The Beatles and Tame Impala
Tracing the fab-four's undeniable influence on mainstream psychedelia's kingpin.
Tame Impala’s first two records reside in the Venn diagram intersection of super-nostalgia and hyper-future. Both Innerspeaker and Lonerism comprise of something familiar blended with something completely new - just reminiscent enough yet undeniably fresh. Fuzzy guitars, woozy synths and roomy drums create a classic atmosphere, juxtaposed against dynamic arrangements and hypnotic modern FX. It’s lucid and free, charming and bold.
Generally speaking Tame Impala is original in concept and execution, yet woven throughout both albums are clear nods to titanic acts like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. It’s no secret either that Kevin Parker likes The Beatles. Not to a point of obsession (he’s openly stated that he rarely listens to the band) however it is clear that the man is not completely unfamiliar.
The stylings and sections he chooses to replicate are tasteful; he lifts without stealing, derives without copying, carefully selecting slices of the fab-four’s eclectic sound and appropriating with restraint.
An album of Beatles songs typically contains a strong handful of genres, while Tame Impala is more acute in its sourcing. It is practically impossible to sound like ‘The Beatles’ as a whole, instead I’d like to posit that each individual Beatle has inspired Kevin Parker in their own way, sometimes only briefly such as:
Paul McCartney
Of all four Beatles, Paul seems to be the least influential, at least sonically speaking. Like Paul, Parker does use a Höfner Violin bass guitar and places a ton of value on the role of the instrument. However, the only tangible example of true reminiscence I could find of direct McCartney influence is in Tame Impala’s well-known single Desire Be, Desire Go, where there are clearcut shared melodic moves from the Beatles’ Paperback Writer:
The layered chorus vocals are undoubtedly informed by the 1966 hit, providing the most obvious Beatles-lift of all Tame Impala songs. It is however used in a completely different context and therefore is subtle enough to not be labelled egregious.
Ringo Starr
People think I’m joking when I say I spend 90% of my time on drums when I’m working on a song but it’s dead true - Kevin Parker (Pitchfork)
There are smatterings of percussive influence from the likes of Ginger Baker and John Bonham across both Tame Impala records, but for the most part Parker is a modern drummer - at least in the way he thinks about what he plays (as opposed to the way he presents the drums). That’s not to say there aren’t any moments of inspired derivation - there are - many of which are distinctly inspired by the unorthodox stylings of Ringo Starr.
Take Blue Jay Way from 1967’s Magical Mystery Tour for example:
It’s kind of like a dusty, weird Tame Impala demo. Phased out drums, layered effected vocals, bizarre synth or orchestral flashes. It’s just… looser, and sounds much older. (In that regard it’s hard to believe Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was recorded before the ramshackle Magical Mystery Tour, but I digress).
Ringo’s drumming in this song certainly appears to have a strong influence on Parker’s playing across Innerspeaker and Lonerism: fill-heavy grooves, roomy mics, pulsing cymbal compression and sudden tempo switching. I recall being vividly struck with this revelation upon my first listen to Blue Jay Way a couple of years ago.
Here’s a slightly more isolated version of Ringo’s drums (the mono signal is removed which cancels the vocals, leaving a clearer example):
There’s even a strong phaser / flanger effect running over the drum track, the airy jet-plane sound that punctures a lot of Tame Impala mixes. Not overly so on the song Mind Mischief, however there’s a shared sentiment in the playing (mono signal also cancelled):
Perhaps a clearer example of Ringo’s influence is in the shinier, more upbeat Beatles song She Said, She Said:
It’s notable how this style became such a strong Kevin Parker groove-inspiration for many songs; an integral cornerstone of his early work. It’s a compelling way of drumming - busy yet free, cruisy and bombastic. Like in It Isn’t Meant to Be, particularly the fills:
Again, this is a review of small moments that have fleeting similarities. They’re a mix of technical and aesthetic elements that may or may not have inspired Kevin Parker directly, but nonetheless have self-evident sonic relations.
John Lennon
Kevin Parker’s voice has long been held in comparison to John Lennon’s, and with good reason. It’s one of the mainstream bullet points often made about the two groups; John’s son Sean even approached Kevin Parker and told him he sounded like his dad.
It can be quite uncanny at times. They share a timbre and inquisitive spirit, often asking questions or bending the English language in curious ways - John Lennon is John Lennon though, and that’s an important distinction.
Parker’s voice often harbours a bored apathy brought to life by a slew of vocal effects. On the other hand John was totally eclectic, bringing different characters and personas to life through a myriad of genres. He famously disliked his own voice, often insisting on vocal effects like the Leslie Speaker or double-tracking.
Parker too loves to double-track as can be clearly heard on Desire Be, Desire Go. Below is an excerpt of that track played against She Said, She Said:
There’s a prominent vocal effect made famous in the 1950s by Sam Phillips, a music producer who worked with Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. It’s commonly known as ‘slap delay’ and it became a staple effect in vocal production still used today. It’s also another tool that engineers used to satisfy the overly self-aware John. Below are the opening lines to ‘Come Together’ (EQ’d to enhance focus on the vocals). Keep an ear out for the echoes and delays that shimmer or ‘slap’ around his vocals:
Tame Impala embraced the slap-delay and took it to dizzying new heights. The delays range in style and volume, and tend to ‘soak’ the mix a lot more than in Beatles or indeed most other songs, see below:
George Harrison
Starting straight off the bat with a caveat: UK Magazine Total Guitar recently listed George Harrison at number 20 in their 100 greatest guitarists of all time list. While Kevin Parker is more than capable with the six-string, in no way does he come close to the emotional, hypnotic slide-magic of George’s playing. That being said, I don’t think George could write, play, engineer, record and mix four albums on his own as Parker has.
There are plenty of guitars in the Beatle-replication zone across Tame’s discography, often thin, trebly and a little gritty. The more obvious axe influence on Innerspeaker and Lonerism may be attributed Tony Iommi or Jimmy Page, but mostly in tone - again, Tame Impala is a wholly original enterprise and is far bigger than the sum of its parts.
Much like Paul, George’s direct influence is palpably heard only once. A small section from Maxwell’s Silver Hammer looks to have influenced the main riff of Mind Mischief in playing style as well as tone, see below:
Conclusions
So just how reminiscent is Tame Impala of The Beatles? After spending a fair bit of time in both worlds, it’s safe to say there’s definitely something there. The examples I used only scratch the surface of both bands and by no means represent their sound as a whole.
More than anything it’s been fun to take a glimpse at and speculate on specific moments that may have risen from the wellspring of the fab-four’s vast catalog and into the mind of Kevin Parker. However, they’re far from his only overt influence.
If one digs around enough they’ll find traces of The Cure, The BeeGees and LCD Soundsystem all lurking within. The real magic of Tame Impala is in Kevin Parker’s modern production and nostalgic melodies, crossed beautifully with classic cherry-picked influences worn elegantly on his sonic sleeve.