warrnambool to Radelaide

Warrnambool.Played as a power trio.Me on electric guitar, Clare on drums and Stu D on bass. People seem to be able tor elate to trio setups more easily. They can see what everybodys doin'. Add another guitar and it gets diffused. Add a further keyboard and its all a blur.
Played two sets ina lovely room called the LOFT. People pay to get in so they act better than people who drift in and out of free venues. A bunch of young heads light up the room. Dancing and yelling. Older, mad women dancing as well. Met and talked with a lot of people. A girl made me write "something beautiful"across the back of her calico dress.She was a voluptuous , country siren. Straws of hay in her hair. I jest a little. I wrote "dave graney tryna write somethin' bewdiful" .

A band of young players asking about guitars and amps. I love that kinda talk.!

The next day we drove to Adelaide and played another two sets at the Woidy. (Wheatsheaf) An older, more demanding, static, sit down audience. Though having said that-people kept launching themselves onto the stage. The first was a woman anxious to ask Clare as to which Adelaide Catholic school she was talking about in her song "Alphonsus will get you". Another couple of younger, posher women leaped onto my part of the stage demanding a photo as the last chord of the first set still rang in the air. Many photo opps ensued.
The reading happened without incident and also seemed to up the energy in the room (as it had in Warrnambool too). At the end of the show a young woman rushed the stage , demanding we played "my stick".She artfully informed us that she had never really heard of us but a friend had said it was funny. She kept coming back and yelling again and again, well after the pa had been turned off.

The next afternoon we played at the Semaphore Workers Club. A Communist/ Union stronghold down by the old Port area. Both of these venues have no security. And despite the irritating behaviour of some people. I really like that. Its tough and you meet a lot of dicks but anything is better than bored muscle hovering around every situation and pushing people out before the gig is hardly over. Again, there was a bunch of young heads up the front, lifting us higher. A lot of mad dancers too. This was the only place in the whole country where the reading went flat. Partly due to a couple of people yelling and complaining, mostly to do with the foldback not being strongand present enough to pump the plosives into my flow. One of the hecklers was a ships captain of Indian origin who soon left. He told Pez he was into smuggling. "drugs and people"- whatever pays- though that was when I was younger..."
A mad woman in a hat and shades started to dance with her older, skull headed beau. Another woman danced in a totally arty and suggestive , dramatic, Isadora Duncan style all across the front of the stage.
The woman in the hat was demonic. She danced for so long I thought she was going to explode. She yelled incomprehensible, drunken guff in between songs. Then she lunged at a passing woman and they both fell onto my mic stand and pedals. We finished the set. I had already ahaken hands with an old aquaintance who I knew had been involved in a double killing. Hed done some time and was now living his life. I was still disturbed about that. How should I act to him? I had been friendly.

A young fellow requested 'death by a thousand sucks" which suited my distracted mood.
As I was talking to people afterwards the drunken woman in the hat and shades came up to talk. She had a harsh Liverpool accent and bad breath. She wanted me to sign a poster shed ripped off the wall. She went off to bother the others. A man came to talk, so stoned he uttered unconnected, isolated words, having thought the rest of the sentences . Holding my hand and eyes for several minutes .
The drunk woman came back for more. I begged off. She threw a pen at me and called me a "sad , miserable bastard!" She repeated this as she left. To paraphrase Lord Rochester "her belly was a bag of turds and her cunt was a common shore". Scrag.
She ahd some stamina though. A normal drunk would have just conked out on the lawn hours before that.
She must have been powering on something else too. We sat around with the club operator for a while . He had an idea to take a few bands to play in Cuba. Flying via Canada. Using his COP connections, we said yes, of course. He also wants to take a bunch of acts to the Antarctic to play at all the stations there. The acts have to be old though.And they mightn't be coming back. We said yes to that as well and then went to a posh Chines noodle house.
On Monday I did a reading in a bookshop. No mic,just standing on a step and talking to about 30 people. Afterwards. I was signing books and chatting when a very recognizable voice from my past said "you dont know me do you?" It took me a good olfashioned double take to realize it was a certain aristocratic, country squire stoner from back in the days. He figures for a moment in the drug and booze fogged body count pages for Mt gambier in 1001 Australian nights. Three kinds of crystal meth. A Viet Vet who had been in the regular army (not conscripted) due to a family tradition.He talked of how crap the RSL had been to his kind back then. Not bitter or carrying any grudges. You just never hear of how those older guys treated the Viet / Australian soldiers. Its all about the commie peaceniks ruining it for everybody. He went to an RSL once and never went back.He said that we were winning that war when him and a mate were still there anyway.

