Grisly details and shots of what I've been up to for the last month.

To put it to a timeline, I had my appendix out May 19th and walked out of hospital May 26th.
On the day of release, a vacuum pack was attached to the wound. It helps to hold the wound together, suck out any fluid and to generally speed up the healing. It has to heal from below to the outer skin, so they also pack it with gauze.
So I walked out of the hospital carrying the Vac Pack thusly...

 

I put it in a  blue bag and slung it over my shoulder and tried to go about my tasks. I learned to move more slowly and to not lift anything. My voice was still husky due to the tubes being shoved down my throat but it slowly came back.

I did that show with the Coral Snakes a week later. June 3rd. It was a real leap into the unknown but it seemed too hard to postpone.

I had nurses coming most days in the first couple of weeks to take temperature and blood and change the dressing.

It was connected like this. 

 

The Vac pack was hard to sleep with and I carried it under a large coat when going out. At the cinema, it made a noticeable ticking sound and people must have gotten curious abdout the bomber in row E.

Luckily , we didn't have any other shows to do and Clare and I had a wonderful time doing the soundtrack for Donna McRae's ghost/horror film LOST GULLY ROAD.

Yesterday, we finished the soundtrack (it sounds and looks great!) and the Vac Pack was taken off. Last night was the first time since May 26th that I slept without the ticking of the pump and the tube pulling every time I rolled over. Thats about four weeks of it.

All the care from the hospital and the Home Nursing has been amazing. I'm still getting the dressing changed every day for another week or two. the wound still needs to heal from the bottom to the last opening.

Its been strange in that at no time have I felt any kind of pain. Discomfort and tedium yes but never pain. Even when I went to the doctor, I only thought I'd pulled a muscle. It seems the appendix had perforated and was hard to get to so they had to cut deep and long.

I have been going out and doing all kinds of things and eating well. Thankfully it's been so cold that a long coat didn't look at all weird. Just had that blue bag strap visible at the neck and hard to colour coordinate.

So its been a bit of  disruption in my life. A curious event that could have easily gone many different ways. that week in hospital was dream like. Boring and endless. So many voices drifting around the beige  room and the corridor and in my mind. People can drift between life and death so easily. Just trip away and let go.

So there won't be a July digital release I don't think. The soundtrack was great to work on and took all our time and energy. Clare is fantastic at that kind of work, the creativity as well as the administration and detail that film soundtracks demand. The syncing and note keeping. It sounds great.

We have our June release out, TWO BASS DRUMS AND A MELLOTRONE.

Georgio Valentino noted on Facebook..

"I knew it was only a matter of time (ie, decades) until my passion for and encyclopedic knowledge of Gabriel-era Genesis would be immortalized in song. At long last, Dave Graney, Clare Moore and will.i.wam aka Will Hindmarsh have made the dream real."

 

And we also have our CD comp LETS GET TIGHT out.

Its available at Greville Records, Rocksteady Records, Readings  and Basement Discs in Melbourne. Redeye Records in Sydney and Streetlight Records in Adelaide.

We will be doing some instore performances in Melbourne.

JULY 8th at READINGS IN ST KILDA

Lunchtime (1pm) Friday August 11th at Basement Discs 24 Block Place in Melbourne.

Sunday August 13th Greville Records,  afternoon show.

Upcoming shows

2017 shows

Dave Graney and the mistLY w/Died Pretty and Radio Birdman July 1st Croxton Band Room. 

Instore set at READINGS IN ST KILDA for LETS GET TIGHT southside launch. Saturday July 8th at 1pm. 

Dave Graney - solo - By request show- Sunday July 23rd at SOME VELVET MORNING. 123 Queens Parade in Clifton Hill. A LEAPS AND BOUNDS festival event. 

Dave Graney and Clare Moore Friday August 4th - the Bison Bar , Nambour - QLD

Saturday August 5th and Sunday August 6th (6pm start on Sunday) at the JUNK BAR in BRISBANE.

**** Sat show SOLD OUT- early 4:30 pm Saturday afternoon show added for the JUNK BAR in Brisbane.

Dave Graney and Clare Moore at the Skylark Room - Burrinja Arts Centre in Tecoma. October 21st.

Dave Graney and the mistLY
The Wheatsheaf Hotel - Adelaide November 11th and 12th 

My book, WORKSHY is also coming out on Affirm press in October.

My tips on Travel- for what they're worth

I was interviewed about my views on travelling. My favourite venues and festivals and the like.
A few other performers as well.  I could name them but this is my blog and I ain't here to do no prick any favours. It would tax me to write their names. Nice people though! Mostly.

This is how the article appeared. I appreiate the edits needed  due to space and the room needing to be sweet for advertisers etc. I know all that!

