Dave McCormack remembers Five Albums That Changed His Life. Well, that's what he's supposed to be doing anyway. Along the way, the legendary Custard frontman discusses his philosophies on downloading and production and grills Junior editor Rohan Williams about his dad's record collection.

Dave McCormack: Now, Junior Magazine. Tell me about Junior Magazine?
Rohan Williams: Junior Magazine is a national street press mag. To give you some idea where we're at, the first three cover acts have been Gorillaz, Phoenix and Tool.
So it's a bit mainstream, but it's still got an alternative vibe.
Yeah. So, basically, we focus on bands that are pretty cool and that a lot of people know.
I got ya. So I fit right into that mould! I'm cool, and everyone's heard of me.
Well, the Custard reunion gig ['Float On', a flood relief show at The Hi-Fi] sure sold out pretty quick the other day.
I know, that was incredible. What'd it sell out in, a day?
Yeah.
We should have done a bigger venue! Oh, well, come on, we can't be greedy. But it's a good cause. When I was watching the floods last week, I was thinking, we're going to have to get Custard to do something to raise some money for this. This is shocking. I'm glad that it's all been pieced together; it's exciting.
Yeah. It makes sense that you would think that, because you're the frontman of Custard, but there was a very weird moment during the floods where my girlfriend turned and said to me, what are Custard going to do? 
No, you know, she's got her head screwed on right. That's very good. That's good thinking. But, you know, it'll be fun! Me and Matthew, Paul and Glenn, we were all born and bred in Brissie. And obviously with Custard from 1990 to 1998, we were based up there. We did all of our early gigs there, we did everything there. And look, to be honest with you, Rohan, I'm happy to play again with the band for this cause.

Did you have friends who were affected by the floods?
My friend Seja had to seek refuge. She was in East Brisbane, so she was affected. But look, all the McCormack family, we all got away pretty much unscathed, so that's good. But it was pretty hectic. Will you come along to the gig?
Yeah, absolutely.
You've gotta be there. You've gotta be there, Rohan.
Absolutely.
Now, what are we doing? Five albums that changed my life?
That's the one! I was hoping they'd briefed you.
Yeah, I've made a list! I've made a list, I've got a list here. So should we just start?
Yes, let's do that.

You're familiar with Pavement, aren't you?
Yeah.
You know their Wowie Zowie album?
I'm not overly familiar with it.
It's a great one. It came out on double vinyl, but the fourth side was blank, which I thought was brilliant. It was like an album and a half. But I don't have it on vinyl, I've got it on CD. From go to whoa, it's so loose, it's so chaotic, and the songs are so good. And the songs make no sense at all. It just seems like he's cut words out and pasted them in any order that feels right, but I love it.
It was recorded in Memphis. It was recorded in Easley Studios in Memphis, which is the reason Custard went over to do We Have The Technology there. I loved that album so much, I wanted to go to the same studio and use the same engineer and the same equipment. I was quite obsessed with them for a while. So that would be my number one.
Just out of curiosity, on the CD, did they have half a disc of nothing?
No, it was just on a single CD, you see. It must have been that annoying length. How much can you fit on a vinyl album, is it 33 minutes? 34 minutes?
Something like that, yeah.
So it must have been at that length where they couldn't quite fit it on one album so they had to have one and a half albums.I thought that was brilliant. It's just so wasteful and so indulgent. I love it.
It's usually so arbitrary, the length of time an album goes. It's like the newspaper, you know, there's always just enough to fit inside the newspaper that day.
I never thought of that! Yeah, you're right! That's true! Like on the 6o'clock news, there has to be half an hour of news. That's weird.

