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Stephen Cummings\u2019\u00a0 new EP,\u00a0Joy.<\/p>\nFor almost five decades Stephen Cummings has been revered as one of Australia\u2019s greatest songwriters and singers. Why the former frontman of the legendary Melbourne outfit The Sports isn\u2019t in the ARIA Hall of Fame is a travesty.<\/p>\n
The last few years have been tough for Cummings, 71, as he dealt with the aftermath of a stroke. But still he continued to write songs and create new music. The latest addition to the canon is a new EP, Joy.<\/p>\n
Stephen Cummings\u2019\u00a0 new EP,\u00a0Joy.<\/p>\n
Rather than presenting a new batch of original material, the four\u2013track release finds Cummings revisiting songs by other Australian artists \u2013 including Spectrum, Pel Mel, Jess Ribeiro and Melbourne indie act Dag \u2013 while filtering them through the unmistakable lens of his own voice.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a gentle, atmospheric record that feels less like a covers EP and more like a meditation on the music that shaped him. The project came about as Cummings was contemplating hanging up his rock\u2019n\u2019roll boots.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just thought \u2013 can I do a record?\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cAn old school friend of mine died and left me quite a lot of money, so I was able to pay for the recording myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018So I thought, I\u2019ll do an EP of covers that I really like. And what I really like is Australian music\u2019<\/p>\n
That unexpected windfall gave Cummings the freedom to make something small and personal. Working with long-time collaborator Robert Goodge, he assembled a band and mapped out a short list of songs that meant something to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just got sick of writing songs that no one much ever heard,\u201d he says with his typical disarming honesty. \u201cSo I thought, I\u2019ll do an EP of covers that I really like. And what I really like is Australian music. I always have.\u201d<\/p>\n
The four songs on Joy span more than 50 years of local songwriting. There\u2019s Living in the Balance, originally recorded in 2021 by Dag, alongside Jess Ribeiro\u2019s haunting 2015 song Unfamiliar Ground. From the post-punk archives comes Pel Mel\u2019s 1980 track No Word From China, while the EP reaches all the way back to 1971 for Spectrum\u2019s Fly Without Its Wings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not necessarily my favourite songs,\u201d Cummings says. \u201cThey\u2019re just songs that I like on a personal level. They have strong meaning for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of the spark for Joy came from seeing a new generation of Australian artists perform live<\/p>\n
That connection goes all the way back to his teenage years. Growing up in Melbourne, Cummings saw Spectrum, a progressive rock outfit, play live numerous times \u2013 an experience that left a lasting imprint.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember going to see them play in a circus tent,\u201d he recalls. \u201cA friend from art school dragged me along. We both loved them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Decades later, the music still resonates.<\/p>\n
Part of the spark for Joy came from seeing a new generation of Australian artists perform live. Cummings recently caught Leah Senior playing a show and was immediately struck by her voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe I\u2019d never heard her before,\u201d he says. \u201cShe was incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senior and her sister Andi Senior ended up contributing the EP\u2019s dreamy harmony vocals \u2014 a key ingredient in the work\u2019s luminous, almost pastoral sound.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey really lift the songs,\u201d Cummings says.<\/p>\n
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Stephen Cummings has got his joy for music back.<\/p>\n
The recording sessions themselves were refreshingly old-fashioned. After a brief rehearsal, the musicians entered a studio and tracked the EP in just two days.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe actually sounded like a band from the early \u201970s,\u201d Cummings explains.<\/p>\n
Once the sessions were finished, Goodge set about mixing the work \u2013 and just like that, Joy existed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt all came together really easily,\u201d Cummings says. \u201cAs though it was meant to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
That ease is especially striking given the aforementioned challenges Cummings has faced in recent years. In 2020, while in Brisbane, the singer suffered a stroke \u2013 an event that might have ended many musicians\u2019 careers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really know how I managed to keep singing,\u201d he admits. \u201cI had to do a lot of therapy \u2013 exercises to try and get my throat working properly again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Breathing remains a challenge, but Cummings pushed through to finish the record.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomehow I got through it,\u201d he says simply.<\/p>\n
Alongside Joy, one of Cummings\u2019 most revered works from his back catalogue is about to find a new life. His 1988 solo album Lovetown \u2014 originally released on the indie label Rampant \u2014 is being reissued on vinyl by Cheersquad Records & Tapes.<\/p>\n
Recorded in an eight-track studio in Hawthorn owned by John Rees, Lovetown marked the first time Cummings worked with key collaborators including Shane O\u2019Mara and Rebecca Barnard, alongside long-time writing partner from The Sports, Andrew Pendlebury.<\/p>\n
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Stephen Cummings\u2019 Lovetown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was aiming at a sound like John Martyn on his classic \u201970s album Solid Air,\u201d Cummings says. \u201cBecause we were limited to eight tracks, the songs had to be methodically worked out ahead of the recording. For some unfathomable reason, I was also interested in the idea of using a basic drum machine against the acoustic guitars.\u201d<\/p>\n
The result was a record that felt intimate and deeply personal \u2014 qualities that define Cummings\u2019 solo work.<\/p>\n
\u201cLovetown had a good feeling to it,\u201d he reflects. \u201cIt was done for the right reasons and motives. I just wanted to make that record. I wasn\u2019t thinking it was gonna be a big success or anything. It was more like I had the idea of that sound, that sort of sound I thought was like me.\u201d<\/p>\n
he remains bemused that neither the band nor his solo career has been fully recognised in Australia\u2019s institutional halls of fame<\/p>\n
Featuring Some Prayers Are Answered, You Jane and She Set Fire to the House, the album was met with widespread critical acclaim, topping Rolling Stone\u2019s critics\u2019 poll at the time and later earning a place at #38 in the magazine\u2019s list of the Top 100 Australian albums of the 1980s.<\/p>\n
Despite the EP\u2019s beauty, Cummings is philosophical about his place in the broader music industry. While The Sports enjoyed international success \u2013 even cracking the American charts \u2013 he remains bemused that neither the band nor his solo career has been fully recognised in Australia\u2019s institutional halls of fame.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does get frustrating,\u201d he says. \u201cSometimes I think \u2013 what do I have to do?\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, recognition isn\u2019t the main motivation these days. Cummings is more interested in small creative moments \u2013 making records when the opportunity arises, discovering new artists and occasionally stepping back into the studio.<\/p>\n
\u201cI might write some more songs,\u201d he says. \u201cFor a while I couldn\u2019t really play, but I\u2019ve started playing guitar again.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, Joy stands as a quiet but powerful addition to the Cummings catalogue as a reminder that sometimes the most meaningful records are not about chasing the next big idea, but about reconnecting with the music that shaped you.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just fun,\u201d Cummings says.<\/p>\n
After everything he has been through, that simple word might be the most fitting title of all.<\/p>\n
Joy is out through Cheersquad Records & Tapes and now streaming. Lovetown is re-released on May 1 when Stephen Cummings and his band celebrate the\u00a0re-issue in a live performance on Triple R in Melbourne.<\/p>\n