Not Just Desserts

“I like little festivals because they're intimate; there aren't too many people there, there's not too much hoo-ha about getting in and getting backstage and so it's just so much easier. Big ones are a struggle to get around and everyone's a bit stressed; it's not like that for a small festival… The little ones are just nice, local people doing their thing,” says Custard's drummer Glenn Thompson about the band's upcoming gig at The Gum Ball. As a band who taunted fans for years by apparently actually sticking to a promise to break up many years ago (seriously, who actually does a farewell tour only to stay broken up?), thankfully sanity prevailed and they got back together in 2009, albeit for short, sharp and reasonably unpredictable shows.

“Yeah, we've done a couple of shows that have been fun and easy, two shows a year. With The Gum Ball one, we were asked and it just sounded like a great thing. I like a small festival, too,” Thompson reaffirms. The festival, now in its eighth year, is another in the small and rural series. Held towards the end of April, it sits outside the traditional festival high season of the summer or winter Splendour rushes, ensuring a bit of an oasis for those who like their music festival-y, but not overcrowded and overhyped. Set rurally and family friendly, it's about playing and enjoying music without the usual festival freakout. You can see why the boys got on board, yes?

In an effort to get a bit more context on the new show (and dirt about possible future Custard plans), this writer can't help but look for a pattern. So will two gigs a year plus a festival be the new band rule? “Oooh, there's no rules with Custard! I don't know, we haven't got anything else big planned just yet, but you never know. But definitely don't rule anything out either. There are a couple of new dads in the band now too, so I think we need to let them settle in a bit, but then we can look at the possibility of more shows and maybe even new material.”

To get the nostalgia out of the way, yes, dear reader, this writer can confirm that at the gigs so far they have played all the awesomeness from yesteryear including Apartment, Anatomically Correct, Nice Bird, Music Is Crap, Ringo (I Feel Like), Girls Like That (Don't Go For Guys Like Us) and lots of other ones you didn't remember until you heard them played again and then realised you still knew all the words. And although they could have been a little weathered (aren't we all in danger of that?), the gigs have been awesome, the tone still playful and twee, but it's still top notch indie pop, with that indescribably infectious and allusive 'feelgood' vibe. So much love remains not only for what was, but for what still is. However, was there ever a fear that the band's reformation and subsequent gigs would become about older audiences just coming to relive their yoof? (i.e. would the band become their own Custard circa '90s tribute)?

“Oh you know, whoever turns up, turns up,” says Thompson sweetly. “It was funny, maybe a year ago in the Brisbane Festival we played a gig, this young girl turned up. I don't know how old she was, but she was wearing an old Titanics shirt, which was the band Dave [McCormack, vocals/guitar] and I were in after Custard. We said, 'Where'd you get that from?' and she said, 'It's my mum's' and it was cool. Mum couldn't come along, so she got a couple of things signed for her and that was it.” Although a lesser man would be horrified by such a revelation, Thompson has no problem with intergenerational fandom (yummy mummies, yummie daddies – and their kids – all welcome, it seems). “No, it's doesn't freak me out, it probably freaks the others out [in the band], but I've done the whole kids thing ages ago, I've got kids who are grown up and have left home. So yeah, I'm sort of used to being 'the grown-up' in the band,” he laughs.

As part of his grown-up activities, Thompson has also been an off again, on again member of The Go-Betweens for years. Such a thing will maintain anyone's cred, no matter how many grown-up kids they may have. “I played with Robert Forster up until about six months ago. I'd played with him since 1994 and before Custard and after Custard I've played with him. And then when The Go-Betweens got back together, I toured around with them as well, I did lots of shows with them,” Thompson explains with a calm about such an awesome gig that only someone inside it can manage.

Thompson's also held a 'day job' at an art gallery inbetween being in two of Brisbane's biggest bands and it's the same establishment from which he's talking today. Thankfully (or not) it's a slow day for contemporary art sales, so he's able to chat. “Working in an art gallery as a day job – I've been doing it for about ten years now – and it gives me lots of flexibility to play around, so I don't mind. I used to just come in as a casual, but I feel a bit more permanent now. I'm a manager, although everyone's called a manager these days, but it's a good job, as far as jobs outside of music go. Nothing does beat rock'n'roll, but it's not bad and I'm quite good at juggling.” Although he's done a bit of 'arty' stuff himself back in the day, it seems working closely to it has kept Thompson's visual art side out, but also his music side strong. “It's one of those things; when I started working here I stopped [making art], I used to do little collages and stuff but not anymore. Now I know the mechanisations of the business so it's better that I just work in the gallery. I always tell myself that I should never work in a music shop, because I might stop playing – and I haven't and I still play.”