by Kevin Parker remembers the first time he ever splurged on an item of clothing: he was out shopping with his girlfriend, now wife, and bought a Gucci jacket. “It was by far the biggest thing I spent money on, and I remember thinking, ‘Wow, I just did that,'” he recalls. In the kind of music community Parker comes from – his multi-million-selling psychedelic project Tame Impala has its roots in the DIY scene of Fremantle, Australia – people bark at a £50 jacket, let alone one that could cost 30 hours to put on. “The world I’m from is skeptical, it’s not instinctively warmed by the world of fashion,” he says. However, “it was one of those things where I slowly saw that it’s not about the shallow aesthetic, it can be more about expressing yourself, and now I appreciate it along the way the same respect I have for all other art forms.” Plus: “To be fair, it’s a sick jacket.”
How fast things change: Parker has just unveiled a fashion line in partnership with French label APC, known for its chic, minimalist basics and collaborations with icons like Jane Birkin and Kid Cudi. Parker isn’t necessarily known for his fashion sense, which makes the collaboration a surprise. “It was definitely not my bingo card for my career,” he says with a laugh. “For the first few years of my career, I just slapped anything and, to be honest, I’m still slapping whatever. But there’s a little more thought behind it.”
In keeping with that sentiment, there are comfortable, ’70s-inspired clothes in muted pastels, inspired by “the idea of clothes that people wear in worship or communion,” he says. “A kind of DIY uniform worn by people who live together in the same world.”
Glastonbury was a lot wilder than I thought it was going to be
Parker’s entrance into the fashion world is linked to his growing presence in the big budget pop universe. A few years ago, he said he wanted to be “a Max Martin type”, an ambition that came true with this year’s release of Radical Optimism, Dua Lipa’s third album. Parker worked on most of the record and appeared on stage with her to perform her TikTok hit The Less I Know the Better during her Glastonbury headline set this year, an experience he describes as “ much wilder than I thought it was”.
“The coolest thing about it was that Dua was headlining Glastonbury, which she’s wanted to do since she was a kid,” he says, his voice brimming with admiration. “I felt like I had a seat in someone’s dream that they were living – I was happy to be a part of it.”
The dream, of course, was short-lived – Parker and Lipa tried to celebrate together afterwards, but got caught up in the Glastonbury rush. “We had a big hug, just shaking out there, and then I had to go to DJ’s team and she had to go to her other party,” he says. “We didn’t quite get it right, but that’s just how Glastonbury goes.”
When Lipa first broke the news to Parker during a studio session in Los Angeles, “we were all jumping up and down, excited about it,” he recalls. “She also got a Friday night spot, which meant she got the rest of the weekend to party – so it was just the dream story.” At first, Parker was surprised that Lipa was asked him to share his career-pinnacle moment, but Lipa was adamant. “I remember being like, ‘Really? You want to play my whole little bangers?’ He says. “She was quite demanding – so after I double checked with her that she wanted to do it, of course I was in.”
It’s nice to share the burden of doing things
Parker describes himself as an “ambitious person” who is “always dissatisfied in a healthy way – dreaming of the next thing”, which is why he was so excited to work with Lipa on an album-length project. The two clicked at the first session in London. “The energy that Dua creates in her creative space is not about ego – we all noticed that there were no huge personalities in the room trying to dominate the process,” he says. “When you talk to other writers, they all have nightmares about people who were too big for the room.”
Parker is one of several rock producers – including Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach and underground indie legend Alex G – who have made the leap in recent years. . Nor does rock’n’roll’s long-expected transition and death mean the ability to “explore a different personality in music-making”. “It can be limiting to be distracted when you’re writing songs you’re going to sing, because you have to think about everything at once,” says Parker. “When I first had the ambition to write pop music for other artists, [I had] the idea that it doesn’t matter what you write, because you don’t say it. I quickly learned that’s not the case – you still care a lot about it, but it’s nice to share the burden of doing things.”
And how will his new pop focus affect Tame Impala’s upcoming fifth record, his first since 2020? It’s hard to say – it seems one of Parker’s main skills acquired from the pop world is to stay tight-lipped. “All I can say is that I’m working on it,” he says. “It’s not finished yet, but I think it will be soon. I love how excited I am about it – for me, with Tame Impala, if I’m not feeling inspired, there’s no fucking point in doing it.”
• APC x Tame Impala is now available