It's nice. The musicians are all nice too. http://www.traveller.com.au/the-ultimate-travellers-gig-guide-gwl6i2





And just for the hell of it, here are the answers the way I sent them, the unedited typing.


#What’s your favourite venue to play in the world and why? [we’d want to know a bit about why you might love the town or city the venue is in as well, why the whole experience is superior to others - the only thing is that the venue needs to be still running so readers can visit it. Because it is a travel article, we’d need as much as possible about the place as the experience, for example, if the venue is, let’s say, The Bowery Ballroom in New York, why you would pick that but also what makes New York such a great city to play a show in, including what you might do before or after the show (where you’d go for dinner, drinks, or sightseeing)]

My favourite gig is always the last one I played. Its been an intense period recently. I have played on some interesting islands in the past, well the COCOS ISLANDS for one , in 2007, and that was quite amazing. We had to borrow some equipment from local people and this led to Clare Moore playing an electronic drum kit but we made show! 2500 ks into the Indian Ocean past Perth. Was just an unrepeatable experience. We had to stay on the island for a week. Which was lovely. Anyway, last week we did a gig on Dangar Island which is on the Hawkesbury river. We had to get our amps onto  water ferry for the brief trip to the island and the bowling club in which we were to play. Had a marvellous time. A gig pulled together by local people who just want to hear music. Those are my favourite kinds of places to play.



#Name the one venue in the world you haven’t played [that is still running] that you’d like to play, and why?

I haven’t played the Beacon theatre in New York. I would like to play there because, until recently, the Allman Brothers set up shop and played twenty dates there every December.  Otherwise , the Fillmore in San Francisco. Because I love West Coast music of the 60s period. I must say, in general, I believe its bands and performers who make memorable scenes rather than venues.

#What is your favourite city in the world to see live music or buy music, and why, please name a record store and/or venue there that is a must-see?

 Edinburgh has produced some great music. In 2013 I was lucky enough to be there to see the first of the POP GROUP reformation shows and they were completely wonderful. There is a great record shop there - quite small- called CODA MUSIC which has a lot of excellent folk music ON CD. I associate Edinburgh with my friends in a great band called BUCKLEYS CHANCE. They are named after Billy and Syuzen Buckley but also include Malcolm Ross on guitar who plays with us whenever we get to go there and also played in three magnificent POSTCARD RECORDS bands, Josef K, ORANGE JUICE and AZTEC CAMERA. I also associate Edinburgh with iconic folk performers like DICK GAUGHAN, MAGGIE HOLLAND and THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND.I feel very at home in Edinburgh and would live there if they could arrange a few more sunny days.


Another favourite city and venue is the wonderful GOLDEN DAWN in AUCKLAND. I just love the place and the whole city. New Zealand music is as good as their films, stellar! There is also a fantastic record shop which seems to be the repository of the entire North Islands record collection called REAL GROOVY RECORDS. I onle ever dive into bargain bins with a  $2 limit but I spent about $60 there in 10 minutes.

#If you could play one festival again where would it be? [best festival setting/vibe and why]

 Newport jazz and blues festival 1958. The whole audience wore preppy modern jazz gear and sat on deck chairs and grooved behind their RayBans. Anita ODay wore long gloves (maybe to hide her track marks). Chuck Berry killed it. Gerry Mulligan. A great film was made of it called JAZZ ON A SUMMERS DAY. Performances intercut with scenes of student parties on boats. In general, I can’t stand festivals, I like music in small clubs. It sounds and looks better. Festivals died in the mid seventies and somehow got revived in the 90s. Time for them to go away again.

#What’s your favourite musician-friendly hotel in the world and why?

 I prefer AIR B and B actually. Get to meet people outside of rock music. I stayed in one called K West in London once, named after the sign on the cover of Ziggy Stardust. It was pretty awful - too much attitooooood. The 90s in Sydney was great for a hotel in Kings Cross called the HOTEL NEW HAMPSHIRE where all the Australian bands stayed. The staff were cool.

#When in a hotel should one leave the TV where it is or throw it out the window? And in your touring life what is the most outrageous thing you have seen/done in a hotel?

Leave it where it is and keep it turned on. Just like home.

At the new Hampshire I went to go to take a leak and walked straight out the door of my room. Had to go to the reception to ask for a key, in my underpants. Not really outrageous but a little bit LARRY DAVID as I had been giving the German guy at reception hell over something or other earlier. A walk of shame I guess. He was smiling, I am sure.

Dave Graney and the mistLY w/Died Pretty and Radio Birdman July 1st Croxton Band Room. 

Dave Graney - solo - By request show- Sunday July 23rd at SOME VELVET MORNING. 123 Queens Parade in Clifton Hill. A LEAPS AND BOUNDS festival event. 

Dave Graney and Clare Moore Saturday August 5th and Sunday August 6th at the JUNK BAR in BRISBANE.

