The fact that The Cuckoos have been able to record their debut album, ‘Tell The Moon Not To Cry’, is a miracle in itself as the members are spread right across the Australia. Mind you the album which calls upon blues, folk, country, rock and even punk roots sounds absolutely brilliant.
So how long have you guys been together? “In this current incarnation we have been playing together for approximately six years. The Cuckoos don’t conform to the normal band structure, mainly due to our different geographic locations, but we connect and gel musically, which, in the end, is the most important part of being a band. Our name comes from a book by John Wyndham called “The Midwich Cuckoos”
Being spread so far apart must make gigging hard? “We currently do not play live as Wolf lives in Adelaide, Alastair lives in Perth and Graeme lives in Sydney, but with modern technology we can write music together. Music truly is global.”
So how did you find putting together the album? “Alastair, Graeme and Linda wrote the music in Sydney using a home digital recorder and then sent the music to Wolf who lives in Adelaide to add the lyrics and vocals. It was at this stage that each song took on its own meaning and purpose. Wolf then sent the songs back to Sydney where we added bass and drums and did any fine tuning to meld and enhance the vocal lyric.”
And what can people expect to hear on it? “Our music is a vehicle for storytelling and so you will hear stories about loss, pain and protest but also about hope and survival.”
Is there any way people can hear your music? “Three of the songs from our album are available on Triple J’s web site Unearthed. http://www.triplejunearthed.com/TheCuckoos In the near future our cd will be available on iTunes through http://www.musicadium.com/. People can listen to our music and we can be contacted via MySpace. http://www.myspace.com/cuckoos or by email to thecuckoos@dodo.com.au Please feel free to make any comments on our music.”