SATURDAY NIGHT MAGAZINE: You got your start sort of by chance. Somebody’s girlfriend discovered you?
RY CUMING: I was in Costa Rica and I was 18, just traveling with a backpack and a guitar and a surfboard. I ended up playing music, playing some guitar sitting in a hallway one day, in a hotel. I was playing to some professional surfers and girls, surfing for Roxy. One of their boyfriends was a film producer and she went and grabbed him from his room and I found out the next day and he came and saw me playing and asked me what I was doing with my music. I pretty much said I was playing it and traveling, exploring the world a little bit. And then he said he’d love to help me out in LA. He got a video of me playing in the hallway and set up a couple meetings and a couple months later I was in LA. It was kind of a little bit of fate. You’re doing what you love doing, and things will come.
SNMAG: You’re on the climb, gaining more and more momentum. Do you feel yourself changing?
RC: No, it’s always a choice. For me, I feel almost more humble: the more things that happen, it’s more humility. There’s a certain drive in you that makes you always want to do it, but it’s not so much to want to be big and get discovered. That stuff really doesn’t matter to me much, it’s more about getting my music out there. When I heard Jeff Buckley, he really inspired me and I wanted to play music and listen to music and live that life. I guess for me, if I can do that for somebody else, that’d be gift enough.
SNMAG: Jeff Buckley made the song “Hallelujah” famous—how do you feel now that it’s so mainstream?
RC: It’s on everything. Everything…It’s just become a really commercial song. It’s beautiful, an amazing song, but I always strive to find a song that’s a little less known if I’m going to cover something. It’s very rare that I cover something though—I’ve been working on a few little Nirvana covers.
SNMAG: You said you go out a lot. Where are your favorite places?
RC: I was just in New York two weeks ago and things got pretty crazy. I saw the sunrise every day and I had sound checks at 11am. I guess that’s rock and roll sometimes…But in LA, wherever it’s happening. Downtown’s got a great scene right now…I have a group of friends on the east side with a lot of cool fashion and art projects, and I try to get involved with them as much as I can…But the best nights generally end up at someone’s house…hanging out and playing music, or having a big dinner party. It’s always best when you can get good people.
SNMAG: You’re trying to keep work and play separate?
RC: There’s no difference. Music’s a lifestyle, it’s not work for me. If I pick up a guitar and I’m playing a show in Wisconsin, I might be daydreaming of Malibu or Australia or Nicaragua but as soon as I start playing the first song I feel better. Some days, everything’s work, and as soon as it becomes work you have to distance yourself a little bit, take a time out. That’s why I think I’m lucky to have surfing and yoga, things that distance yourself and you get grounded again.
SNMAG: What about fans? Tell us the underwear-on-the-stage stories.
RC: It’s sometimes funny when you walk off stage and the eyes you get—when someone sees you doing something else and then you walk off stage, it’s a very different look…I think it’s an Aussie thing too: in Australia we don’t idolize; we can’t. There’s a thing there called Tall Poppy Syndrome. It means, when somebody gets famous or above the crowd, somebody comes and cuts you down. So when you’re growing up and you’re good at something, all your friends will give you shit about it all the time until you come back and become one of the crew again. Matthew McConaughey running down the beach in Sydney, no one’s gonna give a shit, really. People are just going to ignore it because he’s doing his thing, we’re doing our thing. There’s a belief there that if you pay attention to it, you’re just feeding into it, so just ignore it.
SNMAG: Who are your favorite current artists?
RC: I think Kings of Leon, they’ve been phenomenal for a long time. They’ve gotten popular now but they’ve been phenomenal for a very long time. I saw Grizzly Bear at Coachella—thought they were fantastic.
SNMAG: Did you get close?
RC: Yeah. I always get close. Fuck VIP.
SNMAG: When did you get discovered?
RC: I think it was 2003.
SNMAG: It took you a while to move to LA?
RC: It did. I actually avoided it for a long time. I had things here and my management at the time asked me to move out here, but I didn’t want to. I was really mellow. I had a beautiful house out on the coast and didn’t need to make any money, it was so cheap and mellow to live there. I just surfed three times a day and hang out. Leaving was always a challenging thought. It just came to a point where I had to make a choice in my heart, and I just had this drive and passion and fire in my blood. I did it and got up and moved, and here I am.
SNMAG: Are you going to get your own plane someday?
RC: No, the amount of energy that uses is preposterous…Fly commercial. I always see those guys who sit in business and think, ‘Why don’t you tell your company to give that extra $2,000 to somebody that needs it and sit in the back of the plane with the rest of us?’ It’s ridiculous. It’s just a bigger seat and a glass of champagne. I can get off the plane and get a glass of champagne, or some whiskey.
SNMAG: Your music was in Hoot. Do you have copies of the movie poster in your house?
RC: I’ve never seen it. I was on Laguna Beach, and a couple MTV shows and I never saw one. I don’t have TV in my house, I don’t watch TV.
SNMAG: Do you have any closing words for us?
RC: Here’s my closing remark. Please go listen to “Easy” by Lionel Richie. It’s an incredible song. You should go and listen to that right now, cause that’ll make your day.
Check out Ry's music at: rycuming.com
By Amanda Delzell
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