Much loved indie guitar pop legends Custard (or ‘Custaro’ due to often misreading’s of the band’s name) are back after a 16 year hiatus and are heading to Cairns to serve up their sweet, witty and outlandish hits at The Tanks Arts Centre on Friday 24th June.
Part of the wave of Brisbane bands that came through in the ‘90s, Custard released five albums and notched up a bag of memorable hits including ‘Apartment’, ‘Anatomically Correct’, and ‘Music is Crap’ during a decade long run. The band developed a cult following, playing countless shows around the world and won an ARIA Award for Best Video for their track ‘Girls Like That (Don’t Go For Guys Like Us)’. The band last came our way in 1999 when they performed at the Kuranda Amphitheatre alongside fellow Brisbane band Regurgitator.
“It’s been a long long long time since we’ve been in Cairns. So we’re pretty excited to be coming back. It was 99 when were we last there, and we are definitely looking forward to being in some warmer weather!” said bassist Paul Medew.
Performing together again after a 16 year break, Paul explained a different feeling during the second stint of the band.
“It’s great this time around because there is little pressure. You know we don’t have to worry about touring to make money or writing songs for record companies. We’re doing it for ourselves. So it definitely makes it easier on us and very enjoyable”.
Since reuniting, Custard recorded a new album in 2015 called “Come Back, All Is Forgiven” with the band being named as one of the top 20 played artists on Double J for the year.
“When we did this album we had no expectations at all, we simply did it because we could. We did everything ourselves and recorded it at Glenn’ s (drummer Glenn Thompson) studio so it didn’t cost us anything. When it came out it was really pleasing because a lot of people seemed to like it and it got a lot of good reviews”.
They’ve come a long way since Custard’s debut album, Buttercup/Bedford, which was recorded in 1991 and originally meant to be released in March 1992. Unfortunately for the band the CDs never turned up on time for the album launch which forced the guys to give away copies of the album away on cassettes to keep the punters happy. The band didn’t even get the CD’s till the end of 92, well after the release of their next EP ‘Gastanked’.
“It was ridiculous looking back on it. We’d done a record ourselves which we were planning to release (Buttercup/Bedford), but it never turned up and in the meantime we’d be signed to record company, who in turn released a new record (Gastanked). It was all a bit ridiculous but that’s the music biz. We ended up handing out a few cassettes that we’d copied ourselves at the original launch. Maybe we should bring out Cassettes again (laugter).
Custard performs at The Tanks Arts Centre on Friday 24th June. Doors open 6.30pm, Show starts 7.30pm. Support from Benny & The Clones. Tickets from Ticketlink.
Mitch Sullivan
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