Mo' Eskimo Joe

Have Eskies, will travel

Eskimos: Joel Quartermain, Kav Temperley, Stu MacLeod

Ay-may-zing.
That is the official TheUniBrain summary of Eskimo Joe’s performance at the Sydney launch of their new album Inshalla (and not, as I heard a few punters say, “Insular”), Arabic-type talk for “God Willing” – or as singer Kav puts it “what will be will be”. Despite this, “Que Sera, Sera” has mysteriously been left off the track list.
First single “Foreign Land” delivers some of the title’s Eastern influence. The song – inspired by the band finding themselves in New York performing the same day that fellow West Australian Heath Ledger passed away in the city – is a corker.
To my delight, the new record has plenty of big drums. I always muse that when people finally start hiring me to produce their music I will yell, “We need at least three times as many drums as this!” Hopefully complete with three duelling drummers. Sort of like Adam and The Ants. Only with an extra drummer.
As if reading my mind Eskimo Joel, who on record is still the band’s drummer but now prefers to be an axe man for gigs, even joined their live drummer for a drum-off during “The Sound of Your Heart”. Brilliant.
Stu – who since the last album has earned the nickname “the one what looks like the one off Flight Of The Conchords” – was at his dependable best, while Kav was over-annunciating lyrics and taking the piss out of the media types in the crowd – and the cavernous venue The Royal Hall Of Industries at Fox Studios – as is always called for at such events.
“Losing Friends Over Love” and “Childhood Behaviour” impressed, but best of all was “Don't Let Me Down” which should be a single immediately and proves that this is a band who knows how to write a screw you radio chorus. It calls to mind "Come On Eileen" in the same way that "Sara" did "The Neverending Story".
So do yourselves and pick up a copy already.
Because they are awesome, after eight tracks the guys also indulged the crowd some “old stuff” in the form of “Black Fingernails, Red Wine” and “From The Sea”.
Natch TheUniBrain downed plenty of gratis red wine on the night, in keeping with the theme, but decided against black nail polish on account of the fact that Wil Anderson used to wear it.

PS: Iva Davies was there, but we did not get to talk to/sing at him.

Note to Ed St John: you did me proud at the ARIA No.1s by serving booze throughout the show … and the very next gig you put on that I attend there is a booze lock-out during the performance. I actually understand this in terms of the fact that the audience should be paying the band all of their attention. But it should also be noted that after downing free booze a 45-minute lull isn’t too feel good. I should have joined the throng and collected extra bottles when warned, but I must have been pretending to be classy.

Scott Keenan
Insert unappreciated "Sweater" joke here o'clock