David McCormack interview
David
McCormack is my hero. I know he never won an Olympic gold
medal, never saved poverty-stricken children from burning
buildings, but for me his was an even greater feat: he
filled my adolescent mind with the joy of pop music. Sure, I
might have grown up on the angst-ridden hostility of grunge,
but for many years Custard was the light shining through the
tunnel of doubt, the sweetness to combat any sorrow. And
luckily for me, even five years after that band's break-up,
he's still recording - and whatever it is that he had, he's
still got it.
"I feel honoured to have featured in your mind for eight
years," he exclaims, after hearing my personal story. I also
tell him Custard played at the first show I ever went to.
"Oh yeah, with Swervedriver [and Powderfinger, and
Screamfeeder...] I remember that big gig. Yeah, that was fun
- that was probably just before we broke up, wasn't it? I
guess we broke up in '99..."
Since then, McCormack's thirst for songwriting has remained
unquenched. Only a short while after the end of Custard he
formed The Titanics, whose debut/only album 'Love Is The
Devil' almost topped the heights of Custard's swansong 'Loverama.'
Then that band kicked the bucket, so McCormack went out on
his own, recording the electronically-infused 'The
Matterhorn', before bringing yet another band together, The
Polaroids, for 2002's sensational 'Candy.' So with that
history, it's quite amazing that this band has stuck around
for a second album.
"It's a bit of a record, isn't it, going on recent form?" he
wryly chuckles. "I guess I've been enjoying changing as much
as possible, whenever I want. But I guess two albums with
the same band, these days for me it's quite a feat! I enjoy
writing songs. I sort of have this need to write songs, and
then once I've accumulated enough songs that's when I put
out an album under some sort of name, whether it's 'The
Matterhorn' or 'Candy,' or - what's the new one called? -
oh, 'The Truth About Love'."
The new record, might I add, is an absolute corker, up there
with 'Loverama' and '...The Devil' as some of the best work
he has ever done. I guess that means that he just improves
with age. "I guess I am getting pretty long in the tooth,
I've been doing it, shit, for fourteen years! So yeah I've
been doing it for a while, but I still like it, I don't
really tour as much as... well, as much as I used to. I
haven't been to Adelaide since 2002 when we played at Bar
107. That was weird, there, that was a hotel foyer! Is that
still a venue?"
That leads me to another important part of the David
McCormack experience - the man himself is one of the most
entertaining performers in the country.
"I don't mind it, I don't mind giving it a go!" he laughs. I
mention that the first time I saw Custard play, I remember
him jumping into the sizeable and quite raucous crowd to
serenade an unsuspecting punter.
"Did I, really, where at? At the [Adelaide Uni] Cloisters?
Wow, it sounds like I was having a good time. I might have
to do that again. I must at least equal that performance
next time I come to Adelaide!"
The other defining feature of The New David McCormack,
post-Custard, has been his independence from the bustle of
major record labels. Funnily enough, in his mature wisdom
that desire seems to have subsided.
"Now I'm back on a record label. After doing everything
myself for three or four albums, it is great to have a
record company. I'd forgotten how much... especially within
a very enthusiastic indie record label like Laughing Outlaw,
after being this sole light in the dark it's great to have
someone else there holding a few candles. Like someone else
who can make a few posters or book an ad, or take it into a
radio station, instead of me having to do it all. It's
great, I'm feeling like a rock star again."
Ben Revi