Booker & Stryker chat with Kevin Parker of Tame Impala 10.8.2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, guys, Booker and Striker, We welcome our guest, Kevin Parker.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
He is tame and Paula. Welcome and good mornings, guys.
Thank you so much, thanks for having me.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
I feel so overly dressed right now. You look so
great off what you've got on. I'm wearing these foods
like I'm about to stomp on roaches or something.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
I just love flip flops. Just yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
You like default footwear is too cold.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
I just wear flip flops.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
When you had the surprise DJ set the other night
in Los Angeles, this was just like two nights ago.
Very cool. Did you wear flip flops or did you
wear shoes?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
I did flip flops. See, that's one of the good
things about calling your album Deadbait is that you get
to just wear flip flops all the time. Yeah, and
that's you being in character.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
It's fantastic. I mean, you've got multiple meetings and by
the way, I'm shocked no one's thought of that before, like.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
That title for some months.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah yeah, it kind of works, doesn't Yeah, very shocked. Yeah? Yeah, Kevin?

Speaker 3 (01:01):
How many actually I know how many instruments you play,
but when what did you learn first growing up in Australia, Like,
what was your go to instrument?

Speaker 2 (01:09):
I started playing drums really okay, yes, I started. I
got lessons when I was about eleven. My brother was
also learning drums, so I just decided I was going
to do that too, And was it. I actually wanted
to play guitar because I was going to play along
with him, but I went to get lessons. I just
decided I liked drums.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
So so, yeah, when you took lessons, were they teaching
you rock songs? Were they teaching you classic rock? Was
it pop? Was it just like classical drumming?

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Yeah? I went to this place that was kind of
like it was like a little sort of like school
of rock in Perth, in the city that I'm from.
And so they teach you rock songs. They like, you know,
during the week you do your lesson, they like teach
you how to play a song, and then on Saturday
morning they put you in a band and you play
that song with a bunch of other kids who have learnt.
So I learned. The first song I learned was Are
You Going to Go My Way? By Anny Kravitz. Yes,

(01:59):
I never heard the song before. I didn't even know
what I was playing. I was just I knew the
whole song start to finish.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
If you watch that video, though, you'll be inspired to
drum because it's that that woman drums that it.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
She's oh yeah, crazy, yeah, exactly, crazy drummer. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
So that was That was very.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Prince like, where you know, produced everything himself, played all
the instruments himself. Are you the same way when it
comes to your albums and your music where you don't
replicate yourself? Meaning do you have to trash a lot
of things because you've said I've been here before, Um, I'm.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Not sure what you made them.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Sorry, make when you make something, if you ever repeat,
like if you felt like you were repeating yourself, you
have to say, I'm trashing this, I've done this before.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
I usually just go off feel, you know, like what
feels exciting to do, what feels like being inspired to do?
You know, like if I'm doing something and I'm just
sort of not excited by it, I'm not getting a
bit of a rush of like, oh my god, this
is this could be something great. If I'm not getting

(03:12):
that feeling, we're done here. You know, it's not that
we're done here. I just just's it was less likely
that I open up that song tomorrow and work on it.
It'll get left behind, you know.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
Kevin Parker is joining Booker and Striker and ninety eight
to seven. Over the years, I've been such a huge
fan of the living in from Australia. I don't know,
it's a huge place. I love Silverchair, I love excess
growing up in Australia, what were your early goals? Was
it to get to the US or like, what were
you thinking there?

Speaker 2 (03:45):
It was to be Silverchair basically, is that right? Yeah? Yeah,
because Silverchair were this other well there with this band
of older kids, basically because I was like eleven twelve
and they were about fifteen or sixteen when they started,
and I just remember thinking, like, I've got four years

(04:07):
to get there, you know, they're only four years.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
Daniel Johns was like sixteen or something.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
They all were, they all were. Did you ever beat
the guys that did I meet them? Meet them?

Speaker 3 (04:16):
He said?

Speaker 2 (04:16):
Beat them? I'm sorry, I've met Daniel you have me? Yeah,
a couple of times. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's so sweet.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
What's it like beating someone like that that you grew
up like, dude? I wanted to be you. I put
a timer on my career because of you.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
Well, we met out in like a in like a bar,
it's like a club, was like an after party for
this festival in Australia. It was super loud, and I
remember wanting to say all that stuff and it was
just too loud. So I was just sort of like
shouting the abbreviated version of that at him.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
You know.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
You know when you're talking to people in the club,
you like scream into their ear. It was like me
telling him how much he inspired me, like, you know,
shouting into his ear. Let's discuss please.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
The new album, Deadbeat, It comes out a week from today.
Are you someone that puts together songs pretty fast? I
know it's been like four or five years since the previous,
but how fast or how long did this one take
to put together? For you? Kevin? This one, well, I start.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
I only started working on it a little every year ago.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
So, like my goal with this one at the start
was that I wanted it to be an album that
was put together any quickly, and I wanted it to
sound like it was put together quickly, you know, just
because you know, I have this habit of like just
wanting to do the opposite of what I did last
time or times before. And like with me, you know,
just as I've done it over and over, I just
sort of I've gotten more and more considered with the

