Although they didn't find mega-stardom outside their homeland, Australia's The Sports certainly did cause a stir with their radio anthem, "Who Listens To The Radio?" (from their second album, Don't Throw Stones), way back in the glory days of '79. After four impressive albums and a farewell EP, The Sports disbanded in '81, allowing each member to carve out their own niche in the music world. The most prolific has been vocalist Stephen Cummings, an artist who has refused to make the same album twice and who has musically travelled great distances from the 'sound' that brought him to our attention in the first place. Outside of Australia, little is known of this enigmatic vocalist, The Sports or the Australian music scene in general. In order to get the facts, the fiction and the memories, Spaz sat down with Stephen (who is finishing up his second novel) to discuss his musical life: past, present and future.

When you first put together The Sports, did you think that in 20 years time that you'd still be involved in the music business, trying to remember exactly what went on?

Not at all. It's continued despite my interest. I put together the Sports because I was a fan and an art student and, as such, had plenty of free time. Of course, I hoped it might lead to something but my ambitions/expectations were very limited.

How did The Sports first come together and sign to Mushroom?

I think I put the group together in '76/'77 and our roadie at the time, Kieran (huge Blue Oyster Cult/Rockabilly fan), who I was sharing a house with, picked most of our repertoire. I immediately began writing songs and the group developed from there. We were very roots orientated and felt we were pretty fabulous at the time if we performed a cover up to scratch.

The Sports' first album, '78's Reckless ($$$), introduced a band that was hard to pigeonhole. There were hints of rockabilly and R&B mixed with pop and rock all dolled up in a pub rock rumble. Was this the sound you had envisioned when forming the band?

I'm embarrassed to say yes. Well, first groups are tricky things. I was just the singer and it's hard to get those musicians to do what you'd like them to do. Later, I learnt the guitar myself and could get a bit more bossy.

Guitarist Andrew Pendlebury co-wrote a good portion of the songs with you. How did that songwriting relationship work?

The original guitarist was Ed Bates, I forget where I met him, but he was a huge Captain Beefheart/Link Wray fan and I got Andrew into the line-up because he was just an awesome guitar player and had hair down to his arse, etc. Also, he was interested in more English music (ie: King Crimson, etc.) which I had a minor interest in. We wrote songs together, because we had more in common.

What are your personal feelings about this rough but impressive debut?

AAAH...everything's too fast! Actually we were pretty fucking good live. We toured with Blondie, Elvis Costello, etc., and really we were much better live than on record.

The following year, the band released the album Don't Throw Stones ($$$$), which introduced the Sports to an international audience. Were you aware during the recording of the album that this was gonna be THE album?

Well, see we never lacked confidence. At this stage, Martin Armiger had replaced Ed Bates on guitar. This was my idea because I was a big fan of Martin, who had a druggy kind of group called the Bleeding Hearts. Martin had a great harmony voice, was a very 'pop' songwriter, and was a very good rhythm guitarist in the Keith Richards mold. Martin was also the member of the group that I had most in common with on a personal level. (ie: we could have lengthy conversations about non-musical things).

We were very slack people, and this was just something else to do. Mushroom/Stiff Records arranged for Peter Solley to produce, he'd done Wreckless Eric and I think the Romantics, and we didn't think of it as a big deal. We were just hitting our stride and, in fact, had heaps more songs we could have recorded. The new producer was good because our ideas outstripped what anyone here could have done for us at the time.

Did the addition of Martin Armiger as guitarist and co-songwriter have any effect on the band's chemistry?

Martin was great and increased the originality of the group by an immense amount. He and Andrew got on really well. Which is not to say that, at times, I wasn't jealous of him.

What was your reaction to the critics comparing The Sports to Graham Parker, Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson?

Well, it was annoying because we had been working in the same area as those acts before or at the same time, and the more we went on the more we changed direction to both those acts. It was frustrating because when we played in US & England we went over very well, but critically, it didn't work. I well remember on tour with Graham Parker, Elvis Costello came to the studio we were recording at in Chiswick(?) and asked the engineer to tape all these Don Covey & other southern soul records I'd brought from Australia . . . . Get Happy was perhaps the result!

Like your countrymates Mental As Anything, you were a rock band being branded as 'new wave' and 'punk'. Was this annoying?

No.

What was the Australian music scene like back in these days? Did the bands generally get along or was their alot of jealousy towards the bands who actually had success outside of Australia?

Well, we were pretty separate from everyone else. We come from Melbourne, the best groups came from Melbourne. It was a busy scene, I guess. The only other big group is Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, who mainly come from Melbourne. Their predecessors, the Birthday Party, often supported us.

Was the success of Don't Throw Stones a hardship when it came to following it up?

Not really. We were getting rather tired by now and all those gigs were tiring me out. I was a little freaked out about it all and we did take a few drugs along the way. The main problem, as I recall, was that we were having trouble with our drummer and piano player. Both Martin and Andrew fancied themselves as drummmers and would go into the studio late at night and redo the drum parts. Basically, we were spoilt in the group and all the touring, etc., we all found rather boring. OR that might have just been me! I think I was beginning to want to move on to a different area of music.

1980's Suddenly ($$$) was another fine album but you had lost a few members by the time of it's US release. Did the band's success cause friction amongst the ranks?

Well, replacing the drum parts caused a few legal problems (Ha Ha), but really, we were always a bit delicate and we were just getting tired. For a lot of this time we didn't really have a manager or anything.

Were you happy with the album or would you have preferred a bit more time in preparing the songs?

We had plenty of songs but, because we had a bit of success, we began to worry about the money and who was writing what, etc. I'm ashamed to say I was one of the worst offenders. We probably had some better songs but I threw a mental. The others (Martin & Andrew) really had a lot more to do with how this record sounded than I did. I think I was depressed around here and spent hours in my room listening to Big Star's Third.

