INTERVIEW TAME IMPALA
When Kevin Parker began planning the shows for Tame Impala’s new album, The Slow Rush, he looked into the cost of buying lasers. He’d heard Rihanna had bought the ones used on her last tour, and Tame Impala is a festival headliner now - his show closing the Other Stage at Glastonbury last year was one of the most talked about sets, and that was before he’d even finished The Slow Rush.
“I kept telling my production manager I wanted to buy lasers, but I was told it’s not a good idea,” laughs Parker, sat upright and attentive on his bed at his hotel suite in the middle of Piccadilly Circus. “Lasers constantly get upgraded and, if I bought wholesale lasers, next year there’s going to be something even cooler I’d want. But it wouldn’t make sense to hire them, because what would I do with the lasers I’ve bought? Plus, the lenses degrade and we don’t know how to repair them.”