conflict? I tried to avoid it but it's in the very air we breathe. War stories

I don't like conflict or arguments or feuds. Though I do enjoy observing other people dealing with them. And I am by natural dispostion a bit of a shit stirrer. In general, I have been surprised by what people get upset about. And who can get upset.

Just yesterday I commented on some social media about a  tv show about WW1. The show began with a  warning that it "contains depictions of deceased military personnel..." I thought this was a very modern thing. To be so soft and delicate in a day which was infused with images of ISIS beheadings, EBOLA plagues, American race riots  and GAZA bombings. Oh and Clive Palmers warnings of Communist Chinese mongrel invasions. I compared it to more honest shows like COMBAT, BILKO and DADS ARMY. Shows made be people who had actually been involved in wars.

The actual company that made the film , as  a part of the WW1 celebrations which will be absolutely peaking in 2015, had a go at me and made pathetic reference to the show perhaps not being "hip" enough. I identify myself by name and the branded company took offence. How do you talk to a company? Should you? That'd be treating them like a person? Fuck that.

A waste of your brief time on this earth.



I grew up with war movies and comics and tv shows.

These little comics full of stories about the Pacific war.

 

Endless, and even to a kid, pretty corny US and British propaganda films. Though some like  Powell and Pressburgers " a matter of life and death" was absolutely magical AND terrifying.

 

In my deeply Catholic young life- the visualized stairway to HEAVEN sequences were amazing...



Powell and Pressburgers films are among my favourites. "THE BOY WITH THE GREEN HAIR", "AGE OF CONSENT", "PEEPING TOM", THEY"RE A WEIRD MOB". Greatness. Magical!

As a young teen, Marvel comics had pretty much jumped the WW2 shark with the hilarious NICK FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOES!

ANZAC day was not what it is today. It was not HIP at all. My father was a teen in khaki in Borneo and I never knew him to march.

Later, when living in London, I loved Patrick Hamiltons book of desperate wartime life in the city, "Hangover Square".

 

aaaaah , I've forgotten that online bickering already.

We play in Darwin at the HAPPY YESS this weekend. It was bombed extensively in WW2 but they didn't tell anybody until recently as to how much. Still worried about the peoples morale. So we get a  constant feed of Gallipoli stuff. Much more to come. I am glad, that I am actually HIP TO THAT!

August 22nd Happy Yess Club - Darwin


NZ TOUR- dave graney and clare moore
Wed 27th August: Auckland. .... Golden Dawn
Thurs 28th August: Wellington - MEOW
Fri 29th August: Christchurch - Darkroom
Sat 30th August:
Christchurch - 9.30am - appearance at Writers Festival
Sat 30th August - Dunedin - Chick's Hotel


Wed Sept 3rd - Ararat Live
Sept 14th - matinee show - Northcote Social Club - tix here 

 EURO DATES  for Harry Howard and the NDE and some solo/duo shows from myself and Clare Moore...


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FRANCE 

Cherbourg 23 NDE

Binic 24 LE CHALON QUI PASSE NDE

Brittany 25 LE GALLION NDE

Rennes , Brittany 26 LE MONDO BIZARRO NDE

Paris 27 MECHANIQUE NDE

October 01 La Feline Dave Graney/Clare Moore and also the NDE

Lille 02 NDE

BERLIN

03 cologne

04 Kaffee Burger  - NDE

05 VALENTIN STURBEL- dave graney solo show

06 – Sofa Club for Graney Moore/ NDE Duo's

07 – Auster TBC

08  - White Trash -confirmed for NDE

CZEK 

Prague 09

AUSTRIA

Ebensee 10

Vienna 11

London 12 bar – Dave Graney/Clare Moore and also Harry Howard and the NDE - Thursday 16^th   

"Was Lou Reed gay?" he asked. Darwin, NZ and Euro dates.

Heading to Darwin this weekend , then a week in New Zealand. We have been to the latter only once, at the Big Day Out in Auckland 1997.
Looking forward to both environments. The New Zealand trip is a bit more of a leap into the unknown, who knows who will turn up? Anybody?
I have so many songs to choose. I will have the opportunity to present myself in whatever way I choose.
You'd think.
I hope.
Those NZ dates will be myself and Clare Moore.
Stu Thomas will be making the Darwin show.

That show at the Drunken Poet was my second turn on that wooden floor. It's like playing in a pub in the UK. Quite homey. Perhaps it's a lot of backpackers using the pub as their front room.

I stood there and played whatever I liked on my 6 string Maton. Songs like "robert ford on the stage" , "listen to her lover's sing", "I was the hunter and I was the prey". If the material in a set is solely up to me I just like to play interesting chords and lines. I could do it all day. But of course, you have to think of people.

One day, I'll be expressing myself fully on that dimension. But where or why or when could you finally speak your mind? And who to?

