2023 book THERE HE GOES WITH HIS EYE OUT (lyrics 1980-2023)
2023 reissue Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes Night Of The Wolverine. Double vinyl release.
2023 ROCK album with Clare Moore IN A MISTLY .
WORKSHY - 2017 memoir out on Affirm Press. Available at shows or via website.
Moodists - Coral Snakes - mistLY.
I don’t know what I am and don’t want to know any more than I already know. I aspire, in my music , to 40s B Movie (voice and presence) and wish I could play guitar like Dickey Betts, John Cippolina or Grant Green - but not in this lifetime, I know.
I heard about it via text from a friend who had also had the good fortune to have played with him.
Andrew played with Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes on bass in the year 1991-1992. May have been just a little less than two years.
Our
bass player Gordy Blair had come to Australia to play with us in 1991 and stayed until August, when he had to leave to return to
the UK. I was in a bit of a slump due to an album we had recorded being lost in the British Indie music world as a big distributor had gone under. I was in a low point.
Andrew was a friend of Rod Haywards from previous work in - I think -The Pete Best Beatles (which included Frank Savage - elder brother of Conway- and also had included Gary Adams, Johnny Topper and at some point Spencer Jones). Andrew had also been in the Pop Gun Men and the Metronomes and the Sacred Cowboys. So he was a totally made Melbourne music guy.
He was educated and light hearted and agreed to play with us until Gordy came back. It was nice of him to do that. He was also a great player and knew the material and nothing fazed him. He was interested in the mechanics of song contstruction and paid me compliments about my tunes as he quickly worked his way into them. That was also really nice of him and at the time I needed all the positivity I could get.
After playing shows around the usual haunts open to us in Melbourne I thought I should just have a spell but Robin Casinader began intensive rehearsals with Andrew, Clare Moore and Rod Hayward - along with Amanda Brotchie - to play his material as The Vanishing Lady. A brilliant band with Robins visionary folk rock bent really coming out. Some very complex arrangements. Robin drilled the band far more than I ever did! Andrew stepped into this all very easily as well. A classic, solid bass player. A great guy to have on your team. The rehearsals were mostly all at our flat in Port Melbourne which was above a garage so I loved listening to the music as an observer and faux outsider.
Clare and I had a mindset to keep Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes playing in Sydney as much as Melbourne but due to work commitments Andrew couldn't take any time off. (He worked for many years in University administration). We played shows without a bass. Andrew was cool with that too. These were what we called ‘soft’n’sexy’ shows all
through the latter part of 1991 and into ’92. Semi-acoustic
shows with acoustic guitars, piano, violin and percussion.
It all came to a boil around the end of that year. Lure Of the Tropics came out and then I Was the Hunter And I Was The Prey and then we went into a studio for a day to record Night Of The Wolverine. Half of it was done with no bass and for the others, we captured the songs with Andrew on bass for that more full-bodied and full-throated sound. For the groove he had worked up with Clare. It was too good not to record it. We did a couple more days overdubs in the following weeks but Gordy Blair was back in town so Andrew suddenly seemed to fade from the picture. I say that as if it just happened and I wasn't there but it did just occur that way. And I felt a little guilty, always, as thats what bands are like. You are held together by promises and camaraderie. You put up with situations that are very undignified, you see each other at your worst. All that intense stuff. In a way you are more than friends. Comrades! Yeah, we owed Gordy but as it turned out we owed Andrew as well.
We kept in touch with Andrew, not very regularly, but we attended significant moments in each others lives. He would say occasionally things about other players from our band who had moved on or whom we had moved on from like "so you kicked them to the gutter and walked away too?". He would say this sort of thing with a smile and laughter but there was something real there. Those are the sorts of messy things we leave trailing for each other I guess.
But I don't mean to say he was full of grudges, he just had that dark, grim, macho wit men of our generation tried to summon and play with and which we communicated through.
He was genuinely a nice character and a great player. I was lucky to have met him and played with him.
