Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker.
Camera IconTame Impala’s Kevin Parker. Credit: Matt Sav.

STM Hot List 2019: Tame Impala, Josephine Langford and Perth’s Ritz-Carlton

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With Tame Impala about to have its biggest year yet, the band’s Kevin Parker leads this next instalment of STM’s top 100 people, places and events set to shape 2019.

50: KEVIN PARKER

Thick balls of smoke billowed into the sky over the Malibu Hills in November. Moments after waking up in his Airbnb rental and makeshift studio, Kevin Parker — frontman for Perth-spawned global rock phenomenon Tame Impala, who turns 33 today — rubbed his eyes and thought, “Are they clouds?”

“I was a bit bleary-eyed and kind of zonked out,” the STM Hot List headliner recalls of the dramatic morning that followed a 4am finish toiling away on music for a career-defining 2019. This year, Tame Impala will unveil their hugely anticipated fourth album and rock 250,000 music lovers over two weekends as the headline act at American mega-festival Coachella.

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Back in the rented Malibu pad last year, Parker checked the internet and discovered the unusual clouds were actually smoke from wildfires, and that authorities had issued an emergency evacuation order.

“That’s when I had a wave of panic come over me,” Parker says.

Confronted with the usually hypothetical question about what he would rescue if his house was on fire, he grabbed his vintage Hofner bass guitar and a laptop full of new sounds, jumped into his car and drove to the beach.

“I didn’t know where else to go,” Parker says. “At least I knew I could jump in the water. I stood and watched the flames burning the hillside for an hour.”

Another hour later, fire had consumed the house, leaving just the chimney, ash and debris. About $40,000 worth of second-hand recording gear was lost, but Parker was more concerned about coyotes and other fauna than his equipment.

“I usually sleep a bit later,” he muses, “so it’s quite lucky that I woke up when I did.”

Chatting in the South Fremantle home he’s converted into a studio, the eight-time ARIA Award-winner cuts a relaxed figure, reclining on a couch in a white T-shirt, black jeans and thongs, and sipping a beer.

Three of those eight pointy ARIA trophies sit on the mantelpiece to his right, while to his left is a bed on which sits a big stuffed toy tiger he bought at a truck stop during one of Tame Impala’s epic trawls across the US. The musical alchemist bought another house down the road to live in with girlfriend, Sophie Lawrence, before knocking down walls for his sonic laboratory, where he makes music for 10 or more hours a day when he’s in town.

“As soon as it begins to feel like work, that’s when I go home. Or go to sleep,” he says. “The idea is for it to never feel like work.”

Parker has his work cut out for him in 2019.

Not only is he making the follow-up to Tame Impala’s chart-topping 2015 release Currents, which won their second ARIA for album of the year, but in April the band will stage the biggest performance of their 12-year career at Coachella. Tame Impala is only the second Australian act to land top billing at America’s biggest music festival, after AC/DC headlined in 2015, with the Perth lads a line below on the posters.

Parker and his touring buddies will close the event in front of 125,000 fans on the second of three nights on both weekends — the same slot that hosted an incredible performance from Beyonce last year. Tame Impala were elevated to top spot in December after Justin Timberlake dropped out because of bruised vocal cords.

But if he’s feeling the heat, the poker-faced Parker is remaining remarkably cool.

When festival organisers announced Tame Impala as surprise headliners alongside US pop superstars Ariana Grande and Childish Gambino earlier this month, Parker forgot to tell bandmates Cam Avery, Dominic Simper and Julien Barbagallo, who all live overseas. (Perth-based Jay Watson completes the live line-up.)

“They would’ve woken up, seen the poster and thought that it was a joke,” laughs Parker, who quickly transmitted a message: “Hey guys, by the way, it’s real!”

“If they read this interview, they’ll know I forgot. We’re not much of a celebratory gang.”

That said, the low-key rock star knows Tame Impala will have to up the ante for Coachella.

Tame Impala perform on the Orange Stage at Big Day Out Perth in 2014.
Camera IconTame Impala perform on the Orange Stage at Big Day Out Perth in 2014. Credit: Michael Wilson.

