Tame Impala are a psychedelic four-piece from Australia. They wear flip-flops, act a bit like Ja-mie from Summer Heights High, and do a really good cover of "Remember Me" by Blueboy. We chatted with them about what it means to be Ozzie, and their new best friends, Kasabian.Vice: What's up Lame Gimpala? Can you tell us the difference between Neighbours and Home and Away?
Kev: The chicks in Home and Away are hotter.Do you prefer Toadfish with long hair or short hair?
Jay: Never seen him with long hair. I hate Toadfish. He's been on the show for, like, 20 years.
Kev: He's the most beige character. He's always there. He's always the same. I watched Neighbours for, like, a month a year or so ago, and that's all I've ever seen of it.
Jay: It's got unfathomably poor ratings in Australia now. Like, next to no one watches it. They just make it for people in England. Neighbours is the soap equivalent of Fosters. No one actually drinks Fosters in Australia, you can't get it anywhere.Which of these two Australian inventions has changed your life most drastically; tank-bred tuna or the combine harvester?
Kev: Neither of those things have affected us.
Jay: The combine harvester. We eat more bread than we eat tuna.Which of these Australian Nicks would win in a fight. Cave, or -ole Kidman?
Kev: Nicole Kidman.
Jay: No way. Nick Cave would win the intellectual fight. Nicole Kidman looks like a fucking alien.
Kev: She'd win because her face would be most intact after the fight.
Jay: The most glued together. Synthetically.Who would win in a fight; Mel Gibson or that guy who killed the backpackers?
The guy who killed the backpackers. Mel Gibson would be filming some movie in the middle of the desert, and would throw a hella-tantrum and, like, throw his phone at someone, and, like, storm off the set into the night, then that guy would pick him up, rape him, and kill him.Does that show Round The Twist still exist?
No, but that was a sweet show. Pretty psychedelic show, man.
Kev: Yeah, that was totally extreme.Look at this puddle we saw in the shape of Australia.
Pretty good. Kinda
Jay: Puddles. I will say this, we have unbelievably sick weather compared to everyone else on the planet. I wish I could give you our blue sky for just one day.
Kev: As soon as you leave Perth you realize how amazing it is. We took Kasabian to our local beach, and all of them were like "fuckin 'ell." They couldn't believe it.
Jay: We played this festival and met them there. We wanted to hang out with them, they were the ultimate geezers. They're very entertaining. They all called us 'Pala.
Kev: We tried to contact Serge yesterday so we could hang out with him but he's not around.Where does he live, Primrose Hill?
Jay: He lives in Leicester.
Kev: Jay, how do you know this stuff?
Jay: Because they told me when we were with them that they were keeping it real and still lived in Leicester.Wow. Why do so many people hate Australians?
I think that's only in England.
Kev: Isn't it because we beat you guys at cricket all the time?
Jay: We're more wholesome than you, but we're still Western. And also, like, I think, as a general rule we seem to have, like, more better looking people? I mean, like, we have a fairly high proportion of models per mile.
Kev: That said, I've seen a severe amount of babes since arriving in London.That was good covering up for what Jay just said.
Well, no, I think Jay's right. Australians are, like, mongrels of so many nationalities. That makes a good mix.So the reason people hate Australians is because they're secretly jealous because they're not as good-looking?
Jay: Yeah. Basically.WORDS: BILLIE JD PORTER
PHOTOS: JAMIE LEE CURTIS TAETE
Kev: The chicks in Home and Away are hotter.
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Jay: Never seen him with long hair. I hate Toadfish. He's been on the show for, like, 20 years.
Kev: He's the most beige character. He's always there. He's always the same. I watched Neighbours for, like, a month a year or so ago, and that's all I've ever seen of it.
Jay: It's got unfathomably poor ratings in Australia now. Like, next to no one watches it. They just make it for people in England. Neighbours is the soap equivalent of Fosters. No one actually drinks Fosters in Australia, you can't get it anywhere.Which of these two Australian inventions has changed your life most drastically; tank-bred tuna or the combine harvester?
Kev: Neither of those things have affected us.
Jay: The combine harvester. We eat more bread than we eat tuna.Which of these Australian Nicks would win in a fight. Cave, or -ole Kidman?
Kev: Nicole Kidman.
Jay: No way. Nick Cave would win the intellectual fight. Nicole Kidman looks like a fucking alien.
Kev: She'd win because her face would be most intact after the fight.
Jay: The most glued together. Synthetically.Who would win in a fight; Mel Gibson or that guy who killed the backpackers?
The guy who killed the backpackers. Mel Gibson would be filming some movie in the middle of the desert, and would throw a hella-tantrum and, like, throw his phone at someone, and, like, storm off the set into the night, then that guy would pick him up, rape him, and kill him.
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No, but that was a sweet show. Pretty psychedelic show, man.
Kev: Yeah, that was totally extreme.Look at this puddle we saw in the shape of Australia.
Pretty good. Kinda
Jay: Puddles. I will say this, we have unbelievably sick weather compared to everyone else on the planet. I wish I could give you our blue sky for just one day.
Kev: As soon as you leave Perth you realize how amazing it is. We took Kasabian to our local beach, and all of them were like "fuckin 'ell." They couldn't believe it.
Jay: We played this festival and met them there. We wanted to hang out with them, they were the ultimate geezers. They're very entertaining. They all called us 'Pala.
Kev: We tried to contact Serge yesterday so we could hang out with him but he's not around.Where does he live, Primrose Hill?
Jay: He lives in Leicester.
Kev: Jay, how do you know this stuff?
Jay: Because they told me when we were with them that they were keeping it real and still lived in Leicester.Wow. Why do so many people hate Australians?
I think that's only in England.
Kev: Isn't it because we beat you guys at cricket all the time?
Jay: We're more wholesome than you, but we're still Western. And also, like, I think, as a general rule we seem to have, like, more better looking people? I mean, like, we have a fairly high proportion of models per mile.
Kev: That said, I've seen a severe amount of babes since arriving in London.That was good covering up for what Jay just said.
Well, no, I think Jay's right. Australians are, like, mongrels of so many nationalities. That makes a good mix.So the reason people hate Australians is because they're secretly jealous because they're not as good-looking?
Jay: Yeah. Basically.WORDS: BILLIE JD PORTER
PHOTOS: JAMIE LEE CURTIS TAETE