He continued to work in the university sector as well as recording several albums with The Metronomes. Farewell, Andrew. Condolences to Margaret and the kids (young adults).
We have been playing two sets at all of these shows we have been doing. A lot of songs from (strangely)(emotional) and a lot of songs from other albums. Thanks to everybody who has been coming along. Also thanks to our agent Steve Griffiths for finding interesting venues for us to play in. Its been really challenging for us to work out how to play some of the songs and then also to present it all to people. An enjoyable challenge. But thats what we think musicians and songwriters and performers should do. They should keep on bringing stuff out from within themselves and then chuck it out into the world. They should stand by what they do as well as what they have done in the past and see how it all stacks up as a piece.
Clare and I flew up to Brisbane from a very cold and wintry Melbourne. We decided to go for a streetwear look for these dates.
We met up with Adele Pickvance who was going to play bass with us and the first gig was on a Thursday night at The Bearded Lady in the West End of Brisbane. This was a pretty regular rock'n'roll type room. The young sound guy was so 2024. By that I mean he was very attentive and helpful as well as very sensitive and skilful. He really took care to stop and listen and make eye contact with whomever he was talking. Nothing was a problem. A really good backline was provided and I played through a Roland amp. I love them! I had decided to use my Ibanez Talman guitar only (as opposed to carrying two through the airport) as it was really good for quickly changing tuning as well as having a lot of variation to the tone with the two Gretsch Filtertron pickups. Unfortunately the case was not hard plastic and there were signs of it having been tossed about by the baggage handlers as all the latches on it were bent. (Baggage handlers seem to take pride in damaging music gear). This was a pretty raucous show, though we began with the delicate guitar and keys songs from (strangely)(emotional). My oldest friend David Edwards was in attendance as well as Federal MP Graham Perrett, Mick Medew and Ursula and Pascalle and Ian from The Stress Of Leisure. We loaded out into a strangely empty and misty street.
pic by Gawain Barker
pic by Pascalle Burton
Friday 31st May the Majestic Theatre, Pomona Qld
On the next day, Friday, we travelled to the Sunshine Coast in Adeles car to play the Majestic Theatre in Pomona. A community run venue. It was raining steadily for most of the day but it wasn't cold at all.
This venue deserves a lot of pictorial coverage here.
pic by Adele Pickvance
This lovely theatre was all run by volunteers and they have silent movie screenings every week. A gem of a venue. You could hear a pin drop during the quiet songs.
Saturday 1st June Eltham Hotel, Eltham , Northern NSW
Eltham hotel on Saturday was a cool couple of sets in a
sheltered outdoor area with soft rain falling on the roof. Good to see Dave Wray (who has played a lot of sax on our two most recent albums) and Andy and Dave Brown from Mt Gambier party scene days. Derek Bovill had helped out with sound and backline for the Pomona show and he was with us for these three dates. He brought a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp for me. I love those amps!
This venue is unfortunately having to fight in the courts to stay open due to one neighbour complaining. There are 30 houses which are much closer to the hotel than the litigant who are all happy to have a well run social and musical hub in their midst but thats all it takes. I hope the hotel is allowed to continue. We stayed the night in the fantastic upstairs rooms (no tv) and then breakfasted and drove to the Gold Coast.
Sunday 2nd June Tom Atkin Hall, Tugun, QLD
Sunday afternoon we played Tom Atkin Hall in Tugun on the Gold Coast.
Wonderful community run venue. BYO alcohol and food! We brought a PA in
thanks to @dungeondungeon and Bobs yer uncle! Two sets from 3pm. Bring
on more BYO gigs! Thanks to all who came to gigs in Qld and Northern NSW and special thanks to Adele Pickvance and Derek Bovill! You made it so easy.
We drove back to Brisbane after the show and then caught a plane to Melbourne in the morning. We had last played with Stuart Perera on guitar and Stu Thomas in February at the single launch for Creative Creep at Northcote Social Club. We had a rehearsal at Pony Music in Hallam on the Wednesday afternoon.
