A Blog to share the sometimes rare, sometimes unusual,
but always sublime music from Australia,
from the 70s to now.
With a particular interest in Brisbane Music
At the time I thought we were cool cuz the Gobetweens had a girl on drums, and so do we.
Dave McCormack
Dave McCormack's first band Who's Gerald from way back in the mid 80's. I've posted on them before, but Lee has kindly sent some rare tracks of the band to me. Thanks Lee
Now over to Lee
Banging in my Ear and You Really Got Me were recorded by me at Creative Space studios late 1986 I think. Cowboy was a demo the guys recorded themselves around the same time. These were recorded with their original line up, Dave, Paul, Cathy and Glen.
01 - Banging in my ear 02 - Cowboy 03 - Really got me
"I have Powderfinger on my iPod, I run to some Powderfinger songs and I'm less familiar with Custard's work but I know they are a band that's enjoyed a good reputation"
Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh
Custard will reform for one show only in their hometown of Brisbane in December. The Dave McCormack-helmed outfit, who split in 1999, have been invited to perform at a Q150 Proclamation Day concert at the City Botanic Gardens on December 10. The event, which celebrates 150 years since Queensland was declared a separate colony to NSW, has been curated by Powderfinger, who convinced Custard’s “most popular” incarnation to reform for the show. Other acts performing include local up-and-comers The Cairos, The Middle East and Yves Klein Blue.
Yes its true, the fabulous Custard are playing a one off show this December. One of the funnest bands I have ever seen. Daves got a new album coming too, so theres a bit of activity in the McCormack camp, which is great news. I'm excited to have found a recording of Dave McCormack and the Polaroids playing the Sounds of Spring Festival at the RNA Showgrounds in Brisbane last weekend, Sep 26th 09. He plays quite a bit of Custard. Thanks Chris for the heads up on this important gig.
Released in 1992 independently by Custard after winning the Australian Academy of Music's Encouragement Award in 1991 they used the Encouragement Award's prize of $500 recording time to put down about 13 songs in eight hours, most of which comprise Buttercup/Bedford, the band's first album.
The dual title refers to the fact that some of the artwork calls the album "Buttercup" while the rest calls it "Bedford." The CD was held up eight months in manufacture, lost somewhere in Canada. In the meantime, after a handful of tours to Sydney and Melbourne, Custard secured a recording deal with new label RA, a subsidiary of rooArt RA wanted to release an EP. Custard insisted on "Bedford" being used from the "Buttercup" sessions, and, therefore, Gastanked, Custard 's debut RA EP, consists of one pre-record company track and five new tracks. This album is a great example of that indy spirit and is bloody hard to find these days.
Track list 01. Bedford 02. Island Wedding 03. Delerious 04. Fuming Out 05. Charlie Brown 06. Psychobilly 07. 'C' is for Cookie 08. Anna Lucia 09. D-E-A-F 10. Shannon 11. I Live by the River
The work of David McCormack becomes sublime at the point of his work with the Polaroids. This band is unreal and this is an excellent recording of a night they were firing on all cylinders. There's some of their best as well as the Custard track "Girls Like That" a cover of the Iggy Pop tune I'm Bored. Recorded here in his home town at the wonderful Zoo, give this a listen you won't be disappointed.
And here's my song of the moment, a wonderful track, a perfect pop song that says it all.
Who Can It Be - David McCormack
I've been sleeping for a long time on my own, and then you came and let me in. Suddenly, suddenly, suddenly on the phone, Your calling up to see if I'm back.
Look at me, look at me, look at me,looking at me, It'd have be you, It'd have to be me. Look at me, look at me, look at me,looking at me, It'd have be you, It'd have to be me.
I check my watch to see if my time is wrong, I never meant nothing I didn't write myself. I can hit rewind or I can hit play back, But don't look up or down And don't look back.
Look at me, look at me, look at me,looking at me, It'd have be you, It'd have to be me. Look at me, look at me, look at me,looking at me, It'd have be you, It'd have to be me.
Pinch my arm to let me know that I am here Then all is said and done Pinch my arm to let me know that I am here Then all is said and done
Look at me, look at me, look at me,looking at me, It'd have be you, It'd have to be me. Look at me, look at me, look at me,looking at me, It'd have be you, It'd have to be me.
Track list 01 I'm Going to Execute Your Ex-Boyfriend 02 Who Can It Be 03 The Inner West 04 Girls Like That, (Don't Go For Boys Like Us) 05 The Truth About Love 06 Millionaire Adventurer Balloonist 07 If You Leave Me and The Park 08 You Broke My Heart 09 I'm Bored
Bazzil from the most wonderful Prehistoric Sounds blog has sent me this rare and fantastic cassette to post. Many thanks to Bazzil, now get over to his blog now if you haven't seen it. Here
This is what he has to say about this
It's a cassette of David McCormack's old Band COW. I got this off a chap I worked with years ago. I remember seeing them play one night at a Spanish restaurant in Little Edward Street sometime in the 90s, back when I was living up the road in Spring Hill. It was a great night, lots of sangria, beer and Spanish food.
That sounds like a great night! I saw COW myself at some Livid festival, They were backing Robert Forster and did the most brilliant extended version of Danger in the Past.
COW - which stood for Country Or Western. Also featured Glenn Thompson (Custard/The Titanics/Go-Betweens) and producer extraordinaire Robert Moore, as well as about a dozen other people! COW released one CD, called Beard, in 1995. In 2006, Dave and Robert Moore collaborated on a new COW single called "The Chicken Dance" featuring Rob Hurst of Midnight Oil fame on drums. There were only 50 copies produced. They are hard to get.
Track list 01 Concrete Boot Stomp 02 Bob's Blues 03 Tallow Beach 04 Lowryhorn 05 Cow Music 06 Mother Song 07 Green Acres 08 Stormy 09 Things Are Gonna Get Better
I love me some Dave McCormack, he's so cool and isn't this a brillant recording. Starting with "Since she started to ride" a song Jonathan Richman started his brilliant Jonathan Goes Country album with. I love Jonathan Richman, its a love affair that goes back 25 years, Dave reminds me a lot of Jonathan. Take his version of "I'll never fall in love again"
What do you get kiss a girl You get enough germs to catch pneumonia And when you do she'll never phone ya Oh I'll never fall in love again
Not my person experience mind you , quite the opposite, but funny. Oh and a great cover of Robert Forster's The Circle. Dave has worked a lot with Rob and played on his Calling From A Country Phone album. Do you think that top photo is real? Boy that's funny Track list 01 Since she started to ride 02 Anatomically Correct 03 Always Greener 04 Girls like that 05 One Day 06 I'll never fall in love again 07 Your Woman 08 Millionaire Adventurer Ballonist 09 The New Matthew 10 Apartment 11 Hello Pussycat 12 Dirty Jeans 13 Livin' Lavida Loca 14 The Circle
Coming to you from Brisbane the home of the striped sunlight sound, this is a my little place in cyberspace to share the music of Australia which may have passed you by. Mostly rare and out of print albums from artists that never made it into the mainstream and my recollections concerning them. If you like something please leave a message in the comments, if you don't, maybe you'd rather not see your music here, or maybe my recollections are wrong, please leave a message too. If you find any links no longer work please let me know and I'll fix it I'm on myspace you can find me at myspace.com/stripedsunlightsound and if you prefer facebook.com/people/Bob
At the time I thought we were cool cuz the Gobetweens had 