(05:36):
music that I make. I'm just sort of like, don't
want to put a I don't want to make a
wrong step, you know, so just I take my time, basically,
and with this one, I just wanted to do the opposite,
just like just like no looking back, you know, yeah,
just just to make it quickly could because some of
my favorite music was made quickly, you know when and
I think that I think the music that is made

(05:57):
without the time to sort.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
Of question parts of it.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Is often the music that's the most magical.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
You know, You've been at this for quite some time,
and Striker and I've probably interviewed everybody under the planet.
We've never met you before. Hence you're not doing a
lot of this stuff.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
Sure, So.

Speaker 3 (06:17):
Why now?

Speaker 1 (06:18):
Is it because you have a song that is so
I don't know it's is it maybe the most commercial
song that you've done? And does someone tell you it's
a commercial song? How does that all work?

Speaker 2 (06:28):
I don't know. I guess, yeah, I just wait for
people to tell me, is that where I'm going? And yeah,
I mean, you know, someone told me the song was
was doing well on the charts, so you know, but
I I don't keep up with a lot of that stuff,

(06:49):
you know, just sort of myself.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
So it's yeah, is it interesting when you're like, oh
that song.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
Really of course?

Speaker 1 (06:56):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (06:56):
I mean, you know, like like Dracula was always meant
to be like sing regular. In fact, that was one
of the ones that i'd sort of like, you know,
I sort of chopped it up and worked on a
lot to get it to just this sort of like
really succinct pop thing. I didn't want it to be
a five minute song, you know. But yeah, you know,

(07:16):
like I just make the music the way that that
I want to do it, and just and and hope
that it hope that it has the life that it
that it deserves.

Speaker 3 (07:30):
You know. I feel like and your songs are timeless.
Whether it's Elephant, the less I know the better, whether
it's Dracula, and I can't wait to hear all of
the songs on the new record. You're one of those
artists who really is huge, whether radio is playing you
or not. And you've built up such credibility with such
an awesome fan base around the world. I'm just curious, though,
if you get excited if you hear your own music

(07:52):
on the radio or like you're streaming the radio app
I Heart Radio and you hear yourself of.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
Course, yeah, of course I get excited.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
Okay, good cool.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
I feel like I'm speaking like like like the mother
of children, you know, when when I hear my songs
out in the world, I'm just so proud, you know.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
I was.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
I was in this like limousine from the eighties the
other day. Another story entirely, but.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
Okay, I don't know have you've ever.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Been in amozine from the eighties, But it's quite an experience.
It's quite an experience.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
Like a long stretch job.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Yeah yeah, this sort of like red velvet, like the
radio was still working, you still, you know, I was
in the front seat. I wasn't even in the back,
And being in the front of it of a limo
is like is even more of an experience because it's like,
you know, usually I'm in the back and I was

(08:48):
like just changing the radio and Dracula was on and
we were like in la. Unfortunately, I was stuck in
a parking lot. We weren't driving down Sunset Boulevard or anything,
but Dracula was on and it was just such a
magic moment, you know. I don't know, it's just the
way the song sounds, and like obviously being in LA
and being in a limo, so you know, it's it's

(09:08):
moments like that that that just feel really feel really good.
It feels like the song, the music has a life.

Speaker 3 (09:16):
Yeah, you know, I've got to.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
Thinking about this red.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
I just want to go on a stretch right now.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
See you you're gonna see well yeah, yeah, there'll be
stuff out there soon enough. But yeah, they just it's
a trip. It's like, you know, it's like you feel
like you're in the eighties, right and there's there's nowhere
better to feel like you're in the eighties than Los Angeles,
you know.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
Yeah, does it inspire you to make some eighties sounds?

Speaker 2 (09:41):
Or inspiration was already there? It was, yeah, yeah, all right.

Speaker 3 (09:47):
Have you had any text conversations or d ms with
Andre three thousand and big Boy from Outcast and could
you be making some music with them? Let's get it.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
Unfortunately, no, he's he's he's Andre three thousands, an even
more mysterious person than me. So yeah, but there we're
both pretty reclusive, so I think that would be quite
a stretch for us both to meet each other, you know,
to meet the to meet in the middle.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
Do you itch or yearn to be back out on
the road and touring? Is it something where you're you know,
your dad, You've got a couple of kids, You're like,
get me out of this house. Is it different now
for you?

