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Jan 17, 2011 By Under the Radar Staff Tame Impala

For Under the Radar’s 8th annual Artist Survey we emailed some of our favorite artists a few questions relating to 2010. However our printed pages weren’t enough to hold all the great responses we got. Pick up a copy of Under the Radar’s Year End issue for interviews with: The Antlers, Bon Iver, Caribou, Club 8, Delphic, Rose Elinor Dougall, Gayngs, Hot Chip, Lost in the Trees, Love is All, The Love Language, Mogwai, of Montreal, Okkervil River,Yoko Ono, Owen Pallett, Plants and Animals, Mark Ronson, Superchunk, Tame Impala, Vampire Weekend, Sharon Van Etten, and Vivian Girls. Then check here for bonus responses not found in the magazine. Here are additional answers from Kevin Parker of Tame Impala.

What are your hopes and plans for 2011?

Swim around Perth while it’s still summer, learn French, and then move to Paris.

If you could freeze time, what would you do?

Go skateboarding on the ocean.

What are your thoughts on President Obama’s job performance in the last year? Has your optimism, if you were an Obama supporter, waned?

Obama you say, he’s the politician right? Seems like a nice enough chap.

What are your thoughts on the Tea Party movement?

The what?

In the race to find new bands, are too many unworthy bands being hyped up by music blogs and websites? How are music fans supposed to filter through all these new bands being hyped?

Of my limited experience with music Internet blogs or whatever, I find them to have more of a negative approach to new music than positive. I don’t know, there are so many people out there who think their opinions are facts, and feel that it’s their duty to tell everyone. A true music fan will know that everyone else’s opinions can go and take a running leap, and that they can make up their own mind about what they like.

If your house was on fire, what would you grab as you were running out?

Probably my hard drive that has all my songs on it and my blanket that my granny knitted me.

What’s the strangest fan encounter you’ve ever had?

I can’t really tell you because they might read this and be really offended that I thought it was a strange gesture. Generally any time someone gets starstruck by me is a strange experience for me.

If you had a bucket list, what would be the Top 4 things on that list?

What the hell is a bucket list? I just tried to Google it but my Internet isn’t working. Hopefully I’ll remember to come back to this question.

Is there anything that most people are able to do that you can’t (such as drive a car, swim, ride a bike)?

You know that game people play in a circle where they keep the soccer ball up in the air with their feet that everyone seems to be pro at? I was always a huge burden on the circle as I usually sent it three meters backwards over my head from the first kick and usually had to go and get it. Come to think of it, schoolyard sport in general was usually the time where I just sat down somewhere and thought about stuff.

Have you ever been starstruck when meeting another musician? If so, by who?

I get starstruck by everyone. Everyone and anyone.

What or whom do you miss most when you’re touring?

The Australian weather and my local beach. That’s about it though, really.

When you think of the future, what scares you most?

That fake grass that everyone is starting to put on their lawns. Seriously, what are they thinking?

What are your thoughts on chillwave? Do you feel that it’s a legitimate genre/movement or something simply created by music journalists? In general, do you feel that most scenes/movements are organic or are created by the media?

I’ve heard a bit of chillwave and I really like it, especially Washed Out. It’s a really good idea for a sound and a feel. The only thing journalists create is the word associated to the sound. I guess that’s fair enough, it’s a human instinct to categorize things.

Do you have any other thoughts about the current state of the world or the state of the music industry?

I think there is heaps of awesome shit going on and I’m really excited. There are just no rules anymore!

(www.myspace.com/tameimpala)