Tame Impala Come to Terms With Star Crushes
Tame Impala are still a relatively young band, but playing alongside the groups they grew up listening to is nothing new to the Australian psych-rockers. It’s still a marvel to catch someone like Portishead from side stage, Dominic Simper says, but backstage everyone keeps their cool: “We know what it’s like being a touring musician enough to know they’re just humans that sit in their studio and nerd out,” the guitarist says at Rolling Stone‘s Rock Room.
“When we first met Wayne Coyne I was just starstruck,” bassist Nick Allbrook adds with a laugh. “And now we’ve hung around him enough to realize he’s just a loony, he’s like our old American loony uncle.”
Coachella 2013: Rolling Stone’s Complete Coverage
The band also explained why the members of Tame Impala disperse to work on side projects when they return from touring. “We’re all kind of the best of friends,” Simper says. “But touring I get enough of these guys that I don’t feel the need to hang out with them or speak to them everyday when we’re not touring.”
“Yeah the feeling’s mutual, Dom,” frontman Kevin Parker chides, adding. “We’re actually all hanging out, we just don’t tell Dom.”
Interview by Steve Baltin; text by Jon Blistein.