Speaker 2 (10:28):
It's different? But you know, my love of touring hasn't
changed in that way. Like obviously, like it'll be a
bit harder, like you know, making it work whether they're
not coming or they're going to come for a bit.
But like we haven't toured in like two years, over
two years now, so I am itching to do it.

(10:50):
It's like like I didn't used to love touring. It
used to be very sort of like just confusing and
overwhelming for me. But once I started to love it,
then it just became something that was just you know,
this deeping in my heart.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
What was it that confused you about touring or the
live shows?

Speaker 2 (11:07):
Well, I mean the way that I see it is
that I spent like, you know, the the five seven
years before we started touring, basically in the share house
on the couch and smoking pot, making music and sort
of playing the occasional a gig at local pubs and stuff,

(11:30):
and then like touring happened, you know, and it was
just it was like that. It was like that kind
of whirlwind that I can imagine. And for someone as
sort of like, you know, socially kind of behind as
as me, it was just a lot, you know. I
was sort of like suddenly I was in Suddenly it
was it like, yeah, all the things, you know, the

(11:52):
actual shows themselves were, which is one part of it,
which is one part of the intense experiences, you know.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
And sometimes it's not that glamorous. Some thinking back, I
want to say it was Coachella. It was one of
the dustiest nights in the world. Yeah you remember that one.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, I mean they're all dusty.

Speaker 1 (12:10):
But no one was really like a dust ball during
his set and.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
It was it was a dust storm. Yeah, I mean
they have a dust all like every year. But I
do know the one you're talking about, is that the.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
Worst conditions or are there conditions that just blow that
out of the water.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
To be honest, I love a bit of chaos you do. Yeah,
Like our bass guitar blew over on the off its
stand like a few minutes before that set and broke
the head stop broke off, so we had to borrow
a bass guitar off Dinosaur Junior.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
No Way.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I think I think Nick's playing
a different bass in that in that YouTube. But honestly,
like whether it's like rain, as long as it doesn't
stop the show. Yeah, things like that when they just
they just shake it up a bit, you know, because
they just sort of they make it. They make it fun,
not that it's not already fun, but they just sort

(12:59):
of like add this this dimension of well, let's just
let's just do what we can. Let's try and put
a show on, Like like the expectation for it to
be perfect at that point is is gone. You know.
Now we're playing a show with a dust storm. Okay, Okay,
what's next. Okay, let's see what we can do.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
You know, Kevin Parker is with Us Booker and Striker
on ninety eighty seven. If someone has beamed down from
Mars right now, it could happen. What are the top
your top three team of Paul albums you would want
to give to this person that you think represents you
in twenty twenty five, there's.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
There are only five, so asking me to leave out too,
that's exactly I want.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
I want to stick to you. Stink, we've got lonerism.
I can't ask that question. To give it a pass.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
Let's sag into the future because you know we don't
have the new album. What did you do differently on
this album that you've never done before?

Speaker 2 (13:58):
That's a great question.

Speaker 3 (14:01):
M water.

Speaker 4 (14:04):
One for twelve so far, folks, What did I do differently?
I I mean it's like there's no there's no sort
of like act, just one thing that was completely different.
I think it was just like a different approach, you know,
like like it's a different way of working, you know.

Speaker 2 (14:26):
Oh, you know what I worked. I worked with a
with a with a sound engineer like a producer for
a bit as I did some sessions in New York
with a friend of mine who's like a wizard recording.
So I've definitely recorded with someone before. It was like
to it like with the tape machine, the sort of
you know, incredible analogue gear. So that was that was

(14:50):
a trip. It was a trip.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
And just to follow up on that just a little bit.
Are you one of those people that could walk into
i don't know, a guitar center, whatever instrument place. Are
you into different things like what does that pedal do?

Speaker 3 (15:06):
I'd like to.

Speaker 1 (15:07):
Try something with this and that? Do you goof around
with things like that?

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, of course, of course that's that's a goofing around
as a large deortion of the time in the studio.

Speaker 3 (15:17):
When you go invenor of an instrument, well there you go.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
But when you go in and you see something, do
you are you like an instrument maybe like a pedal
hoarder or let me have that one. Let me have
that one. I want to take it back and I
want to play with it, Like yeah, that kind of guy.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
I've suppressed my obsession for collecting pedals these days. I
used to be sort of just you know, but I
think I kind of maxed out on pedals days ago.
And they like, yeah, but yeah.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
Of course.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
I mean, like as I said, you know, me being
in the studio is like a large part of us
just messing around with like different objects. You know, if
you see a photo of my studio, I mean in
the studio, you'll understand. Yeah, it's just like a, it's
a mess. It's a beautiful mess.