He hints they may team with creative director Willo Perron, who has produced concerts for Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Jay-Z and Florence + the Machine, and worked with Tame Impala for their Panorama Music Festival performance in New York two years ago.

“I’ve held back before because we’ve always tried to be understated, (but this is) kind of a licence to not be that anymore,” Parker says. “If that means having 100 lasers instead of six, so be it. Without giving too much away, I think that’s a given.”

Tame Impala also headline Primavera Sound, the highly regarded festival held in Barcelona, in late May and early June.

“Oh, yeah,” Parker says of it, as though he’s been reminded to buy milk on the way home.

The Primavera website describes Parker as an “almost legendary, messianic figure and creative soul”.

While he might have been embarrassed when 2010 debut Innerspeaker and 2012 follow-up Lonerism earned high praise for its Cream and Led Zeppelin-inspired Elephant, Apocalypse Dreams and APRA Song of the Year winner Feels Like We Only Go Backwards, today Parker almost embraces the excessive embroidery.

“I’ve come to realise that in order to fill the boots that you’re given, you have to go along with that sort of hyperbole,” he says, choosing his words carefully. “It takes more energy to react to those kinds of things, people saying you’re legendary or whatever. Which is not to say I am buying into my own myth, but there are people who are far less successful than me who I think are gods. Some people want to think that I am great in some way — that’s great, fine, whatever — I’m not going to rain on your parade.”

The Coachella headline slot further feeds the mythology surrounding arguably WA’s greatest musical export since Bon Scott. Collaborations with hit-maker Mark Ronson, Texan rapper Travis Scott and Lady Gaga also add to the aura around the John XXIII College graduate. Parker admits having a WTF moment while filming the video for Lady Gaga’s 2016 hit Perfect Illusion, which he wrote with Ronson and the Born This Way singer.

Midway through the clip, Gaga put the Perth muso in a headlock (check it out on YouTube at 2:36, folks).

“That was excruciating, she was pulling my hair so hard I thought it was going to rip out,” Parker laughs. “She gave me no warning it was going to happen ... she was not remorseful.”

Despite having such famous friends, Parker hardly seems like a messiah, almost legendary or otherwise, especially cracking another stubby in his slightly run-down South Freo studio with an abandoned dinghy out the back.

“Freo’s my home, man,” he says. “There’s no place like it.

“Actually, I don’t know if I should be saying this, I just bought a house in LA, so I’m going to be spending some time there. And the road is my other home.”

While he’s a studio hound, this fan of the Beatles, Beach Boys and Supertramp is no recluse. In recent weeks, he’s partied at Highgate bar Si Paradiso and hung out in the VIP area at the Falls Festival in Fremantle.

And he loves hitting the beach to keep the inspiration flowing.

A photograph of tourists frolicking at the Italian seaside sits above his computer at home.

“I just get lost in it,” says Parker, who avoids listening to music while trying to create his own. “That’s the sort of thing that makes music play in my head. Anything that flicks on Tame Impala radio in my head is inspiring to me.”

He insists playing Coachella has not put a deadline on the fourth Tame Impala album.

“I like to think that the album is its own thing,” Parker says. “I wouldn’t want in 20 years to be listening to an album I made now and think that I finished it for any deadline or any particular reason. It was finished because it was finished.”

Four years ago British music magazine NME described Currents as “astronomically anticipated”, so it’s fair to say there are enormous expectations for whatever comes next.

“I prefer to see it as a wave I have to surf,” Parker says. “I don’t surf, so body surf. I don’t like to see it as a wall or pressure, you know, it’s just something that is there and it’s up to me to work with it.

“Anticipation is good ... I want to be the kind of artist that feels empowered by people waiting to hear what I’ve got,” he says, before adding with a laugh: “This is the Gaga in me speaking.”

51: IN THE STARS

Save yourself from cheesy pick-up lines by wearing your star sign on your neck. Horoscope jewellery has become a staple at Givenchy, with Australian label Reliquia also seeing a bright future for astrological accessories.