He said he would be visiting the country soon.For a party.Out of curiosity I asked what he would be taking to teh shindig, pharmaceutically. "Oh - five of us so we'll have plenty of weed, some googs (eccys) and some decent whizz. No point in slowing down at this stage..."
Tall and straight backed, wearing a jacket and jeans with a black leather shoulder bag and snakeskin boots-he could have stepped out of the streets of 1975.

He gave me hope for the nation.

I drove to Mt Gambier and checked into a motel . When I filled out the card, the woman said, "Dave Graney- are you Sean Graneys brother?"



Saturday July 2nd -Caravan Music Club- Oakleigh

Sunday July 3rd - 2pm at the Williamstown RSL

Friday July 8th Norfolk Basement Fremantle

Saturday July 9th the Bakery Northbridge WA

winter seaside idylls-real people and desal working aristocrats

Got back from Darwin and barely adjusted to the bodily freeze when we were once again in the van and heading to a couple of seaside joints. Different sides of the bay/puddle that are the reason for melbourne being a settlement.
First stop was San Remo which is down near port Phillip. Its a big, old style pub by the beach and the bridge leading over to Phillip Island. French island can be seen also. Wonthaggi and the proposed Desalination plant is nearby as well. The hotel rooms are fouled up by desal workers who are living the dream. High wages a la western and northern mines and bunking out during the week before heading home. No lunch boxes here- counter meals all the way.
We play two sets. I have gone back to my Roland GC408 solid state amp and am loving it again. Four little 8" speakers . A tone machine.
This is the hardest place to do a reading. Big room and disinterested barflies shouting from the other room where big screens show the football.
We sleep all four of us in bunks in the same room! That is a tight unit!
Have a lousy meal slung at us by a bored , sulking teen in a cafe the next morning and walk it off along the jetty. Cold wind in our faces. Overcoats, hats and gloves. Seabirds everywhere. We then drive to Rye, across the other side of the Peninsula. Thommo cracks a beer with the sun over the yard arm. is that midday?
The show in San Remo is in a much smaller space. A Taco restaurant for 80 people, run by a group of 20-30 somethings. The show is one long set and we don't turn down the performance from any other place we have been. We flame the front tables. I am standing off the stage and am feeling like Muddy waters. Have a great time.
WE drive back to town at about midnight, listening to bad classic rock radio. Drop Pez off in Springvale and Thommo by the side of the road in Elsternwick as he feels like kicking on.
We continue another 30m minutes to the hills.The next day, Clare does two sets playing drums for the Hired Guns. What a pro! I stay for the first set and then head to Bennetts Lane where Fitz (Mark Fitzgibbon) is launching is new cd, "Closer". with his quintet.

This Friday 24th we are at the Loft in Warrnambool. Sat 25th at the Wheatsheaf.
Sun 26th at the Semaphore Workers Club.
Saturday 2nd July at the Caravan Music Club in Oakleigh.
Fiday 8th July at Norfolk Basement in Fremantle.
Saturday 9th July at the Bakery in Northbridge in Perth.
Then July 22-24th at the Old Council Room Chambers of the SOUTH MELBOURNE TOWN HALL as part of the cabaret festival.

Darwin- ashen holiday

Stayed in Melboune for a night and a day then caught a midnight plane to Darwin.On the ground at 6 am , though my timing may be off. Maybe it was a 2am flight. Met by our man in the Tropics who has kindly organized the gig and a car (his) and a house (his) and also presents us with a definitive itinerary to the top end. Melbourne had demanded an overcoat, a scarf and gloves on the way to the airport. Here it is t shirt weather. 25 degrees at the least . I do an interview at the ABC radio and we eat some noodles in a mall. Late in the afternoon I do a reading at the Happy Yess which is an arts venue in town. I read from my book and answer a few questions. Things start out a bit wonky as there is a local interpreter involved who feels the need to punctuate my readings with crowd revving cheers and faux showbiz kindling and the like. After a while I get things moving at my own tempo. (This is helpful as I only have one and a half gears).
Things go quite well.
The next day we do two sets at the Happy Yess. The opening act is a young trio from Darwin. Very bright young people who play music that is quite dark and grungey. Downtuned and Yarling (vocal style). Doesn't really feel like its coming from them. They put out though.They could get better.
We use most of their gear and play two sets . Its a pretty hyped up Saturday night crowd, in a beer garden type setting. We give it the full front loaded , teasing it out blow to the face type feinting move we've worked out over the last month and then settle in for an unwinding down over the next couple of hours. I do a reading and that drives people crazier again, as it seems to do. The wrong place and time thing I guess.Challenging the room.
We meet a lot of people who haven't seen us for a decade or so and have travelled a long way for the gig. Feels great to have that connection over time with people.