Speaker 3 (16:01):
I really want to go back to the Mars question
and the someone beamed down from here. But I'm not
going to Oh thank god, I'm not going to No, no,
what what movies? Kevin? Have you seen more than ten times?
Is there one out there?

Speaker 2 (16:17):
I don't know the matrix?

Speaker 3 (16:19):
Okay, right? You like that soundtrack?

Speaker 2 (16:21):
Definitely A Batman begins, Yes, one of the one of
the one of the Christphanlan. We have this running joke
in the band, which is that when we get on
the airplane, we just immediately put on like one of
the Batman trilogies that Chris Nolan wants. Yeah, it's kind
of it's it's like a it's a it's a complete
joke at this point, but it's true. Like, well, you know,
if if if, if we're ever on a plane or

(16:42):
on the two of us, so well Batman, you know,
Batman Rises is coming the Dark Knight Rises is is
coming on.

Speaker 1 (16:50):
There's nothing better than Heath Ledger hanging out of the side.

Speaker 2 (16:53):
Yeah, they're incredible movie favorite Like they're incredible.

Speaker 3 (16:58):
Yeah, go, I think that the timing of this, the energy,
I think we should quit well, we're not ahead, but
we're almost there.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
The new album, I'm just getting comfortable.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
Are getting someone.

Speaker 3 (17:11):
Get for half an hour? Book? You want to think?
You want to throw something else? Kevin Parker right here.

Speaker 1 (17:17):
I don't know how much of this time we're gonna wait.

Speaker 3 (17:22):
We have a ton of dumb.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
I got something, I got something.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
When you are in Los Angeles, what feels comfortable to
you about this city and are there any restaurants that
you're like, yeah, I'd like to go there. I love
this particular music venue.

Speaker 2 (17:36):
I like La because you can live the life that
you want. You know, if you want to, you know,
if you want to be awake or not and like
do your grocery shopping it for in the morning, you
can do that. If you want to just stay at
home all day, you can do that. If you want
to live the hectic Los Angeles life La Hollywood, Lostyle,

(17:59):
you can do that. It's like everyone's lifestyle is is respected.

Speaker 1 (18:03):
A more comfortable in your skin, say here, than you
would be on the East Coast in New York.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
I also love New York. I love the sort of
the lane that New York puts you into you just
like you know, like my brain runs. It's a one
and a half times the speed when I'm in New York,
which is a trip. But La, it's kind of like
your brain runs the speed that you want it to
run at.

Speaker 3 (18:24):
You know, when you're going out and you're not working
when you're in La, do you get noticed quite a bit?
Or are you pretty sure?

Speaker 2 (18:32):
Sometimes it's hard to predict, you know, like yeah, sure
sometimes is.

Speaker 3 (18:38):
That annoyed if someone wants to take a picture with them?

Speaker 2 (18:40):
No, not at all, not at all. I'm never ever annoyed. Yeah,
never ever.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
Well he's Australian.

Speaker 3 (18:45):
Yeah, you're all very with no shoes on and he
has no shoes.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
That just says played there.

Speaker 2 (18:50):
I mean to be honest, Like, if it happens a
lot over and over, it can get it. If it
starts stopping you from what you're trying to do, then
it can get sort of like I guess, annoying, but
like you know, someone stopping you every now and then,
it's like it's just it's nice, you know, because it's
like it's nice for them. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (19:12):
Go to junk food in LA, like if it's is
it a burger place? Is it our tacos?

Speaker 2 (19:20):
What are you digging on junk food? I don't know.
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (19:26):
You just mentioned our delicacies to me.

Speaker 1 (19:28):
Wow, he lives at seven eleven.

Speaker 3 (19:30):
He could get to get.

Speaker 1 (19:31):
His dinner there.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
I don't know. In and out Burger. There is that
even junk food.

Speaker 3 (19:37):
No no, no hand leaf let us. It's fantastic.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yeah, yeah, incredible, yep, I love it.

Speaker 3 (19:43):
Well. We are so excited to hear all of the
new songs on the album, which drops next week. Thanks
for all the great times you've created for us with
the live shows, all the music, how you stick to
your guns. Thanks for sharing so much about the album.
You made it in a fast sort of way, and
we really appreciate you man.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
And you're a delight full guy, you know. Like I said,
we've met everybody, and then you're sort of an enigma
to us. Then you walk in flip flops on like
I'm just the most normal guy in the world. We're like,
oh great, it's awesome.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
So it was very nice meeting you. I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
Thank you.