After previously facing legal battles concerning missing royalties, it seems Tame Impala has found itself in the midst of a new lawsuit. This time, front man Kevin Parker has been threatened by Samm Culley, a member of 70s funk group Skull Snaps, for allegedly sampling drums from the band's "It's a New Day." The Australian rockers recently released their third studio album, Currents, where the so-called sample can be found on the track titled "Eventually," which saw early arrival ahead of the album's July 17 debut.
Culley reached out to Parker and claimed that a musicologist had validated the charges but Tame Impala don't seem too worried. "If you don't hear from us in three days we will file the necessary papers in court against you and the record company," the e-mail reads. In fact, the group laughed it off by sharing the e-mail on social media along with a caption of: ""WOW unexpected compliment!" Parker wrote. "The creator of the famous Skull Snaps drum sample thinks my drums IS his actual sample and wants to sue me for not clearing it! Haha!! Sam Culley you have 3 days to fire your musicologist. Anyone think this could be a hoax though?"
A photo posted by Tame Impala (@tame__impala) on Aug 20, 2015 at 4:55am PDT
It's been confirmed by Pitchfork, however, that Culley's e-mail is not a hoax but Tame Impala stands by the fact that the drumming is original work from their own Julien Barbagallo. "It's a New Day" has been previously sampled a number of times by Ol' Diry Bastard, Mobb Deep, Pharcyde and Common, Billboard notes.
Currents follows up the Australian group's 2010 debut album, Innerspeaker, and 2012's Lonerism. Known for their psychedelic rock tendencies, Parker and company have decided to migrate towards a more dance-leaning album for their third release.
Compare the two tracks below--the drum segment in question comes at 4:52 in Tame Impala's 2015 track, "Eventually."