Stu Thomas and Clare Moore
Stuart Perera and Stu Thomas
Saturday 8th June Kindred Bandroom, Yarraville, Vic
With Stu and Stuart we are able to do more songs from our 2022 album In A Mistly. Two guitars , bass and drums and lots of vocals.
Kindred is a venue on the west side of Melbourne where there has been little music activity over the years even though many musicians live there.
Thats a problem as it takes people an age and then another age to know where a venue is. Its hard enough for us to connect with people in Melbourne in the best of times. In the end, they found us and we had a fantastic night. Again, playing two sets of music.
Kindred is all new. No sticky carpet, no smells, no graffitti in the band room area. The young sound engineer was as skilled and as sensitive to anybodys needs as the one in Brisbane and indeed as Drek Bovill for our other shows. He worked hard and took care of all the business. I played through my Vox amp head with Fender speaker box and Clare used her own kit. I wore a light blue suit with white t shirt and my Adidas Gazelles. I was going for a Phil Collins at Live Aid look, though I forgot to roll my sleeves up enough. .
I've been writing updates to do with all our live dates at my substack that I started. It has links to a podcast of the same name I am intending to update more regularly as well.
To recap, in a way, we have been playing live shows with Clare Moore truly bringing all her skills to the stage, playing vibes (on occasion) keys, melodica, rhythm machine, percussion and vocals. (As well as working with our agent Steve Griffiths to get the shows happening).
photo Helen Flint
I have been playing acoustic and electric guitars and singing. A lot of the songs on our last two albums involve open tunings of G and D and DADGAD.
photo Helen Flint
In recent shows in NSW we played with our old friend Greg Thorsby on bass and will do some more with him later in July.
photo Helen Flint
In WA we played with our old friend and comrade Marty Casey (Triffids/Bad Seeds) on bass so Clare could get behind the drumkit as well.
For our next run of dates in Queensland and Northern New South Wales we will be playing similar shows with Adele Pickvance on bass.
On June 8th we play a very rare Melbourne show and so a rare outing with our band the mistLY, (Stu Thomas on bass and Stuart Perera on guitar) at Kindred Bandroom in Yarraville.
photo Barry Douglas
A lot of the venues we are playing are either not appropriate (too small a stage) for a band setup with drums or are too far away or isolated. For these shows we play as a duo with keys, guitars, rhythm machine and vocals. All of them being two sets / two hours as well. We bring our best to every show.
We are playing songs from across our career. Each show is a new one and also a new adventure.
Baroque Room - Katoomba. May 4th 2024. Photo Helen Flint.
Had a great time playing in Orange,Katoomba and Newcastle on the weekend. Thanks to everybody who came along. We generally played two sets each night. It was a lot of driving, a lot of playing and a lot of fun.
Greg Thorsby on bass for two of the shows allowed Clare to get behind the kit as well as play keys.
We know Greg from back in the 90s Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes touring days when he was playing with The Atlas Strings. We have kept in touch and he has played with us a couple of times but always on guitar before this.
The next two shows are in Western Australia and we will be joined by Martyn P Casey on the bass. One of our oldest musical mates from when he was in the Triffids and we were in the Moodists. We also know him from his integral role in the Bad Seeds.
We played some shows with Marty in Perth and Fremantle last year and we actually played a couple of Moodists songs.
Our friend Barry Adamson did a remix of a track from (strangely)(emotional). I gave him a playlist of the songs and asked him to choose one to work on and he picked I Said No To Myself. Will Hindmarsh and Emily Jarrett did amazing backing vocals on the song and Barry took the rhythm instruments out from the start to just lead it in with those beautiful vocals. Will Hindmarsh also put together a video clip from various clips I gave him. Shots of us over the last few years in Sydney, Kiama, Ulverstone Tasmania, Darwin and Port Campbell in Victoria. Thanks Will and thank you Barry!
We did a great interview with Glenn Williams at MAINFM in Castlemaine about the album. He asked us a lot about our film music work which was nice.