By the time Sondra ($$$) was released in '81, the band seemed to be going through musical changes. At the time, this fourth album seemed very eclectic but has actually stood the test of time. What was your frame of mind while recording this often jarring musical experience?

We were in good spirits again. Martin & I had gotten to be pals again. The producer was a friend of Martin's from Sydney, Cameron Allen, but really, we were pretty together by then and knew more than our producer, basically.

After this album and the Sports Play Dylan EP, the Sports disbanded. Was the parting amicable?

Yeah, though the drummers, bassist, etc. might not agree. We were pretty tired from heaps of gigs.

In '84, your first solo album, Senso ($$$$), was released. This album was keyboard-dominated and embraced a more commercial sound than any Sports album. Did you purposely try to make an album that was different enough without alienating Sports fans?

Well, at this time, I was operating under the strange idea that the less involved I was in something, the more successful it would be. Don't ask me why! I left all the recording basically to Martin, who lived in Sydney. I still lived in Melbourne. At the 99th hour, I got re-involved cause I hated the mixes. In Melbourne, I was pals with an engineer, Jim Barton, and I took everything back to Melbourne and did remixes and added crap. Jim Barton left Australia after this record and went and worked with Trevor Horn and Rush and a lot of other more famous things. But I don't like any of them, but he was very nice to me.

Why did it take so long to put out your first solo release?

I went back to university, a degree in arts/film.

This Wonderful Life ($$$) came out in '86, followed by A New Kind Of Blue ($$$) in '88. Both of these albums mixed pop and R&B successfully but your music was becoming progressively darker. Were you conscious of this change?

Yes. This was much closer to my sensibility.

On A New Kind of Blue and '89's Lovetown ($$$), you were writing with Andrew Pendlebury again. How did you two hook up for the second time?

I just rang him up, we had never fallen out. He'd just become very attracted to country music.

Lovetown was another change, musically. You seemed to have gone back to a more basic sound, getting reacquainted with your roots again. Guitars were more dominant and elements of folk and blues were more apparent. Had you become disenchanted with the limitations of keyboards?

Yes, and I was more interested in being actively involved in music: playing guitar etc. We had no money. The record was recorded in the house of the bass player from Men At Work, John.

You also seemed to be more relaxed and emotionally attached to the material. Were you more comfortable taking this 'laid back' approach to the music?

Yes, because I'd grown up listening to Bob Dylan and Townes Van Zant and all that junk.

'90's Good Humour ($$$) added a few dance-oriented tracks, but the best moments lay hidden in the darker tracks. Do you think you confused the listeners by putting these dancey numbers upfront on the album and then hitting them with the softer emotional tracks?

I've got very eclectic tastes and on this record, I worked with a Sydney jazz band called 'the Necks'. I liked that a lot. Yes, doing different stuff always confuses people but I've been stupid enough to just follow my instincts.

Unguided Tour ($$$), from '92, was more consistent musically and packed an emotional punch. Did you still feel the need to stretch yourself or were you finally feeling comfortable with the material that you were recording?

Well. I'd been working with the same band for a couple of years and it sounded just how I liked it. The guitarist's called Shane O'Mara and the girl singer is Rebecca Barnard. We had a lot of fun. Both contributed lots to the previous two records, but I wanted to make a more unified record and this is the result. I had the whole record mixed originally by Tony Cohen, an engineer/wild guy from Melbourne who has done five or six Nick Cave records, but he made us sound too swampy (like Jon Spencer Blues Explosion), so I remixed it all again. I do really like Tony Cohen, he's very amusing, but I'm fussy, I guess.

The compilation Rollercoaster ($$$$) from '93 wrapped up your career nicely at this point. Did you feel it necessary to close a certain chapter on what was and what was to come?

No. The record company wouldn't pay for me to make a new one.

The next phase in your career came with the two most consistent albums you've ever recorded, '94's Falling Swinger ($$$$) and '96's Escapist ($$$$), both produced by Steve Kilbey. How did you hook up with him?

I always liked the Church a lot. I knew an engineer that recorded the Jack Frost albums and one Church album, and he suggested that we'd get on well together and it happened from that. We both share the same birthday and got on quite well. As we were about the same age and from similar backgrounds, I trusted him. We aren't close pals, though I think I understand him very well.

Both of these albums are classic solo Stephen Cummings yet Kilbey tends to leave his fingerprints over everything he touches. Did you have a lot of input on what was happening musically on these two albums?

Yeah, I had a lot of input. The first album, Steve really contributed more than the second record: he wasn't in the greatest health and the record, in some ways proceeded despite him. Which may sound unusual considering I recorded three of his songs, but that is really a sad reflection of my and his laziness and state of mental health. I was tired, I'd just written a novel and was prettty worded out. He was having some kinda crisis. I really like Steve, though, and think he's very talented.

Do you intend to work with Kilbey again?

He's moved to Sweden to live. I've learned lots from him. I've also regained my energy now. I'm definitely keen to record myself again.

In '97, there were two compilations released of your material. This Is Really Something ($$$$) was a 2CD Sports anthology and Puppet Pauper Pirate Poet Pawn & King ($$$$) was a comp of your later solo work. Were these released to coincide with your 20 year anniversary in the business?

No. It's quite by accident. I'm not joking.

How does it feel looking back (and listening in) on two decades of music-making?

A year ago, I would have said it's not so good, but now I think it's rather good.

What can we expect from Stephen Cummings in '98? A Sports reunion perhaps?

No! Another record from me, I've set up my own studio. And a new Four Hours Sleep project, involving members from Frente, the Triffids, myself and some young people. I also have a new novel out on Random House. I ain't stopping.

Thanks to Spaz at POPsided magazine for this!