by Cameron Adams
ESKIMO Joe singer Kav Temperley has revealed he was once asked to front INXS for an American tour.
Kav told the These Days podcast the proposal came after Eskimo Joe’s 2006 album Black Fingernails, Red Wine. The band had freely admitted they were inspired by INXS when making the album.
“We were trying to kick against the idea that you didn’t have to cringe at our culture,” Kav tells These Days. “You could embrace it and put it into the music.”
INXS started coming backstage to Eskimo Joe shows as they were touring the record, which is where the offer came to be one of the singers who had fronted the band after the passing of Michael Hutchence.
Hear Kav’s thoughts on the offer below:
The offer came from INXS’ late manager Chris Murphy, who had plotted the whole thing out.
Kav recalls: “He cornered me backstage and said ‘This is what’s gonna happen. INXS are gonna tour America. You’re gonna sing for INXS. Eskimo Joe are gonna support them and it’s gonna be huge’.
All four episodes of These Days, the greatest moments in Australian Music, are available now on all your favourite streaming platforms.