Wicked Seas, the debut solo EP by Chris Surgey, is a testament to the resilience of a singer-songwriter who has battled the crushing lows of addiction and mental health issues and emerged with a new resolve to share his music.
Originally from Colchester, England, Surgey was as a young boy in the ‘90s turned on to the likes of Nirvana and Placebo by a forward-thinking schoolmate. By the time he was a teenager Surgey moved back and forth between the UK and Australia several times, with his family finally settling in the NSW Central Coast when he turned 15. He dived into playing guitar and singing via a school music class and a Nirvana MTV Unplugged tablature book. With chords and arrangements and a newfound obsession with Bob Dylan in his head, Surgey took to writing his own songs, honing his craft at an early age.
“We had a band together,” Surgey recalls. “I’d been writing a few songs, and my mate Jeff was learning bass, and the teacher was like, ‘Well, you’re gonna have to have a drummer.’ So we found a drummer in the music class, and the first thing we did together was a competition called Youth Rock in Sydney. We won two awards in that and got to record one of our songs… and it all kind of went from there.”
The trio by this time was known as Bright Yellow. Following the band comp victory they acquired a manager and began gigging regularly with the likes of Gyroscope, After the Fall, Dick Tracy, and British India.
Momentum gathered. Surgey signed a publishing deal with Sony Music and triple j were on board with airplay for the debut single, “Nice and Agreeable”. Bright Yellow went on to release two EPs, Love’s Not a Comfort (2006) and The Clean (2009).
Cracks were appearing, however, and much of the time between the two EPs was spent on a self-imposed layoff. An album was recorded but never released and the band splintered then disbanded. Surgey had experienced serious mental issues and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He was in and out of mental health wards and battling drug addiction. All the while, though, music was something he could lean on.
“If I didn’t have my music, then I would have been in a worse place than I was, because that’s all I knew how to do,” he says. “At times I was catatonic. I couldn’t speak, but I could always play guitar, and that’s kind of what helped me through a lot of my mental health stuff.”
It was a long struggle, however, with many roadblocks and relapses. Surgey studied for a time at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) but ultimately couldn’t apply himself to the set studies. Various band lineups were established and dissolved.
Then, in 2023, things came to a head. Surgey was sectioned for 12 months under the Mental Health Act following a severe breakdown triggered by ice use. He had hit rock bottom but it also meant that the only way was up if he indeed chose that path. Buoyed by the fact that his musical talent was still intact, the encouragement of those around him helped Surgey with an ascent back into a place where he could fulfil his potential.
“I had a lot of good psychiatrists and a lot of good people around me that really helped with my recovery,” he explains. “Everyone I met would say, ‘You know, it’s such good music and you’re a real talent, it’d be a shame to waste that.’ So I’ve always taken those comments on board, and I’ve always tried to run with my music as much as I could.”
Embracing his recovery and finding resilience in sobriety in 2024, Surgey formed another trio named Spinnaker and played a gig supporting British India at the Shark Bar in Manly. Around that time Surgey’s mother had also been in touch with British India manager Glenn Goldsmith about helping to get him back on track with his musical career.
Goldsmith had long been a fan of Surgey’s songwriting and encouraged him to go into the studio to record in more of a solo capacity. Christening this endeavour the Chris Surgey Group, the backing band features Goldsmith (bass), Phil Bennett (keyboards), and Johnny Tesoriero (drums), with Surgey leading the proceedings on vocals/guitar. The result is the Wicked Seas EP, recorded in February at Harry Vanda’s studio in Sydney with Harry’s son Daniel Vandenberg behind the desk.
There’s something gently epic about these tracks, a rustic tenderness reminiscent of Jeff Buckley, Daniel Johnston, and Thom Yorke. The title track seems to elegantly roll out on the tide. Written by Surgey while he was in hospital, he says “it’s a song about an awkward personality. It stuck with me while I was ill, I have schizophrenia, but I also had all sorts of different things going on. So it’s about the struggle that I had with my mental health.”
While several tracks reference Surgey’s mental health experiences, the EP as a whole isn’t overtly immersed in that topic.
“There’s a kind of a bit of a mix between stuff that I’ve learned when I was heavily in my psychosis and stuff that I’ve written that’s branching towards my recovery,” he explains. “So they all have their own meaning. They don’t really allude to anything as a package, but they go well together.”
Surgey has been recording more tracks at Sing Sing Studios in Melbourne, with a view to releasing either another EP or possibly a full-length album. The band has recently been playing on Sundays at the Town Hall Hotel in North Melbourne, and Surgey also has a new live project for his heavier songs in the form of a trio called Black Crown.
“As I say, if I didn’t have my music then I would be in the worst place,” he reflects. “My music was all I had when I was when I was psychotic. So it’s great getting out, getting the vibe back, because people at the Town Hall have just sung our praises. It’s so great to get to get some good feedback like that.
“We all enjoy playing together, the guys are just great musicians themselves. That’s all we want to do, you know? We just want to play good songs and good music. That’s when we’re happiest. I think for that reason, it’s been a blessing that we’re all doing it together.”
Chris Surgey’s Wicked Seas EP is out now.
