Cruel Sea, The - Ken Gormey of the Australian band

By: Dominick A. Miserandino

In America's music industry, there seems to be a disparity between the music that we hear in our country, and what is heard throughout this world. Many bands can sell hundreds of thousands of records in their home country and yet be entirely unknown in our country. The Cruel Sea is one of those bands. In Australia, The Cruel Sea is a number one band, selling out concert halls with ease. Their style is certainly unique, but what stands out most is the fact that they play rock instrumentals as easily as they do vocal songs. They portray themselves as more of an entire band than just a vocalist and backup musicians. What follows are excerpts from my conversation with Ken Gormey, their bassist while he was in Australia.

DM) To start off with, I have a message from Philip Lewis from L.A. Guns, who is a big fan of yours. He said he's proud of you guys and wishes you good luck.

KG) That's great. James Cruickshank, our guitarist/keyboardist, might know some people over there. He takes out a connection to the (L.A.) Gun club and people like that. We definitely say, "Thanks a lot, especially from them!"

DM) Well, the first thing that stands out on the album is the fact that it has 5 instrumentals out of 13 tracks, when even one would be considered excessive for a pop band. Why?

KG) The story is, that's absolutely part of our make-up. Musically and personally. We began life as an instrumental band. The three of us, including Dan Rumour and Tim Perkins, were in all sorts of bands together. One band in the '80's was called Secret Secret; it had begun as a sort of pop band in Sydney. In about '87 or '88, we deliberately formed a band that had no singer, because we were tired of the limitations of being three chords to support the personal and sexual politics of a lead singer. To have vocals there, they mark out the boundaries of what you're about; they pigeon-hole you. We've experienced some singers who've caused pain. They were like, there is the singer, and then there's the band. And we were too sick and tired of having a band with a singer, so then we said, "Let's have some fun, and let's be an instrumental band. First thing about an instrumental is that you don't take yourself so seriously, unless you are into a sort of "industrial urban angst", which is very boring and very fast for an instrumental band. Our personalities are very positive. What we found in instrumental music, we played surf music, we played some early '70's reggae...

DM) I noticed the band does cover a lot of musical styles. Can you give a break-down of your influences?

KG) Well, Danny Rumour turned us on to Reggae, basically. And through that, we learned the art of dynamics and space. We're mainly white Australian boys who use all of these influences. We learned musicianship and teamwork, unless there's more. Also directness and melody and folk singing--all those things that exist in most world music; it's all about music speaking to the soul. That's the sort of music we listen to in all forms. It can be Hank Williams, or West African; it can be Cajun, or it can be Jamaican. But the things we like are things with that (world music) quality. People always ask us what we listen to, but we don't listen to anything. We've been playing in bands around Sydney for 15 years. I was running around like punk in 1978, and I've seen it all come and go. I've seen it all before, and, not being a kid anymore, I think it's one thing that The Cruel Sea has going for it: we can appeal to 18-year-olds and 35-year-olds as well.

DM) How would you say the music scene in Australia differs from the American scene?

KG) The American scene is very homogenized. When I was a kid, the lines were clear. There were record companies, markets, charts. Commercial radio was perpetuating boring adult music. On the other side, there was the rest, and that was all alternative music. Nowadays, if you don't have that particular sound of Green Day and the Breeders, you're not considered alternative. To me, the alternative is as f*&%ing anal and retarded as any other format. I think, being a lot smaller in Australia, we have the opportunity to be a little less retarded.

DM) How's your popularity in Australia as compared to it in America?

KG) We're unknown in America. We have pockets of fans who are real enthusiastic through imports. It's very underground, while in Australia, we're double-platinum and whenever you turn on a radio, there we are. We're just about to release our fourth album there, while this is our American debut. We've been to Europe a few times and we have a huge following in Germany.

DM) Why do you think there is that dichotomy that American bands can go to Australia, but not the reverse?

KG) Media. We have American television programs, news, and syndicated programs shoved down our throats. We're half owned by Americans and f*&%ing Japanese and such. There's always been that paranoia that we've been the 51st state of America. One thing about Australians is that we're a mixture of English and American influence. We've been born out of the British Empire, as were you guys, and we're also receiving American ideas and television. Yet, we have a healthy disrespect for both.

DM) You've mentioned that the band doesn't focus as much on the lead vocalist but more to all the band members. What parts do you feel focus on you as the bassist?

KG) For a start, it's hard to say. The very greatest asset that we have is what people can't put their finger on... we're an absolute team. Even when people see us live, they can't tell who's making what sound. We're absolutely seamless. And the music is this big bubbling melting pot, so there aren't parts where people say, "This is mine where I do my thing." There are songs like Orleans Stomp because I have a real smooth take on that. And stuff like that... "Let's Lay Down Here and Make Love" was an experiment vocally, and the rhythm track is just outstanding and the best we've ever done.

DM) Finally, what does the name "The Cruel Sea" mean?

KG) It's from an old '60's song. There was a big hit called "Walk Don't Run", and the flip song was "The Cruel Sea", which was an instrumental. Originally, it was an English war-time novel that was made into a movie. We did make a cover of that song, which went like... (begins humming it). And so that's how we got the name.

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