Terracotta and Terrazzo Interiors.
Camera IconTerracotta and Terrazzo Interiors. Credit: Tessa Ross-Phelan

52: SOUL TRAVEL

It’s almost impossible to attend a dinner party or book club (we mean wine club) get-together without somebody piping up about hiking the El Camino. The trek across northern Spain, along ancient pilgrimage routes to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, is quite possibly the coolest travel adventure on the planet. Modern-day pilgrims take off from a range of starting points across Spain and beyond, taking in the sights, topping up with tapas and embarking on an inner journey. Tough on the soles, but good for the soul.

53: TEETOTAL TREND

The anti-boozehound shift is happening around the planet — and it’s reaching WA where millennials are heeding health warnings and rebelling against the binge drinking of previous generations. Clint Nolan, the owner of Northbridge bar Henry Summer, says more drinkers are requesting high-quality, non-alcoholic options, leading to the creation of a new mocktail every week. At Market Grounds in Kings Square, Perth, mixologist James Connolly uses a booze-free herbal spirit called Seedlip in just-launched mocktails.

54: EARTHY TONES

Think terracotta, sienna, umbers and browns inside and outside the home. “We are seeing a move towards warmer colours, especially earth tones inspired by travel to destinations like Mykonos, Mallorca and Marrakech,” says Bauwerk Colour director and colour expert Bronwyn Riedel. And terracotta will be popular teamed with terrazzo, says interior designer Nat Murphy. “Terracotta with terrazzo will pop up all over the place,” she says. “Terrazzo adds interest, shape and depth, while terracotta adds warmth. It is divine paired with camel leathers, inky cobalts, crisp whites, sages and shades of olive.”

Federal Labor up and comer Madeleine King who is the member for Brand.
Camera IconFederal Labor up and comer Madeleine King who is the member for Brand. Credit: Ross Swanborough.

55: MADELEINE KING

If Labor wins the Federal election, as is widely tipped, the low-key member for Brand who represents Kwinana and Rockingham is certain to attract plenty of national attention with a ministerial role. Since winning the seat in 2016 with a margin of more than 11 per cent, King, left, has been quietly working behind the scenes on policy development. That all changed in July when she became WA’s most senior Federal Labor MP after beating former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally to fill a coveted spot on the Opposition frontbench as shadow minister for consumer affairs. The former commercial lawyer and Safety Bay Senior High School graduate, who grew up in Shoalwater, was also given roles assisting key Labor figures Chris Bowen in small business and Jason Clare in resources.

56: PRINTS CHARMING

In fashion circles, Poppy Lissiman was the tag on everyone’s 2018 Instagram posts.

But in 2019, little brother Andre is muscling in. While Poppy is dominating the accessories arena with Kim Kardashian and Gigi Hadid-approved skinny sunglasses, Andre is going back to basics, returning to the prints that saw him edge into the Perth spotlight a decade ago.

“I’ve realised that making prints is where my passion lies,” Lissiman says. “I’ve had a six-year hiatus working for an agency, Zebra Creative, and after that amount of time behind a desk I’m ready to be a lot more creative and expressive.”

That creativity exploded at the end of last year with an eye-catching collaboration for boardshort brand Ocean Zone, founded by Lissiman’s Scotch College classmate, Reif Myers.

Andre Lissiman.
Camera IconAndre Lissiman. Credit: Supplied.

When Lissiman started sketching, his signatures were Kevin the Unforgiving Bastard Seagull and Timmy the Sausage Roll, so it’s little surprise the Tropi-cans print for Ocean Zone features palm trees, yachts and naked breasts camouflaged by the landscape.

“Andre first started designing for Ocean Zone when the business started in 2007 and we were 16,” Myers says. “His Curtis the Gooner shirt was a stand-out. This season we were looking to offer more variety in our designs to reach a different market, so I gave him free rein to design a pair of shorts and he produced an artwork even better than I could have hoped for. Tropi-cans was something completely different to anything we had released since he helped design our bestselling Quokka shorts back in 2009.”