The next day we while away the day with a barbecue at our hosts pad and then say our goodbyes and line up at the airport. A voice over the speaker informs us that all flights to Melbourne are cancelled due to volcanic ash from Chile coming around the world to sit there in the Victorian capitals bay for a while. Chaos ensues. Passengers yell and scream and stamp their feet. Some scramble other airline tickets on the one other carrier. No hope though.

Virgin pays for a night at the hotel. The next day we go back to the airport, as like in a war zone (!) communication is best coming from the source rather than the tv news. The word is that there is no flight until the Wednesday night. (It is Monday night now) I have a gig in Sydney on the Tuesday night. That is impossible. We sit and have a coffee and wind down again. A woman is sitting near us. Her husband paces the baggage area, trying to will the clouds to roll by down in Victoria I guess. She has been on the phone until 4am that morning. She has paid a fortune for a flight to Adelaide,, in the hope they can get to Melbourne that way. I dont know what is so important . We are settling in for the duration. We go back to the hotel (which is still being paid for) and unpack and go sit by the pool . Getting used to hell. Its a bit like a sudden holiday thats been dropped on your head. We go out for the count. Another day in Darwin, a sunset meal by the beach at the ski club.
Then we make a call to our man in the tropics and another gig is organized . On the next night we set up, again with gear being supplied, at the Railway club, and do anotehr couple of sets. A great place- a bit like the Semaphore Workers Club - with a couple of big snooker tables and a highceiling. Traces of a recent fire in the room leave a real devilish tinge to the ambience.
The next day we take another lap around the town and then take a flight to Melbourne at 7pm. We get off the plane and get to our van and don the coat, the scarf and the gloves and drive to home base.


Friday 17th June Westernport Hotel - San Remo Victoria
Saturday 18th June- Baha Tacos - Rye Victoria
Friday 24th June the Loft Warrnambool Vic
Sat 25th June- the Wheatsheaf Hotel - Adelaide
Sunday 26th June- Semaphore Workers Club- SA
Sunday 3rd July- Williamstown RSL

Friday July 8th- Norfolk Basement - Fremantle WA
Saturday July 9th - The Bakery - Northbridge WA


Friday 22nd-Sat 23rd Sun 24th July-special shows in the Old Council Chambers of the South Melbourne Town Hall as part of the Melbourne Cabaret Festival.

sunshine coast-byron and rolling down to melbourne

The Sol bar at Maroochydore was the total opposite of the Brisbane gig. So well run and organized. Great equipment and total pros running the joint. the night before had been absolutely saved by the Brisbane people who came to the gig. they somehow found out where we were playing and what time and turned up in a big mob. All kinds of ages and sizes and gender. Had a great night- despite the venue making it so hard to "make show". Thanks to everybody who came!
My voice was still shot in the upper register and I could barely talk during the day. Arrived in Brisbane early to do a lengthy interview for the ABC conversation hour with Richard Fidler. i must have sounded like Darth Vader or Davros. (Dalek leader)
Then croaked through an interview on the phone with ZZZ and then a book reading at Avid Books in the West End.Been amazed and energized by the book readings at shops and libraries, people really turn out for these events.

Rocked the house in Brisbane and drove to the Sunshine coast. Soundchecked at 3pm and then had a rest. The gig was at 9pm and we did two sets. the venue was packed with young and older people and it was impossible not to be psyched. The venue also provided a great backline of a kit and a bass rig and a brand new fender Deluxe Reverb which I plugged into. I have never experienced playing through one of these. Absolute genius sound. I never swallowed all that jive about Valve amps but now I am a believer. You can just dig in and the amp takes it. the clean sound is a dream. Lifted me for the show.
People were yelling and screaming and dancing. Wild! I did a reading which upped the energy level too.Myself and the room.
Drove on to Byron bay and set up and did another two sets. A smaller crowd but we were enjoying playing . Another great venue. The band is at such an intense level of power and intuition. The best ever.Cruising at a high altitude.
sat on the beach at Byron and ate some healthy food and then got into the car and rolled on to Melbourne. Stopped in the towns of Sawtell and then Goulbourn on the way down.

