Kevin Parker and Rick Rubin Talk Early Inspirations & Creative Process on New Podcast

Kevin Parker has been staying busy during the current coronavirus quarantines. His latest project: joining legendary producer Rick Rubin on his Broken Record Podcast to talk about his early musical inspirations, Rick’s involvement in Yeezus, Californication and more.

The remote podcast appearance comes after Parker performed an acoustic version of Tame Impala‘s The Slow Rush song “On Track”. Earlier this month, he collaborated with The Streets for the group’s new single. He even remastered his entire album for an immersive experience meant to transport those in social isolation to a live concert venue.

On the hour-long Broken Record installment, Parker played Rick demos for an unrealized song from his voice memos, a process that he still uses when developing song ideas today. He also detailed his early inspirations ranging from The Doors to Jefferson Airplane. Early on in his career, Parker would lie to his record label about being a three-piece band instead of a solo act, saying, “Tame Impala was always kind of perceived as a band, and I was kind of cool with that because it sounded like a band with a bunch of guys jamming. It was eating away at me that it wasn’t the truth, and also I wanted people to know that it was more of a solo recording project because I realized that solo artists get away with completely changing their sound more than bands do.”

Listen to the full podcast above and revisit HYPEBEAST’s “Tame Impala is Grown” feature around Kevin Parker’s latest record. In more music news, Mac Miller’s K.I.D.S. mixtape is now available on streaming services.