Now Hear This: Cousteau

ByABC News
April 27, 2001, 1:41 PM

April 24 -- WHO:Cousteau

MEMBERS:Liam McKahey, vocals; Davey Ray Moor, vocals, piano, guitar, horn; Robin Brown, guitar, vocals; Joe Peet, bass, violin, vocals; Craig Vear, drums, flute, percussion

FORMED:Mid-1998 in London

WHAT'S IN A NAME?:Yes, the quintet is named after famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau.

COMPARISONS:Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Leonard Cohen, the Walker Brothers, Bryan Ferry, ABC

DID YA KNOW?: Moor and Vear live on houseboats docked along the Thames.

FIRST IMPRESSION: Cousteau (Palm)

How would you define Cousteau's music?

Moor: It's nestled somewhere between Sly & the Family Stone and Leonard Cohen; somewhere in the center of that is a kind of chemical blend of grooves and music and atmosphere. I was making a living doing various bits of soundtrack work and had retired myself as a wannabe pop star. I got back to the kind of music I always loved and enjoyed, and I realized there was a hole in my record collection for something like this in between all the various things I like to listen to. So I set about making music for my own pleasure; for the first time in my life I was doing it just because I wanted to hear my own music. And as soon as I did, I realized that amongst my close friends in London I had the makings of a great band. Liam defines the character of the band so much.

How did you find him?

Moor: Liam was the last piece to fall into place, really. He was going out with his girlfriend, who's now his wife and the mother of his new child, and she's an old friend of mine from Sydney. I went to a dinner party of theirs and pulled out my guitar and started banging away; Liam started singing along, and I heard this incredible voice coming out of this man and decided then and there I must do whatever I could to get him in my band. I got him on board originally as a kind of harmony singer, in Art Garfunkel fashion, but then realized he had kind of a very extraordinary voice and all this kind of charisma and the sheer and utter kind of force to fill this music with the right kind of gravity and authority. Then and there Cousteau was born.