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Tame Impala Accused of Inappropriate Sampling in “Eventually”

Tame Impala’s in hot water again after being accused by Samm Culley – lead singer of 70s band Skull Snaps – of sampling the famous drum beat from Skull Snaps’ track It’s A New Day on their own hit Eventually, fresh off their new record Currents.

“Mr. Parker, my name is Samm Culley From Skull Snaps on your song Eventually you are using our drum sample from It’s A New Day you have not cleared this sample with us our musicologist says it is indeed our sample if we don’t hear form you in three days we will file the necessary papers in court against you and the record company,” writes Culley in an email signed off with “Sent from Windows Mail” and riddled with myriad spelling and grammar mistakes (sics for days).

This isn’t the first time Tame Impala has been accused of apparent plagiarism, with Chilean music site Rata claiming in 2014 that Feels Like We Only Go Backwards stole from pop singer Pablo Ruiz’s song Océano. She later admitted that the article was merely a joke.

It’s no surprise then that Tame Impala vocalist Kevin Parker has taken Culley’s warning with a grain of salt, posting it on Instagram with a less-than-serious message. “WOW unexpected compliment!” he writes, evidently chuffed that his work has been compared to It’s A New Day, which has been sampled by artists such as Common and The Pharcyde. “Sam Culley you have 3 days to fire your musicologist,” Parker jokes, “Anyone think this could be a hoax though?”

Check out the two songs for yourself below and decide for yourself. Hoax or no hoax – only time will tell!