See, now, in this world, Rohan, with iTunes, we don't have to worry about that anymore. Do you think people will still be putting out albums, or will they just be putting out a couple of songs on iTunes?
We had a feature on that a few issues ago. I think people will always make albums to anchor the promotion.
Look, I put an album out at the end of 2009, and I would like to go on the record saying that might be my last CD release. I guess you have got the promo issue; you've got to release a couple songs at once to make it worth doing. I couldn't be talking to you if I only had one song on iTunes. You need to have, let's call it a virtual EP; six songs or eight songs.
Yeah.
I haven't bought a CD in years. I can't remember the last CD I bought.
You're not alone, if all the CD shops shutting down are any indication.
iTunes is so convenient! I find if I'm interested in something, I'll go to iTunes, I'll preview it, I'll say, okay, this is good, I'll buy it. And then if it's really good, I'll go out and buy the CD because I want to have the lyrics and satisfy that collector's attitude of having a CD. But generally I just tend to download tracks I enjoy.

Do you ever illegally download anything, Dave?
No, of course not. But if people send me an e-mail and say, oh, 'your album from so-and-so, I really like that track, where can I get it?' I just send them an MP3. And then I say, if there's anything else you want, let me know. Because I'd rather have people hearing it. I'd rather people just listen to it and enjoy it.
It encourages people to come to the shows as well, even if you just look at it from a purely financial point of view.
It's a promotional tool. Get it out there. But I think there's something greater at stake. I reckon most people make music because they want people to hear it. I just want people to hear it. And if they want to go and buy a CD, if they want to go and track one down, that's cool. But if they just want to share it with their friends I'd like to think there'd be a pocket of people in Loganholme who are sharing MP3s of mine. Or Auchenflower, or Beenleigh. Or down the coast in Tugun, if there were people sharing David McCormack MP3s or Custard MP3s, I'd love that. Little splinter cells. 
Would they focus on different eras, these splinter cells? Like Beenleigh's really into the Polaroids? 
Yeah, and they hate Custard. In Beenleigh they hate Custard but they love The Polaroids. In Loganholme, they love the early Custard stuff but they don't like the mid-period stuff.
And there are Sharks Vs Jets turf battles over it?
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's very territorial. I'd like to think that. They'd have parties where they'd be drinking wine and talking about the merits of one period over another period, and then sitting down and saying, 'I know you think that, but listen to this song'. And then they'd go, 'wow, you've corrected me. You were right.'

Okay, so Pavement, number one, and then...
I love the first Devo album, Are We Not Men? We Are Devo! Are you familiar with that album?
I am.
Isn't that a classic? I love that one. It's produced by Brian Eno. I read the Devo book, there's a Devo book called, strangely enough, We're All Devo - and they go into the troublesome making of that album. Devo had demoed it all up, and they were so strict in how they wanted to sound, and then Brian Eno came in. He'd worked with Talking Heads; later worked with U2 and everyone like that.
He came in with his ideas and the band said, 'nah, just make it sound like our four-track recordings. Make it sound like that.' So I don't know if he actually got to do much producing, but Brian Eno's a good name to have on your record.

If you had the chance to work with a Brian Eno, would you just want him to make it sound like your old stuff?
Look, my idea with producers is that if you get someone in and you pay for them to do a job, let them do it. With Custard, I was always very much like that. It was like, yeah, Magoo, do what you want to do. I'm always one for handing it over to someone else to get their input. I'm a strong believer in that. The more the merrier.
If the song's written, let's see what other people can throw at it, let's see what ideas they have. I love that stuff. I'm not one of those people who gets someone in and then tries to stand over their shoulder.
Like on Little Murders, for example, I recorded it over a long period of time with lots of different producers and engineers, but when it came to the mix, Magoo did a few mixes, and I just sent him up the ProTools session and he sent me back the final mix. I wasn't even there. You've got to trust people.
You'e got to trust people and know what they can do, and give them room to do what they want to do. I've done a little bit of production here and there, and I insist that if I produce something, I'll be with the band when they're recording it, but then I just want to send them the final mix. I don't want them there in the studio with me. What's the point of that? They should do it themselves if they want to do that. Anyway, we digress.