All instruments played by Dave Graney and Clare Moore. Dave Graney, guitars, bass, autoharp, harmonica, vocals. Clare Moore, drums, vibes, keys, percussion, backing vocals.
Joined by Shane Reilly (Lost Ragas) pedal steel on the opening track, Dave Wray (aka Frank Bennett) on tenor and soprano sax for three songs, Genevieve Fry on harp on one song, Will Hindmarsh (aka Twinkledigitz) and Emily Jarrett on backing vocals on two songs and Catherine McQuade, bass and mixing on another. Mastered by beats / hip hop producer and drummer Plutonic Lab who had collaborated with Dave Graney on the homage track GRACE TAME IS PRESIDENT in 2022.
Back In A Day Dave Graney vocals, guitar Shane Reilly, pedal steel
Drop D tuning. I hear people say "back in the day" and often wonder what day they are talking about. The song says "better to say back in a day..."
Family Gatherings I Dave Graney, nylon and steel string guitar, bass, vocals. In open D tuning. A song about my uncles and aunties and their kids-my cousins-all visitng for a few years when I was a boy.
My Cancellation Came Through Dave Graney, nylon string guitar, vocals Clare Moore, keys, Dave Wray, soprano sax
Open G tuning. Just a whimsical song about getting cancelled and the peace and quiet that would come with being in that state.
Creative Creep Dave Graney, steel string acoustic guitar, bass, vocals Clare Moore, keys, bass drum, percussion Dave Wray, soprano and tenor sax, congas
A vintage drum machine and kick drum beat with keys, sax and acoustic guitars.
Swinging like a ragtime pop tune.
“Don’t fence me in! And get in too! Let me be! Let me be! A creative creep! Ya standin’ too close to the flames!”
I kept hearing about all sorts of "creep" in economic reportage. I also kept hearing about "creatives" and the like. Talking about real estate agents and advertising people. Also cooks and wedding planners. Brian Wilsons father, Murry, did box him in the ears.
Love Story Dave Graney, electric guitar, bass, vocals Clare Moore, keys, piano, percussion Dave Wray, soprano sax, congas
Thanks to Dave Wray for playing so much great sax, again! Lyrically talking about first romantic and sexual struggles.
I Said No To Myself Dave Graney, electric guitar, bass, vocals Clare Moore, keys, percussion Will Hindmarsh and Emily Jarrett, backing vocals.
I am in awe of people with self discipline and the ability to keep to personal plans , diets and exercize regimes. A song about an inner voice, and who it is speaking to. Or who is speaking? Or who is hearing?
Ice Bergman Dave Graney, electric guitar, bass, vocals Clare Moore, drums, vibes, percussion
Recorded at the sessions for In A Mistly. Written and played a few times during our 140 Lockdown live streaming shows. A swinging jazz R&b groover 6/8 time . The chorius is "I'm gonna be old in the end times" but I didn't want to call it that and Clare came up with the Bermanesque title. Or Iceberg-esque title?
They Walk Among Us Dave Graney, electric guitar, vocals Clare Moore, drums, organ, percussion, backing vocals Catherine McQuade, bass and backing vocals.
Recorded at the sessions for In A Mistly. I intended it to be a short instrumental theme to be used a few times like "Night Theme" on Iggy Pop' and James Williamsons's KILLCITY album. I kept hearing and seeing "sovereign citizens" yelling across the internet fields. I wrote a lyric about "florin entities/bitcoin buddies/shilling villagers, guinea townfolk..." etc . We had worked on a soing with Catherine McQuade and she offered to mix a track and this is whaat happened. She played bass and sang B/Vs and mixed it.
He's Talkin' To His Base Dave Graney, six and twelve string electric guitar, bass, vocals Clare Moore, keys, percussion.
I had been working on this since the first Trump election and finally found an album for it to land on. A lot of guitars, using an R&B chord shape that Stuart Perera showed me.
