Just Do It

Everything seems to be happening at once in the life of inveterate Melbourne singer-songwriter Stephen Cummings. His 2009 memoir Will it Be Funny Tomorrow, Billy? was made into an excellent documentary Don’t Throw Stones which debuted at this year’s MIFF, the first two albums by his pioneering ‘70s band The Sports (1978’s Reckless and 1979’s Don’t Throw Stones) are being reissued with bonus features, and he’s just dropped a solo album, Nothing To Be Frightened Of.

“It’s quietly disturbing,” Cummings ponders. “I found the film a little unsettling – I’m not quite sure why, maybe it’s a reminder that I’m getting old. It’s just a bit embarrassing, but it’s a good story and it’s very funny. I like it, but I don’t think anyone really wants to watch themselves – everyone’s done stupid things.

“Mike [Brook – director] just said, ‘I want you to read some passages from your book and that’s all,’ so I thought that there would be no chance that it would work, but he didn’t explain that he was going to get the other people to read it too and get their response. As soon as I saw that I knew that it could be very funny, it’s a really good idea. It’s been an odd time.

“I figured [if I was going to write a memoir] I’d better come out and say what’s what. Everyone’s done similar stupid things, plus I had to be harder on myself to justify doing it to other people. It’s like when you make a record because I moved on and didn’t read it again – it just kind of happened – and when I read it I sometimes go, ‘Oh, I can’t believe I said that!’ because normally I wouldn’t say the truth unless I knew someone really well. But the fact is that most of it’s the truth as I remember it. I’ve had an interesting life, it’s been alright.”

Cummings’ new long-player was bashed out in a couple of days with long-term cohort Shane O’Mara (who also shines in the Don’t Throw Stones flick).

“They’re pretty simple songs, and we rehearsed a little bit before and went in with Shane and just said, ‘Let’s just do it – I wanna sing live, you play one guitar and I want a drum machine going and that’s it, I don’t want to add anything else,’” Cummings remembers.

“So we did it in about eight hours, then Shane mixed and added some keyboards and that was it. I think it works really well. I’ve got limitations in that I don’t have much money – even though I live a slack life – and it seemed stupid to be throwing it away on a record. I can say that having wasted immeasurable money on records in the past. After you’ve been doing music for a while recording quickly like that is more interesting and exciting and things happen. If I have too much time to think about it I can get anxious, so I just do it.”