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 Amongst a small crowd of afternoon drunks, TEX PERKINS assures ANNA ANGEL that THE CRUEL SEA hasn’t tempered yet.
Tex Perkins has one of those charismatic voices that defies genre and logic, and even carries over the 1pm din of a local pub – almost. Using his gruff, distinctly Australian timbre, the one-man powerhouse has fronted a number of successful outfits, including Beasts Of Bourbon and The Cruel Sea.
While The Cruel Sea was born in late ‘80s Sydney as an instrumental-only group, the unlikely addition of Perkin’s rock swagger was an Aria-winning, hit-producing fusion. Ever since he first put words to their music, other projects have intersected The Cruel Sea’s releases – but they’re borderline commitment-phobic nowadays. There ain’t no ring on this finger, at least, and they’re content with nothing resembling “a proper career”. After a five year hiatus in 2003, which Perkin’s attributes to “playing so much we took the joy out of it”, they now only perform around three gigs a year. Perkins, who is currently touring with The Man In Black – The Johnny Cash Story, is taking a break in March for a Gold Coast gigs with his Cruel Sea bandmates, Jim Elliot, Dan Rumour, and Ken Gormley.
Impatient fans may have hoped these shows were a signal to an upcoming release, an idea that Perkins quickly dismisses. He blames their reluctance to write new material on the tedium of releasing, promoting, and touring that follows the initial creative burst, sounding exhausted at even explaining the process. It may be a while before the boys start honing another record, with an elusive, if not quite reassuring promise from Perkins that they will “eventually write some songs, and probably record them”.
With a future that vague, what can The Cruel Sea’s many wives and mistresses hold on to but memories of the days of young, passionate love? “You’ll hear some obscure tracks from our back catalogue – it’ll basically be the songs we enjoy playing. I think that will correspond with the songs that people expect us to play.” Perkins says the tracks now come so naturally to them, a quickie catch-up rehearsal is all they’ll need. “The Cruel Sea is hard wired into our DNA; I think we’ve all done it in our sleep.”
Perkins is a hard man to pin down to one project or musical style, and he’s moving on to more unfamiliar territory after his stint as Cash. “For me, it’s a whole new landscape out there, now I don’t have a record company; I’m free of the shackles of Universal,” he says. “It’s a matter of deciding what kind of record, and what kind of band I’m creating. I just keep writing until I’ve got a big pile of songs, and I’ll throw a match on it, and whatever burns, I’ll record.”
With all the spontaneity and abandon of a true rock legend, Perkins leaves me with that sentiment, resigned to the fact that a pub, with what sounds like a growing number of banshees in the background, is not an ideal place to hold an interview. They sure know how to leave you wanting more.
THE CRUEL SEA play the Quicksilver Pro Weekend at the Coolangatta Hotel on Saturday Mar 6, supported by The Fearless Vampire Killers. www.texperkins.net
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