The Cruel Sea: Beer We Go!

The Cruel Sea play the National Festival Of Beers at the RNA Showgrounds on Sunday.

Cruel Sea bassist Ken Gormley is celebrating his birthday. Actually, he’s having a coughing fit.

“Oh God… Lord help me… I’m a bit hung over actually. I went out a saw (Tex) Perkins playing in the Dark Horses last night, and of course it got very beery. I really enjoy being a punter,” he explains. “The band’s perception of the show is like ‘oh, I made that mistake in such a song’, but at the moment I can be a punter and go, ‘that was really good, shut the fuck up’, you know.”

“You can come off stage thinking things were brilliant and have people go, yeah, okay… other nights you can have the shits and be thinking about how you have to go to Centrelink or something, just generally have a bad head on and play shithouse and people will say it was fucking fantastic. It’s good to be a punter, especially with free beers to be had.”

Tex’s gigging with the Dark Horses (and recording of their new album) leaves The Cruel Sea to get back to their roots. Originally formed as an instrumental act, The Cruel Sea have recently worked through a series of national dates once again without a vocalist, in fact this weekend’s Brisbane gig will be their first with Tex at the helm once again. But them important question remains... Will Tex be returning the favour and checking out some of The Cruel Sea’s instrumental gigs?

“He will, actually. He’ll be in Melbourne recording while we’re there for instrumental gigs. He can have a break and come down and drink our beers. We’re really doing the shows for something to do. It’s really good all round. It’s good practice and good form to play that kind of stuff, so when we get back together it’s fresh. After all this time there’s no politics involved. I was always surprised that people would be confused about it. It’s a perfectly natural thing.”

Last year saw the release of Where There’s Smoke, a best of The Cruel Sea compilation, featuring tracks from Three Legged Dog onwards. On the near horizon is a new disc containing rare tracks, live material and obscure B-side recordings.

“About a year ago Where There’s Smoke came out, and we did a run of shows and whatever. Before we went back to the top paddock we decided to do a bit of recording so we could possibly have something out to interrupt the two-year cycle of studio albums. We went up to The Zoo and recorded three gigs up there, and then dragged some mobile recording stuff up to James’ place at the back of Byron. We played pretty much what came off the top of our heads for three days with a mind to putting something out. It’s some covers, some old stuff and some rare B-sides that only the 300 or so people that buy our singles would know.”

“When you listen to it, there’s no mistaking what it is. A relaxed, out of school kind of thing. It scrubbed up well, and we really like it. It was pretty off the cuff, and although it may not be a zeitgeist kind of record, it has the essence of The Cruel Sea, if you know what I mean.”

As mentioned previously, this weekend finds the band in full steam once again, and appropriately enough, they’re closing the proceedings on the National Festival Of Beers at the RNA Showgrounds.

“We’re a lager nation,” Ken enthuses. “In our early days, our pioneering days, all the beer making processes didn’t work, and once we got the refrigeration thing, we were able to make lager. I’m sure we make some of the best lagers in the world.”

Sounds like you’ve been doing a bit of research there…

“I have been. I’ve been in the field… Actually I didn’t drink myself for many years, and I’ve just re-discovered it. It’s funny to be a forty-year-old man wrapped up in the wonder of beer is a gift. I love beer,” he laughs. “God, I sound like Homer Simpson.”