Quick-fire Questions: 10 minutes with Grace Cummings
Grace Cummings has a voice that could haunt an empty house. On her latest single, ‘Common Man’, she belts out a rasp that feels as stark and crooked as the cowboy expanses she conjures with her wordplay. The bluesy, Western roar follows on from ‘On And On’ as the Melbourne-based musician gears up for the release of Ramona, her third full-length release since her 2019 debut.
Speaking about ‘Common Man’, she offers a flavour for the record in general: “This song is about being a colourful bird and never, ever wanting to be a pigeon. Somebody I used to know wrote a song called common man about working nine to five and coming home and having a cup of tea and going to bed, and it made me want to have a fucking panic attack. I wish I could tell people it was about riding off into the distance on the back of a white horse with a Cowboy in Austin, Texas, but it’s not.”
This dichotomy between the bold images and meek truth adds depth and an experiential lived-in quality to the song. Much like the instrumentation and performance, it boldly grapples with its context, failing to pull punches as the reality of the common man is looked at honestly. Importantly, in the end it induces awe and keeps panic attacks at bay, showcasing both Cummings’ strength as a lyricist and a melodicist.
With a string of exciting releases so far, we thought we’d picked Cummings’ brain before the release. So, we fired some quick-fire questions her way and got to know her thoughts on The Beatles, David Bowie, and ‘Baby Shark’ in the process.
Quick-fire Questions with Grace Cummings:
1. What song would you want played at your funeral?
“I’ve let a few people know this already… ‘The End’ by The Beatles. I’d like to be buried, please, and Ringo’s drum solo can lower me into the grave.”
2. What was your favourite album of 2023?
“Sam Burton – Dear Departed. I was introduced to Sam Burton through Jonathan Wilson. He produced the album, and I think it is so beautiful.”
3. What song features the greatest vocal performance of all time?
“Holy moly… this is too hard, there are too many! It depends on what is making the vocal performance great for me at the time — emotion, usually. Let’s go with these for now:
- Wilson Picket – ‘Hey Jude’
- Janis Joplin – ‘Maybe’
- John Lennon – ‘Mother’
- Nessun Dorma – ‘Pavarotti'”.
4. What song are you most proud to have written to date?
“‘A Precious Thing from Ramona’. It’s the last single. Maybe I’m proud of this song because I wrote it at a time when I didn’t think I could write songs anymore. Sometimes, I think it’s a fluke that I’ve written anything at all.”
5. What song do you wish you had written?
“I’d say ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ but that would mean I couldn’t ever enjoy it. I wish I had written (or could write anything in the realm of) ‘Space Oddity’. It’s perfect in every way. If I could wish to have just one of David Bowie’s brain cells, I’d be happy.”
6. What is the weirdest gig you’ve ever played?
“On the peak of a mountain in the Swiss Alps.”
7. Dual Question: Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever been spooked by a supernatural experience?
“I guess so? I’m not really sure I believe that anything could be true, really. I’ve been more spooked by my own brain than a supernatural experience. That’s why me and horror movies don’t mix. It’s like they open up a door of my imagination that is usually closed, and then I can’t get it shut and have to sleep with the lights on.”
8. Dual Question II: What’s your favourite soup? And what’s your favourite comfort movie?
“Pea and ham soup (made correctly by my mum) and Bridget Jones Diary. Although I do watch The Wizard of Oz, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory far too much because it’s like having a cuddle.”
9. Where is the best pun in the world?
“The best puns in the world live in the mind of ex-Australian cricketer Kerry (skull) O’Keeffe. His Mick Jagger/Frog joke is the greatest thing I’ve ever heard”.
Editor’s note: This was supposed to be ‘pub’ – very funny all the same.
10. Can you recommend an album we might never have heard?
“Horn if You’re Honky – Girlatones. This is the band of my good friend Jesse Williams, who also engineered my first two albums. I love Jesse’s songwriting and his gentle voice.”
11. What song do you hate most in the world?
“‘Baby Shark’. Just writing it down now means it will be in my head for the next ten years.”
12. What was the first song you ever learned to play?
“I don’t know if I remember the first song I ever learned to play, but the first time I think I realised I could sing was listening to ‘Car Wheels on a Gravel Road’ by Lucinda Williams. That record was on a lot when I was growing up.”
14. If you had to go on a two-week road trip with two other musicians, who would you go with, and where are you going?
“I’d go surfing up the coast with Leah Senior and Jesse Williams and eat lots of pasties. We’d go for a big walk in the forest and pretend to be survivalists and eat fish on the barbecue once we’re really really hungry.”
15. Are The Beatles overrated?
“No way, not ever, cannot be done.”