Now, my third album is quite obscure. It's by an Irishman called Kim Connor. He was based in Brisbane in the '70s, and he passed away in the late '80s or early '90s. His album was One More Road. It's Brisbane adult contemporary pop from the late '70s. It's really slick, and for a long time it was derided. You know like how people used to look at Fleetwood Mac and say, 'oh god, it's so '70s, but now it's come back with bands like Phoenix, who sound a lot like that. Kim Connor's album One More Road has got that style, and the songs are brilliant. It's a little bit funny and a little bit sad, but the production and the songwriting is second to none.
It'd be a hard one for people to find; I've got a bootleg copy on CD. It predates CD. But I'd like people to listen to that album. If people are reading Junior Magazine going, 'hmm, what should I listen to? I'd go Kim Connor, One More Road.

Nice. How did you first come across it?
My dad had a copy of it in the early '80s. He had it on vinyl. I don't know what it was like at the Williams household, but did your mum and dad play music that got into your head?
Yeah, absolutely.
What was being played at the Williams household? Simon and Garfunkel? The Beatles? Bob Dylan?
A lot of The Beatles, sure, but also some pretty terrible stuff.
Like what?
Phil Collins. There was a lot of Phil Collins.
Oh, god!
I don't know if I could name five Phil Collins songs, but I could sure as hell sing along with them on the radio.
What else are we talking? John Farnham? Mondo Rock?
Oh god, they loved John Farnham, yeah.
What era are we talking about? Are we talkin' the late '80s, early '90s?
Yeah, I was born in '86.
Right. So in the mid '90s, your parents were listening to John Farnham, Phil Collins, Roxette?
Most of the damage was done before then, but yeah, I'm pretty sure there was some Roxette. Dad was also big into Bryan Ferry.
Oh, cool! 'Love Is The Drug', 'Let's Stick Together', oh, that's great.

So you were born in '86, so when you were ten it was '96. You would have missed the whole Custard thing, Rohan!
I did, but I've caught up with most of it after the fact.
We broke up when you were 14, so you might have just been getting into us. That's when you start to get into more alternative music, isn't it?
Yeah. I missed Custard, but...
But you're caught up on the general gist of it by now.
Yeah, and my girlfriend went to an all-ages show you guys played at the PCYC in Ipswich.
Yeah, yeah, I remember it. I remember that show. That's great.

So you went from Bryan Ferry to... what? Did you go down the Nirvana path? Smashing Pumpkins? Red Hot Chili Peppers?
I was a bit of a late bloomer, Dave. I got into a lot of stuff through The Vines' first album, Highly Evolved.
Great album.
It is a great album, and it's also a great gateway album, because its influences are so clear and obvious.
Look, it is derivative, but they did it so well. It just sounds good, and it's rockin', and his voice and his guitar playing are brilliant. I really like The Vines.
Have you heard their new song?
How new is it?
Like, today or yesterday?
I heard some rough mixes of an album they were doing about three months ago. What's the song called?
'Gimme Love'. It's produced by Chris Colonna.
Yes, I have heard those recordings! A friend of mine was working on them, so he showed me some rough mixes. I remember thinking it was a return to the first album.
Yeah, that's exactly what the single sounds like.
Okay, I'll illegally download it this afternoon.
You don't need to! They're streaming it legally.
Oh, cool.

So what've we got, we've got Kim Connor, we've got Devo, we've got Pavement, what's next? Kraftwerk, Computer World. That's the one with 'Pocket Calculator' on it, which I think is one of the best singles ever. Just go to YouTube and look at 'Pocket Calculator', everyone. It's so minimal, it's so Germanic, it's so weird, I fucking love it. Oh, hey, can you hear that beeping sound?
Yeah.
You know what's going on? The next interviewer's trying to call me. So we've got Kraftwerk's Computer World, and my last one is The Fauves, The Young Need Discipline. I think it was their second album. It came out in '94. The Fauves, they're from Melbourne, they're still going. Great band, great album.
Did it have a big influence on your own music?
Yes! All of these albums have influenced me more than I care to admit.
Nice. Alright, man, we'll let you go. See ya!
See ya, Rohan!

Custard play Float On at The Hi-Fi on Sunday February 6 with Regurgitator, Screamfeeder, Kate Miller-Heidke, Hungry Kids Of Hungary, Gentle Ben & His Sensitive Side and Little Scout. Dave McCormack plays Between The Bays at Victoria's Mornington Peninsula on Saturday February 26.