Other collaborations are in the pipeline with Lissiman keen to unleash creative juices in a fine spray rather than a focused stream.

“I’m working on some prints for the surf-wear brand Rusty and talking to my sister about collaborating on some prints,” he says. “Halfway through the year I am keen to launch my own shirt line and in the meantime I’m working with Black Brewing Co on their beer and wine labelling.”

While he enjoys collaborating, his recent years behind a desk and the size of his sister’s business are forcing him to up his game when it comes to planning.

“There’s certainly a lot more structure involved as things get bigger, but I’m learning to ride the highs and lows, the fast and slow,” he says.

57: POP-UP CARPARKS

The number of cars on WA roads continues to grow, but places to park the damn things are disappearing as urban planners seek to create more human-centred environments. Perth company PARKD is showing the way forward with a modular, multi-storey carpark that is cheaper to build and can be dismantled and moved to another site, with what it says is reduced disruption and environmental impact. And when driverless cars become popular, PARKD’s visionary CEO Peter McUtchen believes they will be stored offsite and called up as needed, in the style of The Jetsons.

Whisky bar Jaspers in Pemberton.
Camera IconWhisky bar Jaspers in Pemberton. Credit: Supplied.

58: ROSS GRAYSON BELL

The film community has been abuzz since the arrival at Screenwest of a genuine Hollywood player, and with good reason. The industry’s peak body has just hired the producer of Fight Club, the Brad Pitt cult classic about white-collar workers who undergo therapy in the ring. Ross Grayson Bell’s already had a Fight Club-like impact at Screenwest, toughening up projects for a market that no longer puts up with puny premises and undeveloped storylines. He’s perfect for an industry punching above its weight.

59: PEMBERTON WHISKY BAR

Never would you expect to find more than 300 whiskies and bourbons carefully sourced from around the globe, housed in a small bar in Pemberton. Jaspers is slated to open in April, blending an architecturally designed restaurant and new accommodation with a rustic bar featuring weathered brick, timber and chesterfield couches. Look out for the whisky flavour analysis chart and tasting notebooks from the experts, which are designed to take you on a more interesting liquor journey.

60: GOING FRENCH

The ‘90s are back in a big way so it makes sense that Paris Hilton is bringing back the decade’s signature nail trend, the French Manicure. After sightings on Anne Hathaway in Oceans 8 and Ariana Grande, the classic white stripe is on the rise.

61: ECO CONCRETE

With people now more aware of what they use and its environmental impact, furniture is also under the spotlight. Concrete pieces are set to shine in 2019, according to Sitting Pretty Furniture owner Marianne Stevenson, who says eco-friendly concrete tables are becoming increasingly popular. “These concrete products are manufactured almost entirely by hand using fibre-reinforced concrete made only from natural raw materials — stone powder, cement and natural jute fibre, all sourced locally to minimise the transport impact on the environment,” she says.

62: NOISY GUTS

The phrase “listen to your gut” is being given new meaning through the work of a team of West Australian scientists headed by Mary Webberley and Nobel laureate Barry Marshall. The pair have joined forces to use termite-sensing technology to listen to the sounds made by the stomach, which they believe have a strong correlation to gut disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome. This world-first research and development has led to the production of a belt that could soon be eavesdropping on stomachs around the world and, fingers crossed, another WA Nobel Prize.

63: HORSE PLAY

Men’s accessories have moved well beyond ties and pocket handkerchiefs, with rising red-carpet star, actor Timothee Chalamet, making a strong case for the harness. If all of those buckles are too intimidating, try the trompe l’oeil version seen on the runway at Versace last week.

Josephine Langford.
Camera IconJosephine Langford. Credit: Instagram.