I'll Cluster It Dave Graney, electric guitar, vocals Clare Moore, keys, percussion
Possibly the most actual (strangely)(emotional) track. Music worked out from a 2012 track called KING OF THE DUDES. I added some more guitars and Clare put some keys down. Lots of gutteral sounds. Lyrically talking about very personal stuff. I dont mean emotions (though it is strangely emotional) , I mean habitual ways of behaving and seeing the world. Patterns and clusters. "I put all my clusters in a row/ I'm neat/ I like patterns..." "walk out of the door-any door/ and turn right. No! the gate! That's the way into town from my old place..."
I'm Already Missing The Lockdown Dave Graney, nylon string acoustic guitar, harmonica, vocals Clare Moore, piano, percussion
Open G tuning. My old nylon string guitar.One of several songs alluding to the pandemic and its attendant lockdowns. We had about seven in Melbourne. An incredible moment that everybody on earth shared. So many things happened. In Australia, it included a trial run of a Universal Basic Income. So many things were revealed to us!
Poor Covid Dave Graney, electric guitars, vocals Clare Moore , synth bass, keys
I thought the title sounded like an old folk song. Like Tam Lin from Fairport Convention. I thought I could write a song being sympathetic to Covid. In some ways like NAS voiced a gun on his early song I GAVE YOU POWER. A cool beat from Clares Ensonix MR61 keyboard and a bluesy groove frm my guitarSome squelchy synth coming in at the end.
You Were Gaslit For This Dave Graney, six and twelve string electriic guitars, bass, vocals Clare Moore,piano, percussion Will Hindmarsh and Emily Jarrett, backing vocals
A song built up from a drum loop I found on the sessions for The Dave Graney Show album which we did in 1998. I played a suspended chord on electric twelve string and Clare played that Hitchcok Movie sounding descending run on the piano. I ddoubled that on another guitar and then spent a few nights playing with some delay pedals on the guitars. I also flew in some of Will and Emilys vocals from I Said No and effected those as well. We recorded the coda on realk drums and guitars and I tried to get it to merge or morf into that.
Madly, Softly, Hardly Dave Graney, electric and acoustic guitar, bass, autoharp, vocals Clare Moore, vibes, drums, percussion Genevieve Fry, harp
Drop D tuning. We kept writing and forgetting entire songs during this last few years of Covidly affected interior life. I kept working on this. Lyrically its a long story. A nine or ten minute song. You should listen to it. A song about getting older and mad fevers of nostalgia that get into a person. And all the time you are losing sharpness and power to see or feel or understand. When we begaan to tour again oiutside of Melbourne we drove into Qld and NSW in our van. At one point a gig was blown out and we didn't want to drive back to Melbourne so we found a FARM STAY and put up our tent by the side of a river at Port Macquarrie. We stayed there for about five days. I kept hearing a particular bird call and tried to record it on my ZOOM. The birds and insect sounds that open and close the track (along with beautiful harp ny Genevieve Fry) come from that moment.
Family Gatherings II Dave Graney, nylon and steel string acoustic guitars, bass, vocals Clare Moore, keys, percussion Dave Wray, soprano sax, congas
Two versions of this song on the album. This has more instruments and lyrics. I kept working on this and one day Clare said she preferred it as just acoustic guitar and voice so thats how it first appears. Then it returns with more musical colouring. Rather like we opened our 1997 album THE DEVIL DRIVES with Clare's instrumental song THE OBLIVION SEEKERS and then ended it with my lyrics added as it became the title track.
Dave Graney and Clare Moore with Georgio "the dove" Valentino and Malcolm Ross
Dave Graney and Clare Moore with Robin Casinader - In Concert
ONE MILLION YEARS DC
Starts with a Kinksy groover sketching a 21st century populist tyrant who coasts in power on waves of public resentment at those on the lowest rungs of the ladder (He Was A Sore Winner). Sweeps across a sci fi terrain with nods to songs in the sand at the end of the world (Pop Ruins) and nods to the ties that bind in the underground communities (Comrade Of Pop and Where Did All The Freaks Go?).
