Dave McCormack (Custard) Bio
David Liam McCormack was born in 1968 at Mater Hospital in South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. He received his first guitar when he was two years old, as a present from his dad.
McCormack's first band was Who's Gerald?, named after Gerald V. Casale from Devo. The band existed from around 1986-1989 and also featured Paul Medew of Custard fame. Who's Gerald described themselves as a "Neo ethnic glam electro cow gothic psychosardonic fusion rock" outfit. The music they made was very, very bad. Despite this, the band managed to scored some high profile support slots for bands such as INXS and Sonic Youth. Who's Gerald released one 7" single, entitled Wrestle Wrestle / Gerald Is Stumbling Away Along The Highway Of Life.
When being interviewed during the 1990s about Who's Gerald, McCormack said:
Who's Gerald? was a bad band in a time of very bad music. The people in the band, although fine people now, were all idiots at the time. I was the biggest idiot of them all. All the songs, without exception, were atrocious. There are no good memories of that time. Except when we broke up.Custard
After the dissolution of Who's Gerald?, McCormack
formed Custard Gun in 1990. The band also featured
Paul Medew, James Straker (The Melniks) and
Shane Brunn (Hugbubble, Vanlustbader).
Their first gig was a BBQ at Straker's house.
They then played one 'proper' pub gig, before Straker was kicked out of the band. He was
replaced by a sprightly young bank teller named
Matthew Strong, and Custard Gun morphed into
Custard. One of the band's early bios read:
Custard's first release was the four track vinyl EP Rockfish Anna, which was issued in November 1990. A fire breathing Elvis impersonator was part of the EP's launch festivities.
Custard's debut album, Buttercup/Bedford, was recorded in 1991. It was meant to be released on CD in March 1992, but things went awry. The band, who were self-financing the project, gave all their money to an American company called "Bandit Audio", who were going to manufacture the CDs in the USA because it was cheaper there. Unfortunately, the CDs never turned up on time for the band's CD launch - forcing them to give away copies of the album away on cassettes to keep the punters happy. It wasn't until the end of 1992 that the band finally got their hands on the elusive CDs. By this time Custard had signed to Ra Records and had released their first "major label" CD - an EP called Gastanked. As a result the Buttercup/Bedford CD was only sold by mail order. (The band later re-released many of Buttercup/Bedford's songs on a compilation called Whacked Not Whacky, which they sold at gigs in the mid 90s).
Gastanked did very well for the band, peaking at #41 on the ARIA singles chart. Gastanked was followed in 1993 by another EP, Brisbane, and two singles - Casanova and the double A-side Singlette/Flanelette. By this time the band was onto its third drummer - Shane Brunn had been replaced by Grant Herrinberg, who had subsequently been replaced by Danny Plant.
Custard's debut major label album, the Wahooti Fandango, was issued in 1994. Wahooti is a slang word the band used to refer to marijuana. The video for the album's first single, Aloha Tambourinist, was the only Custard video to ever get played on Video Hits. The video, set on a beach, featured males models pretending to be Custard, while scantily clad women roll around in the sand.
"That video got more air-play for us on Video Smash Hits than any other video we'd ever made. All of a sudden everyone was saying, 'Wow, this Custard are a great looking band.’ And they're thinking, ‘This is fantastic — they're playing that new teen-beat music called Grunge'. Then they found out it wasn't us and we were probably never played again. They couldn't believe that we were pretending to be something that we're not, whereas they manufacture act after act to be something that they're not. It's just full of hypocrisy." - David McCormackWahooti Fandango was critically acclaimed. However, the band's "breakthrough hit" didn't come until October 1995, when they released Apartment, the first single from Wahooti's follow up, Wisenheimer. Apartment received a lot of airplay on Triple J, and was voted in at number 7 in the 1995 JJJ Hottest 100. At the time, it was the highest ever placing by an Australian band.
Custard's drummer woes continued. Danny Plant was kicked out of the band. He was temporarily replaced on tour by John Lowry, before eventually being replaced by Glenn Thompson. From around 1995, Custard music video Andrew Lancaster would also sometimes play with the band at their live shows.
1996 and 1997 were big years for Custard, touring Australia with
Weezer and the Presidents of the USA, and venturing back to America
(where Wisenheimer had been recorded) with to play more shows with
the Presidents. While in the USA the band also recorded album
number 4, We Have the Technology.
Nice Bird, the first single to be lifted from We Have the Technology, tanked. The second single, Anatomically Correct, faired better. However, it was the final single, Music is Crap, that captured the public's attention. The song was written and sung by Thompson, and reinvigorated public interest in Custard.