I must admit I'm getting pretty loose as far as my profile goes. I mean the angle at which I put my supply lines in regard to my front line.
Ever since that time last year when a man came up to me at a pub in Melbourne with his drunken mate, as if he was standing up for the sook, saying to me , "so are you gonna play his song or do we have to knock you around a bit?" I smiled because it seemed so stupid. Luckily there was nobody really tough there. I just played with the drunk, asking him what song he meant, and he didn't know the title. (No one knows the name of my most requested tune) . It was free to get in too. I take Ross Wilson's law to heart , "you want gold you pay gold!"




Played in Adelaide last month. This fellow comes up to me after the first set and asks do I like the Velvet Underground. I reply that , yeah they're okay but I really liked Lou's solo albums too. He says he loves "Perfect Day". I say, "that's his gayest tune. The most gay". He pauses and says " "What - is Lou Reed gay?" I leave a long pause....

Then I say ... "yeah, maybe .......you better Google some of this stuff? ......... hey maybe not...."

See sometimes you think you're playing to a room full of wise and knowledgeable people. Incidents like this can play on your mind... What's that Monster Magnet tune ?     "dopes to infinity".

We're also doing a Melbourne afternoon show at the Northcote Social Club  September 14th.

August 22nd - Happy Yess- Darwin

Wed 27th August: Auckland. .... Golden Dawn
Thurs 28th August: Wellington - MEOW
Fri 29th August: Christchurch - Darkroom
Sat 30th August: Christchurch - 9.30am - appearance at Writers Festival then Dunedin - Chick's Hotel
Sept 3rd - Ararat Live- Ararat
Sept 14th - matinee show - Northcote Social Club - tix here  Special guest Anna Smyrk 

  





We're coming back to Sydney in November for a run of dates.

But before that, Clare and I will be heading to Europe as part of Harry Howard and the NDE for dates in France, Germany, Austria and London. I'll be doing some acoustic shows with Clare as well. More details soon.


We've put up some albums digitally at Bandcamp too.

There's my effort from 2005 "Hashish"





And Clare Moore's "Liquor"




They were previously only available as a double. The cd is out of print.

Clare also has her first album "The Third Woman" available



We shall speak anon....

FEARFUL WIGGINGS - further links and notices

Peter O'doherty from Dog Trumpet has an exhibition on at Goulds Gallery in Sth Yarra for the next month. Its at 270 Toorak Rd, right up near the Chapel st intersection. It's called "From the street"
Here's a link to it.

 Dog Trumpet also have a new album out. A double. Masterful players, writers and great guys!



While we're on the O'doherty kick. Here's Claudia O'doherty with a series of WEBISODES from the UK.


An interview I did regarding FEARFUL WIGGINGS with Myf Warhurst at Double J

From TIM magazine. I get asked what's on my ipod. I don't have one but tell what vinyl LPs were at the turntable.

 An interview with Radio Adelaide. I was standing in a freezing shopfront in a country town along the highway from Melbourne to Mt Gambier. It was raining.

 Rolling Stone Australia reviewed FEARFUL WIGGINGS. The first album of mine to be honoured so since 2003.

 4ZZZ in Brisbane reviews FEARFUL WIGGINGS

Dave Graney - Fearful Wiggings

Cockaigne / Fuse

"The latest installment from iconic Melbourne musician (and Triple R broadcaster!) Dave Graney is as compelling and unique as ever. On this record we hear the distinctive vocals and poetically concise lyricism Dave is known for presented in new and ever more expressive sonic form. Throughout the course of the album Dave Graney and partner Clare Moore explore everything from sparse folk, jazz, to adventurous art pop, all with a richly textured ambience".
Triple R  album of the week- SIMON WINKLER



 Q&A in the Sydney Morning Herald

 

 An interview in Rhythms magazine


Played with Harry Howard and the NDE last night, opening for the Models in Elsternwick. Always love playing as part of the NDE .

 

Clare was suffering a cold. the Models are a strange but lovely bunch of guys. They have a great, loose set. Sometimes funky, always unpredictable. 

As I packed my stuff up a man asked me if I was Dave Graney. I said I was . He asked me if that was "Coral Snakes" as he pointed at Clare. I said yeah that's Clare. He asked if I was still playing - with the Coral Snakes. I said I hadn't played  with them since the end of 1997 and had probably done a dozen albums since then. he asked if I was touring. I said yes, actually. All the time. He asked what he should look up. I said well, try DAVE GRANEY and see how you go. 

2014 shows
dave graney and the mistLY



August 17th - dave graney solo at the Drunken Poet in Melbourne
August 22nd Happy Yess Club - Darwin


NZ TOUR- dave graney and clare moore
Wed 27th August: Auckland. .... Golden Dawn
Thurs 28th August: Wellington - MEOW
Fri 29th August: Christchurch - Darkroom
Sat 30th August:
Christchurch - 9.30am - appearance at Writers Festival
Sat 30th August - Dunedin - Chick's Hotel