# STEPHEN CUMMINGS Announces New Album ‘100 Hundred Years From Now’

- Link: https://www.nyrdcast.com/stephen-cummings-announces-new-album-100-hundred-years-from-now/
- Published: 2023-02-24T14:45:00-06:00
- Author: Eugene Tierney

### **STEPHEN CUMMINGS Announces New Album For Cheersquad Records & Tapes Entitled **_**100 HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW **_

#### **Recorded in the aftermath of a stroke, **_**100 HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW**_** – made in collaboration with ROBERT GOODGE of I’M TALKING and OTHER OLD FRIENDS – is a record of rare courage, beauty, honesty, and humanity**

#### **Other guests and contributers include GRAEME LEE of THE TRIFFIDS, CHRIS ABRAHAMS of THE NECKS, ZAN ABEYRATNE of I’M TALKING, BILL McDONALD, SAM LEMANN, REBECCA BARNARD, BILLY MILLER, LILITH LANE, CLARE MOORE of THE MOODISTS/DAVE GRANEY, and PHILIPPA NIHILL and GLENN BENNIE of THE UNDERGROUND LOVERS**

#### **Cummings will premiere his new material with low key shows in Northcote and Archies Creek this weekend**

![Stephen Cummings '100 Hundred Years From Now' Album Cover](https://i0.wp.com/mcusercontent.
com/7468cc72c4dbd0d828cf87a0a/images/fced7b9e-9e0d-35b0-99f9-b2638b900832.jpg?resize
=292%2C300&ssl=1)

  100 Years From Now_ album cover_

**Cheersquad Records & Tapes **is proud to announce that it is soon to release a
new album from **Stephen Cummings** entitled **_100 Hundred Years From Now_**_. 
_While a release date has yet to be finalized, Stephen and his band will preview
tracks from the album this **Friday Feb 24** at **Merri Creek Tavern** in Northcote,
and when they perform as special guests of old friends Reg Mombassa and Peter O’Doherty
from Mental as Anything in their band Dog Trumpet at **Archie’s Creek Tavern **on**
Sun Feb 26.**

**Stephen Cummings** of course needs no introduction to Australian music fans – 
the **Countdown Award** and **ARIA Award-winning** singer and songwriter has had
a long, productive, creative and distinguished career since his days up front of**
Sports** in the late ’70s and ’80s. 

What does need an introduction however is the fact that in March 2020, Stephen suffered
a life changing stroke and this new album is the product of that and the enthusiastic
support he received creating it from the Melbourne music community.

_**A Hundred Years From Now**_ is a record of beauty, of humanity, and of unflinching
honesty. And gorgeous musicality. Recorded and mixed with longtime collaborators
guitarist and producer **Robert Goodge** (Essendon Airport and I’m Talking) and 
producer and engineer **Simon Polinksi **(Steve Kilbey, Ollie Olsen), the album 
is a collection of co-writes that put Cummings’ post-stroke physical condition to
the fore, both musically and lyrically. The effect of Stephen’s stroke on his singing
adds a layer of bittersweet heartbreak to his already emotive style.

_“I was always a natural singer and assumed I could just sing as long as I wanted.
After the stroke, I had a lot of rehab to learn to walk and recover fine motor skills
on my left side. I couldn’t really play guitar anymore. I did some vocal therapy
and found my tone still good but the control and breathing the hard part. I learnt
I if I sang more slowly and more quietly it sounded better. I have to focus more
and keep to different parameters.”_

Robert picks up the story:
_“This record started off from both our boredom at being
locked down and Stephen’s double frustration at having a stroke just as the restrictions
started…he got the double lockdown whammy._

_“I thought it might be good therapy for Stephen to do some songwriting and singing
with no pressure, just a bit of friendly creative noodling, to aid in his recovery…
perhaps he would share them with his facebook friends… So I whipped up a few song
sketches._