On Friday 10th I am doing a reading at the HAPPY YESS in Darwin and then playing with the Lurid yellow Mist on saturday 11th.

Friday 17th June Westernport Hotel - San Remo Victoria
Saturday 18th June- Baha Tacos - Rye Victoria
Friday 24th June the Loft Warrnambool Vic
Sat 25th June- the Wheatsheaf Hotel - Adelaide
Sunday 26th June- Semaphore Workers Club- SA
Sunday 3rd July- Williamstown RSL
8th July Norfolk Basement Fremantle.
9th July the Bakery- Northbridge- PERTH.

Then 3 nights at the Old Council Chambers in South Melbourne as part of the cabaret festival July 22-23-24.

LisVegas-BrisneyLand

Lismore is freaky and downright full of dread for most of the day as we pass time until the gig. Damp and humid, semi tropical and recently flooded. The soundcheck has a lot of barflies yelling directions and sneezing and dancing. The gig is a trio - sand Pez who is back in Melbourne. The whole town comes. I have to turn my amp up ore than its ever been as we need fire power for these hostiles. We turn on the juice and slay- its what we do.
Am surprised at the respect and good feeling there is for our stuff around tehse parts. people who've been into our shit for decades. In this kind of town, all types have to rub shoulders- young and old- hippies and black feller. A car salesman and his incredibly blonde, pneumatic girl ask for photos with me. They love "hashish and Liquor". We leave early the next morning for a three hour drive to make a recording of an interview at the abc with Richard Fidler. Exhausted.
Thena reading at a bookshop. Very well attended. My voice is so shot I can barely talk.Croak out some text and a few gags.
The gig at the Jubilee has all the makings of an absolute shemozzle. Brisbane style. Nobody at the pub knows anything about anything. Its been sold in the last week. People in control are security types . musicians are annoying.PA is bad. people start to turn up at 6:30 as thats when they've been told we are playing. We play the first set at 9:30.Surprised when we walk on to see a packed room with lots of young and old people in the house. They help us make a show- with the office style downlights over the stage being on rather than the proper cans that lie unused all night. Too hard for anyone to flick the switch!
Davo,Thommo,Mooresy and Pez rock the house!

Soundchecked at Maroochydore this afternoon- the situation is totally teh opposite. Total pros- a grat room and amazing sound system. A backline provided. A Fender Deluxe for me. I NEED ONE OF THESE . Though that will involve hiring someone to carry the goddam thing. Too heavy.
Tonight - June 4th at the Sol Bar in Maroochydore. Tomorrow at the Great Northern in Byron Bay. Saturday June 12th at the Happy Yess in Darwin.

drivin' north-kempsey-taree-grafton-casino-lismore

so we headed towards our next gig which is to be in Lismore.A change of tense there. On a dime. Constant but intermittent , super heavy downpours of rain all through the night continue as we drive. Heading into the northern river country, we expect things to get weirder. Crossing rivers all the time. Strange old bridges.Metallic and crooked. Coming from South Australia, which has one river, which is sick and busted and has been hardly able to reach the sea at the end, its positively riddled with wide, swollen waterways up here.
We stay for the night in a motel in Kemspey.Next day we load up and drive again.
We stop for lunch in Taree. It has a large war memorial I see. Six rectangular black monoliths with names all over them. At the bottom of on I see three small enamel aboriginal flags on stretched canvas bases. Just laid there, sitting against a monolith. Each has a name and which war they died in. Someone must have put them there that day.
On a more silly note, Thommo went to the can. In the public khazi there was a condom machine upon which a scribe has written , "save yourself the drama-have a wank instead!".
We drove on to Grafton and casino and finally Lismore.

We play at the Gollan Hotel tonight- Thursday 2nd.
On Friday 3rd we are at the Jubilee Hotel in Lismore.
On Saturday 4th we are at teh Sol Bar in maroochydore.
On Sunday 5th we are at the Great Northern in Byron bay.
On Saturday 11th we are at the Happy Yess in Darwin.