Stephen Cummings continues to deliver fine albums thirty years into a stellar career. From his days fronting The Sports through to his latest release, Happiest Man Alive, Cummings continues to impress with fine melodies and three-minute stories that often play out like clever film noir.
Now in his mid-50’s, Cummings maintains an impressive rate of artistic output. His new album was recorded quickly with the help of bassist Bill MacDonald and former Ferret’s front man, Billy Miller.
A large part of the Cumming’s legend has always been his indifference to fame. In his heyday with The Sports, the band were signed by A&R legend Seymour Stein while the likes of Mick Jagger and Billy Joel were added to the guest list.
If anything Cummings seems far happier now – working away in Melbourne and still seeking to capture the perfect pop song. A bone fide enigma, his latest album is his 20th.
Of the new album, his candor is revealing.
“I think it’s my best record yet,” he deadpans. “We recorded it live in the studio in two days, and then mixed it in a day. There are handclaps, Gibson guitars, literary illusion, songs about shagging, death, media manipulation, writers, painters, artists and the cult of forgetting which society appears to operate on.”
Cummings entered the project with a clear idea of what he wanted the material to sound like from the outset.
“Mostly I perform in an acoustic format,” he continues. “I had an idea of making a pop acoustic record. Some say the death knell has sounded for the album. I disagree. Albums should never exceed 40 minutes in length. Years ago, I heard a bootleg of Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello demos. Two guitars, rocking hard: add stylish harmonies. [They were] great. Frankly, these demos were superior to official releases by either artist. That was my starting point.”
Cummings has recently written about his influences on the record: “What I did was write songs about artists and music that has moved me,” he penned. “As a teenager with questionable standards of cleanliness I would collect Raymond Chandler and Henry Miller novels. Both their works have coloured my life. The various dramas, both natural and man-made happening across the globe have had an effect. As well, the past year my mother has been unwell, moving in and out of hospitals. This has been a drag – obviously more for her than me. Many of the songs have their seed in musing about mortality.”
Also in the works for Cummings is his third book, Mister Transistor. A memoir, the book contains fifteen 5000-word essays about music and life. The book pulls no punches and will be released early next year.
Hardly ready to rest on his laurels, Cummings recently composed the music for the feature documentary, Not Quite Hollywood.
Stephen Cummings’ The Happiest Man Alive is out now through Head Records.
