In the beginning, was the Moodists who played around in melbourne from 1980 to 1983 and then were based in London from 1983 to the end of 1988. We played it slow and tense and for real. Our peers were the Scientists and the Triffids and the Birthday Party and the Laughing Clowns and the Go Betweens. That whole bunch was scrambling for space and time and were incredibly competitive with each other. Once we made a bit of a crib, we could relax with each other, until then...... We were the best! People we looked to were Tav Falco and Panther Burns, Hank Williams, the Doors, Alan Vega, Jerry lee Lewis, the Cramps, the Gun Club, the Fall , Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown.
Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes, London live sets 1987/1988. Songs included covers of Gram Parsons, Gene Clarke, Lou Reed , Fred Neil, Tim Hardin, Kris Kristofferson, Sir Douglas Quintet.
"there’s a picture of serge gainsbourg on her wall"…." From 3 dead passengers in a stolen secondhand Ford. Written 1991, recorded 1992.
"the confessions of serge gainsbourg"…instrumental b-side of "I’m gonna release your soul single. Recorded and released 1994.Featured sound effects of a day in the life of a pop idol. Drinking, laughing to himself, snorting something, having sex ( to wild applause) and finally flying off ( in the Concorde)
"the soft’n’sexy" live shows . Acoustic and bass-less sets played in Melbourne and Sydney during 1991/2. Exploring textures such as multi vocals ,percussion and strings , taken to the fullest extent on the album "the soft’n’sexy sound" in 1995.
Songs covered during 1992/4 included "money changes everything" by Cyndi Lauper, "pillow talk" by Sylvia Robinson, "32-20 blues" by Robert Johnson
Songs covered during 1995/1997 included "penetration" by the Stooges , "showbusiness" by AC/DC , theme from S Express by S Express and "alabama bound by the Charlatans".
Songs covered 1998-2002 included "Joanne " by Mike Nesmith, "Seattle " by Bobby Goldsboro, "1-2-3 by the Len Barry Combo, "I’m five years ahead of my time " by the Third Bardo "the gift" by Lou Reed , "don’t fall in love" by the Ferrets and "it never rains in California" by Albert Hammond.
Songs covered 2002-2006 include "the crystal ship" by the Doors, " diamonds fur coat champagne" by Suicide "the Lowdown" by Boz Scaggs, "whos that lady?" by the Isley Brothers, "Boogie Oogie Oogie " by A taste of Honey, ", "heavens in the backseat of my Cadillac" by Hot Chocolate, "Coz I luv you" by Slade, " "Jeepster" and "telegram Sam" by T Rex, " Luther the anthropoid" by the Jimmy Castor Bunch, " the bogus man" by Roxy Music, "sorrow" by David Bowie, and "who of us two" by M.
First ep by Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes (1988) produced by Barry Adamson.
"I was the Hunter and I was the prey" and "my life on the plains" produced by Phil Vinall who also worked, subsequently, with the Auteurs and Placebo and was brought to Australia , years later, to polish Magic Dirt.
"The Softn’n’Sexy Sound" produced with old compadre and live mixer for the Moodists, Victor Van Vugt, who also worked with Beth Orton, PJ Harvey.
During the live shows to play this album, a Jim Morrison act was hired to open in Melbourne and Sydney. Diiferent actors. Melbourne got revolutionary Jim and Sydney got stoned Jim. Other opening acts during this period included Melbourne poet Peter Bakowski, 70s Melbourne prog legends Mike Rudd and Bill Putt (Ariel/Spectrum) , the Dirty Three, Augie March, the Whitlams, Custard, Malcolm Hill.
The Devil Drives recorded in Melbourne and mixed in London in 1996 by David Ruffy and several players in the then thriving drum ‘n’ bass and trip hop scene. The single , Feelin’ kinda sporty, recorded and mixed in the same., "remixing" kind of attitude, by Andrew Duffield and Phil Kenihan in Melbourne. The Devil Drives also featured lounge thug Frank Bennett on vocals on three tracks. A flute player was also added to the band at this time.
Other producers worked with include Tony Cohen, Phil McKellar and Adam Rhodes.
Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes appeared at the Livid Festival in Brisbane in the years 1990/1/2/3/4 and 1997.
They also appeared at the Big Day Out in the years 1992/3/4/5/7 and 1999.
TV shows appeared on include the Andrew Denton Show, hey hey its saturday, the Shaun Micallef Show, scheduled to appear on the Mick Molloy Show the night it was axed, Roy and HG, Club Buggery, Live and Sweaty, the Midday Show, the morning shows with Bert Newton, and Denise Drysdale, Recovery, Sale of the Century, australias dumbest musician, the arts review show, Jimeoin, tv video smash hits and Rage. Also appeared , over two episodes , as myself, on Neighbours in 1997. Many others also.
Book published 1997."It is written,baby" ( title taken from a song on the "soft ''n sexy sound" called "the birds and the goats". The book was a collection of song lyrics with annotations provided as to what I was trying to say or where it began. Intended intially to be a simple song book with chords and lyics. The annotations were inspired - as a mode of talking out of the corner of the page - by those of Richard F Burton for his "Arabian Nights" .
The stories were accompanied by images by Tony Mahony who has done every cover for our albums save the first two and "keepin' it unreal". He has also done MOST of the videos.
Tonys covers for us have been hand drawn or hand created collages . No photoshop skills involved. Old school attention to details.
The art happening. 2007 . The BEWDY OF SPEED. Hour long show at the Melbourne Arts Centre. Audience in the middle. Performers all around them. Each performer plays a song, one after the other. The Lurid Yellow Mist, Plutonic Lab, Penny Ikinger, Joe McKee from Snowman. The audience was trapped. Images on three screens from the Mumeson Archives from Sydney. Inspired by Futurist art and manifestos. People at the back of the crowd would suddenly be at the front.No talking or explanation at the beginning , middle or end. Finished with us all playing Miles Davis's "IN A SILENT WAY".
The "narrative show" - "POINT BLANK" and its sequel "LIVE IN HELL" were both performed at the Butterfly Club in Sth Melbourne. POINT BLANK also made it to the Adelaide Cabaret festival twice and the Sydney opera House. Not Cabaret, not "unplugged" not just a gig. Each show an hour long narrative about a performers heroic journey onto the stage and then , once taken into the eye of the world, subsequent life in hell.
This was the show that took a lifetime to get together. The story and the skills.
There will be another show in 2010. This is more about the songs that destroyed me. It called "MC BITS - songs that destroyed". I was a nice kid, then I heard some music and it all got fucked up.
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