64: SISTER ACT

Applecross-reared Golden Globe nominee Katherine Langford (13 Reasons Why ) will be sharing the family limelight this year as her younger sister, Josephine, makes her Hollywood debut in After , a raunchy teen romance based on Anna Todd’s fan-fiction publishing phenomenon. Deadline Hollywood reports that the casting of Tessa (Langford) whipped up as much anticipation as Bella in Twilight and Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games , which launched the careers of Kristen Stewart and Jennifer Lawrence respectively. The trailer is up and has already been viewed millions of times.

65: MUMMUCC’

It’s pronounced ma-mooch. As well as meaning mother in the Italian region of Abruzzo, it’s also the name of the Monsterella Pizza crew’s new 60-seat small bar, due to open in Wembley next month. Come for handmade pasta from Maria Nicolo (the mother of Monsterella co-owner Tania Nicolo), but stay for what the Monsterella crew describes as easygoing Italian cocktails and a considered Australian-Italian wine list. You’ll find it on Grantham Street, a few doors down from the mothership.

66: SAM VINCIULLO

Compromise isn’t part of winemaker Sam Vinciullo’s vocabulary. He carefully tends his biodynamic vineyard, makes all the wines himself, using no additions, and will only sell wine to those who agree to visit him and learn about his operation. Because of this approach, his bottles are in hot demand everywhere “natural” wine is drunk — in WA, nationally and internationally. He’s a new West Australian winemaking force to be reckoned with

67: LOW RISE

Alexander McQueen took the plumber’s crack to the catwalk in 1993, and now low-rise jeans are making a return to save women from those tummy-hugging, high-waisted denim styles. “The low-rise might be making a comeback, but for us it never went anywhere,” says Liz Roberts, chief executive of Beyonce’s favourite Australian denim brand, One Teaspoon. “Throw a pair of heels on and you have the perfect, relaxed event outfit, but with a bit of attitude. For 2019 we’ve introduced a 1980s-inspired tailored low-rise denim style called the Smiths. It’s unisex, so you can share with your man.”

Argyle pink diamonds.
Camera IconArgyle pink diamonds. Credit: Supplied.

68: THINK PINK

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend but pink ones are the real BFF prize. With the Argyle Diamond Mine in the Kimberley set to close next year, now is the time to invest in your fingers first. We can all dream.

69: TORRENTS REVIVAL

“Oriel Gray’s name will take a prominent place in the history of Australian theatre,” predicted The Daily News in 1950. But it didn’t, despite her hilarious Goldfields-set newsroom comedy The Torrents tying with Summer of the Seventeenth Doll for one of the most prestigious theatre awards of the day (a little Mad Men -era sexism, perhaps?). Black Swan — in an exciting co-production with the Sydney Theatre Company — is giving Gray her long overdue moment in the sun with a mid-year revival of The Torrents at the State Theatre Centre starring Celia Pacquola of Rosehaven fame. This will be followed by a season at the Sydney Opera House, a rare showcase for WA talent on the country’s most glittering stage.

70: ICE GETS BESPOKE

Warning: stop reading now if you want to keep buying $2 ice bags from service stations. Bespoke ice is all the rage, be it with gold leaf inside or melt-branded with a bar’s sexy logo. How? At family-owned Rocked in Bibra Lake, tap water is triple filtered and frozen over several days into ice blocks that are as crystal-clear as that glass door you ran into as a kid. Hotspots such as Tiny’s, the Mechanics Institute and Wildflower are using the chunky blocks in their high-end drinks, ensuring those top-shelf spirits aren’t diluted by fast- melting cubes.

71: PUTTIN’ ON THE RITZ

With a mid-2019 opening date fast approaching, the Ritz-Carlton’s $500 million towers at Elizabeth Quay are nearly finished. The luxury brand, which marks its re-entry to Australia after 15 years, has just appointed Dario Orsini as general manager — a man who’s looked after former US President Barack Obama, soccer player Diego Maradona and opera singer José Carreras. Born in Naples, Orsini met his Perth wife when he was working at Cable Beach Club in Broome in 1998, spent three years in the WA capital at the Sheraton from 2001 and now returns with the couple’s three children after nearly 12 years as general manager of the Sheraton Bali Kuta Resort.