IT was the album that signalled the arrival of Western Australia’s next great band, the album that caused a national stir, yet it was the album that almost didn’t get released.
But 10 years after Eskimo Joe finally unveiled its multi ARIA award winning A Song is A City, front man Kav Temperley has been busy touring the country, performing the album in its entirety to celebrate the milestone.
“We came pretty close to not being able to release that album,” Kav told Tracks.
“We were involved in a pretty big argument with our record company at the time and they told us they were never going to release our records again…Thankfully we met someone who bought our contract and that album came out.”
And came out it did, to instant acclaim with a string of hits including, Older Than You, Smoke and the signature tune, From The Sea, all set against the backdrop of the band’s hometown of Fremantle.
“We were at that perfect point in our career,” Temperley recalls of the recording process.
“We’d worked out who we were as a band, all the dust had settled on our influences and we knew exactly the kind of record we wanted to make as a band.”
The current tour sees Kav playing the album’s set list acoustically and explaining the genesis and circumstances surrounding each song’s origins.
“The concept has been received really well, ” says Kav of the three-hour performance in which he also fields questions from the audience.
“As part of the show I get out into the crowd and talk about the different experiences people had with the album. I’ve heard some really interesting and funny stories from people falling in love to the album to kids who were forced to listen and are now at the show with their parents. It’s been deeply satisfying.”
The show also gives the frontman a chance to spill the beans on some of the goings on around the album’s release-Anxiety! Late Nights! Alcohol induced Memory Loss! An adulterous affair!
“It was just that time of our lives when everything was going on and nothing else really mattered,” says Kav.
And but for a passing remark from a friend, the tour and the milestone may have gone by without fanfare.
A friend came up to me and said, “You know it’s been 10 years since that album came out,” recalls Kav.
“I knew I needed to do something. I did one little gig in Fremantle, some fans tweeted a couple photos and it just evolved from there. It’s been so much fun and it will end with a swim off the beach in Broome. It’s just perfect.”