_“Stephen had no trouble writing lyrics. They came as fast as I could supply the
basic structure…Singing them however was more of a challenge, but that is what I
expected and we just kept trying… gaining ground little by little…So a couple of
ideas soon became quite a few.”_

![Stephen Cummings](https://i0.wp.com/mcusercontent.com/7468cc72c4dbd0d828cf87a0a/
images/2020f0c0-6bb5-230d-9fb3-7356b7b8d57e.jpg?resize=271%2C271&ssl=1)

_Photo by Kathleen O’Brien_

Stephen continues:
_“Robert and I have been good friends for many years. He’s probably
the most musical person I know and he was really patient getting me to record lines
over and over until he was satisfied._

_“I’ve had to accept now that things aren’t going to be the same but they can still
be good and work with what I’ve got. Robert just kept turning up to record so I 
felt obliged to keep going but he and Simon really gave me confidence I could do
it.”_

Robert:
_“We started enlisting musician friends of Stephen to contribute and flesh
it out. A lot of these musicians actually recorded their own parts (particularly
the backing singers) …So it was built on the generosity of these players and their
eagerness to help out…People even started to give us songs to work on so that helped
broaden the whole outlook…The finished record is a testament of how supportive the
Melbourne music community can be.” _

Stephen:
_“The album captures the state I was in during my recovery. The weather
was always bad when I went on all my lockdown walks and that is a feature of the
album too._

_“It’s got a different sound to what I normally do. It’s very dreamy with all the
female harmonies and exotic string instruments Robert used like the tiples._

_“It’s one my favourite records I’ve made. I really like the mood and I loved having
different people helping out like Lilith Lane and Glen and Philippa from the Underground
Lovers. I’ve also known Wally for years so I was really happy for Cheersquad to 
release it.”_

The record is also the coming together of many of Stephen’s musical partners from
over the years, from his longtime guitarist **Sam Lemann** and bass player **Bill
McDonald **(who shares with Goodge a background in Melbourne’s post-punk scene and
has more recently been Paul Kelly’s long term bass player) to current band members**
Maxine Sutcliffe** and **Michael Davis**. **Graeme Lee **of **the Triffids** (and
more recently of Goodge’s reformed **Essendon Airport**) contributes some pedal 
steel, _**Philippa Nihill **_and **Glenn Bennie **of _the Underground Lovers _are
involved together on one track, and **Clare Moore of the Moodist**s and **Chris 
Abrahams of the Necks** both contribute. Stephen’s old friends **Rebecca Barnard**
and **Billy Miller** of **the Ferrets** appear on a number of tracks, and Goodge
also brought in friends **Kim Beissel** (**Crime & City Solution, Hot Half Hour 
etc**) from his late ’70s cohort at the Clifton Hill Community music centre, and**
Zan Abeyratne** from **I’m Talking**. **Lilith Lane** and Angus Leslie and **Beth
Otenstein** from **Sex on Toast** also contribute backing vocals.

25 years ago, Stephen told Rolling Stone’s Toby Creswell that the music he was making
at the time was _“A-grade confessional roots music”_, and that is as good as any
description of his new album as anyone is going to come up with. The mix of acoustic
instruments and occasional electronic textures suggest great intimacy and make no
attempt to disguise the damages to the singer’s voice. This is as confessional as
it gets. And, as will be revealed in time, it is an album of surprising riches. 
First single “Carry Your Heart” is a beauty, in which the key line “Every moment
is a golden one for him that has a vision / to recognise it as such” is a beautiful
expression of Cummings’ gratitude and positivity, two elements which are present
throughout.

Stephen Cummings and his band will warm up for the forthcoming release of _A Hundred
Years From Now_ with a number of low key shows starting Friday Feb 24 at Merri Creek
Tavern.  They will also perform as special guests of old friend Reg Mombassa and
Peter O’Doherty from Mental as Anything in their current band Dog Trumpet at Archie’s
Creek Tavern on Sun Feb 26. 

**THE RELEASE DATE OF **_**A HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW**_** WILL BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY**

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