern States then?
"We gigged our arses off in Perth, and if we had kept going as hard as we had been going in Perth people would have got bored of us you know? So we had to come across here and get people to the point of being bored of us over here you know?" explains Kav. Joel reckons the main problem is "It's just hard to get out." To increase your profile you have to spend money and travel to the East. As Stu says "It's good to start a band there but eventually you have to move on."
After saying all that,
the band are looking forward to returning home for a break, writing some songs
for their debut album and raiding the fridge following shopping day. As Kav
points out "Our music comes from us living and growing up in Perth so for us
to actually move away permanently would be a stupid thing to do."
