The Big Day Out is rolling into town and with it comes a whole heap of acts definitely worth seeing. Among them is local band Eskimo Joe, who will be making their fifth BDO appearance. Stuart MacLeod, the bands guitarist and back up vocalist, had a quick chat with OUTinPerth on how being a rock and roll dad now informs the band’s music.
What can you tell us about the sound of the new album?
I guess for this record there was a bit more levity and a bit more hope behind it. I guess the last record, you know, we were lost in the night kind of thing and this time around the major change, personally, for myself and Kav and I guess Joel as well, is that me and Kav have become fathers in the last two years. So a lot of the subject matter on the album relates directly to that and I guess it’s hard to maintain that sort of ‘lost in the night’ mentality when you’ve got this amazing bundle of light at your feet.
How specifically would you say that having a child has influenced your music?
Well I guess, like I said, the subject matter is a lot more about hope and a lot more about love and respect. Like I said, it’s hard to be dark and brooding when you’ve got someone blowing raspberries at you.
How does having a family factor into the touring?
It’s not like we’ve scaled it back at all. I think with Australia we’ve definitely put most of our eggs in one big tour basket; instead of doing lots of little tours we’re now doing a lot less tours but sort of scaling them up, which is great that we’re in a position where we can afford to do that, these days. But in terms of touring, we’d only really take the kids on the road on a special occasion and when it’s not going to be a hectic thing, because travelling through Europe, I think the last tour we did eighteen cities in twenty one days, so that’s obviously not somewhere you want a kid to hang out; in the back of a splitter van when you’re doing a seven or eight hour drive.
What’s so good about the Big Day Out that you guys keep coming back for more?
I guess it’s more what’s bad about The Big Day Out and there’s not really anything I can say that’s bad about The Big Day Out; it’s just a really well-organised, amazing place to see some incredible bands and because it’s a touring festival you get to build relationships with these bands over the course of the two or three weeks. It’s surreal. It’s a real institution in Australia; I think everyone remembers their first Big Day Out and pretty much every one since. There’s always going to be an amazing moment at The Big Day Out, no matter what year it is and no matter what line-up it is.
What do you currently love about the music industry?
Just the amazing music that Australia’s producing. Even just little side projects like Empire of the Sun that have taken the world by storm. There’s a whole new wave of great bands in WA that are coming through, like Sugar Army is a great example and Karnivool has taken their metal to the world, which I think is some of the best metal you’ll hear for a long time. I think there’s just some real talent in Australia that seems to be reaching into different corners of the world. It’s pretty exciting.
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