Songs about intense, long relationships, defunct technology that didn’t answer back, severe social status definition (I’m Not Just Any Nobody), people wandering through your mind as if it was a garage sale, the anxiety of the long running showman (wide open to the elements again) and ends with a song that’s “a little bit Merle Haggard and a little bit Samuel Beckett”.
" Edith Grove! Powis Square! 56 Hope Road! Petrie Terrace!..
The Roxy! The Odeon! Apollo! Palais! Olympia! The Whisky! Detroit Grande!”
Pop Ruins!"
ZIPPA DEEDOO WHAT IS/WAS THAT/THIS?
ZIPPA DEEDOO WHAT IS/WAS THAT/THIS? (The title comes from the chorus of “Song Of Life” ) is a classic rock’n’roll album. Classic if you lived through what has become known as ”the classic rock era” as it rolled out new and even broke onto the beachhead and morphed into punk. That’s the direction Dave Graney and Clare Moore have always been coming from. They have spent their lives schooled by and immersed in rock ‘n’ roll culture. Neither attended higher education and they dived in deep and kept swimming. From the Moodists through the Coral Snakes /White Buffaloes to the mistLY
This is an album with their band, Dave Graney and the mistLY. Stuart Perera has played guitar with them since 1998 and Stu Thomas on bass since 2004. MARCH 2019
ZIPPA DEEDOO WHAT IS/WAS THAT/THIS? 2019 album out on Compact Disc - available here via mail order...
If you are from outside of Australia and wish to purchase a Compact Disc copy of ZIPPA DEEDOO WHAT IS/WAS THAT/THIS? please use this button (different postage)
LETS GET TIGHT
FEARFUL WIGGINGS
2014 solo album from Dave Graney.
*****"If I've learnt anything in my years of writing about music it's that if you are going to do anything of worth in this tough game, you better have your own thing. Today's generic is easily replaced by tomorrow's. And yet you need to be flexible, to follow wherever the songs demand. In the case of this, only the second credited as a solo album among 30 or so Graney releases, it's a curious yet welcoming lane he walks you down, with acoustic guitars, not much percussion, vibes, smooth sounds. At the end of it you feel like you've awoken from a strange yet pleasant summer's dream. As shot by Luis Bunuel. It ranges from off-kilter reveries (A Woman Skinnies Up a Man, The Old Docklands Wheel) through to the softly seductive (How Can You Get Out of London) and the downright arch (Look Into My Shades, Everything Is Great In The Beginning.) This is music that is neither folk, nor blues, nor country, but it's all Graney, somewhere out to the left field beyond Lee Hazlewood's raised eyebrow. It's astringent on the tongue but sweetens in the telling." Noel Mengel Brisbane Courier Mail
you've been in my mind
June 2012 super high energy pop rock album - blazing electric 12 strings - total 70s rock drive. Greatest yet! available via paypal - $20 pp
rock'n'roll is where I hide/- 2011 "vintage classics/ re recordings" on LIBERATION
SUPERMODIFIED - August 2010 remixed/re-sung/re-strung//remastered/replayed comp via PAYPAL
also available as a digital album
Knock yourself (2009)-first ever dg solo set-filthy electro r&b-available via Paypal- $20
available as a digital album too
We Wuz Curious (2008)-blazing R&B jazz pop album available via paypal-$20
UNAVAILABLE-COMPLETELY SOLD OUT!!!
AVAILABLE AS A DIGITAL album
Keepin' It Unreal-(2006)-minimalist/lyrical vibes, bass, 12 string set - CDs sold out - digital only
Hashish and Liquor (2005 double disc by Dave Graney and Clare Moore) available via Paypal $25
UNAVAILABLE-COMPLETELY SOLD OUT!!!
Single album HASHISH available as a digital release
Heroic Blues- "folk soul" set from 2002-Availableas a digital album via BandCamp
UNAVAILABLE ! Completely sold out!
It is written,baby-book released 1997- available $10 via paypal