Music is Crap's follow up, Girls Like That, became the band's biggest hit. It bruised the ARIA top 50 singles chart, and came in at an impressive number 3 in the 1998 Triple J Hottest 100. The album on which Girls Like That was issued, Loverama, was also the band's most commercially successful. Loverama was the band's first album since Buttercupt/Bedford not to begin with the letter 'W' (following Wathooti Fandango, Wisenheimer, and We Have the Technology).
Through 1998 and 1999 tensions were emerging within the band, with McCormack and Thompson on one side, and Medew and party-animal Matthew Strong on the other. Strong was becoming increasingly unreliable - even getting to the point where he refused to play one gig, so the band dressed Andrew Lancaster in a hat and a wig and got him to play guitar! Custard went on a six month "hiatus" at the end of 1999, before eventually calling it quits for good a few months later. To date, the band has issued three posthumous releases: a best of compilation entitled Goodbye Cruel World (2000), a compilation of the Brisbane and Gastanked EPs (2002), and a DVD, Spaces by the Side Of the Road: A Digitial history of Custard. The DVD was completed in 2005 and slated for release then, however SonyBMG delayed its release. Spaces by the side of the Road was finally unleashed on the public in late 2007.
Side Projects
Throughout the Custard years, McCormack kept himself
busy with a number of side projects. A few of
these included:
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.
Miami - this band featured McCormack, Maureen Hansen (Dave's girlfriend for several years during the 90s), Nick Naughton and Paul Medew. The band released two CDs, Costume of Sand and Feel the Seed of Miami. The band split up shortly after David and Maureen broke up (circa 1997).
Adults Today - mostly a Glenn Thompson project, but Dave also played a few shows with them, along with his brother Dylan McCormack, Trevor Ludlow (The Melniks/Small Fantasy) and Nick Naughton. Music is Crap was originally an Adults Today tune.
Frank 'n' Stein - also featured Robert Moore and Dave's brother Dylan McCormack, amongst others.
Warm Nights - David played on Robert Forster (of Go-Betweens fame) solo album 'Warm Nights.'
Computor - a collaboration between Dave and Robert Moore that was quite electronic sounding. Computor released a tape called Floppy Disk.
The Titanics
In
April 1998, McCormack met journalist Emma Tom at an Elle
Magazine dinner. In September McCormack
proposed by email, and the couple married on October 25th
(McCormack's 30th birthday).
During 1999, McCormack formed a band called The Titanics with Tom, Glenn Thompson and filmmaker Tina Havelock-Stevens. After the break up of Custard, the Titanics became McCormack's primary musical project. The band's first album, Size Isn't Everything, was recorded at home and sold online rather than in stores. Several different versions of the CD were released (each with slightly different track lists). The band's second album, Love is the Devil, was released in late 2000. Thompson and McCormack then had a falling out, leading to Thompson leaving the band. Tom and McCormack's relationship also soured, and Tom left the band. The Titanics continued on temporarily as a three piece, with Dylan McCormack playing bass. The band played their last show at the St Kilda Festival in February 2002.
The Polaroids and beyond
After the break up of the Titanics, McCormack went solo. He issued a collection of oddities entitled The Matterhorn (2001) before recruiting a backing band called The Polaroids. To date, Dave McCormack and the Polaroids have released two albums, Candy (2002) and The Truth About Love (2004) as well as a few singles and a DVD called Save Dave (2003).
McCormack
has also kept him busy with several other musical
projects over the past few years. In 2003 he wrote the soundtrack for the film
Garage Days. David has also contributed music to
several of Andrew Lancaster's films.
In 2006, Richard Kingsmill recruited McCormack to organise a tribute concert for the late Go-Betweens identity Grant McLennan. The concert was held at the Tivoli in Brisbane and broadcast live on JJJ, and later on JTV. Impressed by the live tribute, SonyBMG then employed McCormack to coordinate a studio tribute album to the Go-Betweens. The album, Write Your Adventures Down, was released in mid 2007.
On the live front, McCormack has played live in recent years not only with the Polaroids but also Silver Machine (with Peter Fenton from Crow) and the Millionaires - a country styled outfit also featuring members of the Cruel Sea and Karma County. The Millionaires released an album in 2008 called Sentimental Horses. McCormack also plays many shows solo, or with a revolving array of "backing members" such as his brother Dylan and Nick Naughton. In July 2007, McCormack played at the historic Pig City gig, a celebration of Brisbane music. His set comprised mostly of Custard classics, dating back to Bedford.
There have been many rumours over the past few years about a Custard reunion The band members have overcome their differences, and McCormack has stated in several interviews that he would be up for a reunion show. However, he also says that it is a logistical nightmare to get all of the members together as they are dispersed around the country (and there is the question as to who would drum for the band). Don't expect a reunion show to happen anytime soon.