Frontman Kav Temperley explained that, with Ghosts of the Past, it was all about peeling back the layers of this Eskimo Joe onion and going back to basics. “We kind of sat down…and were like ‘Okay, what worked on the last record and what didn’t work? What kind of record do we want to make?’ We’ve only really ever had that conversation once before and that was when we did our first album [2001’s Girl], and so I think we all went in there, all on the same page, knowing exactly what kind of record we wanted to make.”
“It came together really quickly because we were like ‘We need one of these songs, we need one of these songs.’ It was the first time that we really accepted who we are, which is Eskimo Joe. We stopped trying to pretend, or be something that we’re not. Anytime [in the past] that we’d written a song that sounded slightly Eskimo Joe, we’d be like ‘We can’t do that because it’s too much like what we just did.’ This time around, it’s album five – we’re a bit more comfortable in our own skin, so we just set out to make our most ‘Eskimo Joe’ record…We followed our instincts instead of kicking them,” he muses.
“It sounds like Eskimo Joe, but it doesn’t sound like anything that we’ve ever done before,” added bass guitarist, Stu MacLeod.
Sitting amongst the three Perth larrikins, one can’t help but feel and value the dynamic that each member of this band holds with one another. Having played together for over a decade, one might assume that the band vibe is gone, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. There is indescribable enthusiasm amongst not only the three of them as a band, but also the three of them as friends. And with their undying excitement in their recent release intact, it’s safe to say that Eskimo Joe are finally comfortable with just being Eskimo Joe.
Even going into the studio, they found themselves more prepared than they have in the past. Comparing this album to its predecessor, 2009’s Inshalla, the boys admit that this album was all about clarity, and that it was time to steer away from the elaborate layering which occurred on previous records, with Kav admitting that Inshalla “was a bit of a genre jumper.”
Rather than spending their time creating as many intricately detailed tunes as they possibly could, they collectively decided that it was time to go back to basics and be prepared. As Stu explained, being in the studio in the past was where the whole process would begin. “I guess the ‘game plan’ or ‘mission statement’ for this record was to strip it right back and make sure that it sounded not over-produced and basically just sounded like a bunch of people walking into a room and making a record with the instruments that they had. There wasn’t multiple layering of exotic instruments…It was very much just every part that we played had to be important, otherwise it wasn’t allowed.”
The general feeling is that these guys feel like they did when they first started. As cliché as it may sound, the world is their oyster – but they’re not cocky about it. Simultaneously, each member of Eskimo Joe is adamant that this album is a “new beginning”.
Stu states that there’s “a new sense of excitement in the band. It’s almost like we’ve been on a holiday and we’re all refreshed and we’re keen to hit the road.”