Dave Graney and the mistLY
The Wheatsheaf Hotel - Adelaide November 11th and 12th

still vacuuming - Everybody-lets get progly!

Yes, I'm still attached to this vacuum pack after my appendix operation. It creates a vacuum which helps the wound to heal. I dunno what they did before this as it's getting awful tedious carrying this thing around. Don't worry, I won't post any pictures. that would mean having to look at it myself.

Still, our health system is amazing. Visited at home by nurses to keep a check on the healing process. All really great, skilled workers. Thank you all!

In other news, we have this June single out. TWO BASS DRUMS AND A MELLOTRONE.

Inspired by long drives in April , playing in NSW, listening to Georgio "the dove" Valentino extoll the virtues of Genesis as he investigated them as a youth growing up in Miami in the late 80s/ early 90s. Weird huh? Music- where can't it go?






Dave Graney, bass, guitar, keys, vocals.
Clare moore, drums, vibes. keys.

Will Hindmarsh aka WAM, mellotron and vocoder.

lyrics

this jam emanates from the north you know
from the USA and EUROPA
bespoke to my pal Georgio
Georgio “the dove” Valentino
he opened the book at Genesis
he closed the book at Genesis
from Genesis to Genesis ya dig?
two bass drums and a mellotrone
he strolls with his pal Patrizia F.
she knows the score from the streets she left behind
the king of Luxembourg nods out on his throne
two bass drums and a mellotrone
Miami, Detroit, Bruxelles
she sells seashells
vous connaissez Niagara?
OK!
Morrissey and Stipe walk into a bar
whats gonna happen man?
just havin’ a jar!
two bass drums and a mellotrone
put your “pr” in front of an “OG”
prolly get progly
party people know the party line
Clare Moore steps up to her vibraphone
Patrizia checks her herringbone
party up yer parlophone
daisies up yer piano
whoopsie doo!
dozey doze!
two bass drums and a mellotrone
at Charterhouse they got their flow
PA’s had yet to cruel the show
Genesis had the lowest blow
26” Phil
Peter 24”
two bass drums and a mellotrone
from Genesis to Genesis
Mahavishnu too “you know! you know!”
two bass drums and a mellotrone
party people know the party line
party up yer parlophone
daisies up yer piano
whoops!
whoopsie doo!
dozey doe
everybody!
lets get progly!
EVERYBODY!
LETS GET PROGLY!

Here we are playing, early one morning in April at BEGA ABC. Just think - my appendix was about to gurgle and take fright....

Dave Graney and the mistLY w/Died Pretty and Radio Birdman July 1st Croxton Band Room. 

Dave Graney - solo - By request show- Sunday July 23rd at SOME VELVET MORNING. 123 Queens Parade in Clifton Hill. A LEAPS AND BOUNDS festival event. 

Dave Graney and Clare Moore Saturday August 5th and Sunday August 6th at the JUNK BAR in BRISBANE.

Dave Graney and the mistLY
The Wheatsheaf Hotel - Adelaide November 11th and 12th

Memo Music Hall show debrief

THis show last Saturday by Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes (I always write it that way, just because I find it odd to just refer to it as a CORAL SNAKES show - I mean I wrote all the songs and sang them and  ..) at memo Music Hall in St Kilda was the most dramatic yet. A full room came along to see the gig. Thanks to all who came! I really appreciate it. The shows we have done since 2015 at that first Memo Show have been EPIC and quite exciting and the music stands as a unique, stand alone event from that 90s period in general.

Adelaide twice, Newcastle and Sydney twice and also Brisbane. There has been little noise in print or text or radio about the gigs but people come out of the cities to see us. Something happened and it meant something to all those people. It meant a lot to us too. The music was high grade and the lyrical side of it holds up too. We never earthed ourselves in youth culture or even alternative culture. Well, more so the latter but it was an alternative culture all of our own divining. Reaching back to 40's noir movies and poetry and football and all kinds of sly pop grooves. Never into distortion or anguish. Screw that grunge! We had compadres and peers locally and internationally and tried our best to matter in terms that were current.

Anyway, I wrote earlier of my burst appendix and the operation which happened about 14 days before this gig. We were going to cancel. I felt pretty weak and my voice had quite disappeared, due to the tubes going down my throat brushing against my vocal cords quite roughly. Then I actually felt better each day and thought we'd do the gig. Its hard to reconstitute a band and the show would have had to have been postponed and rescheduled. So we decided to NOT cancel or postpone it a week out from doors opening.

On the day I left hospital I was hooked up to a small vacuum pump which is connected to a tube which comes out of the wound in my side. This is on all the time and creates a vacuum which helps the wound heal and also sucks out any fluid which might be present. There was a bit of fluid as it turned out I had gotten a post op infection. Probably due to the appendix bursting and a lot of actual shit and bacteria swimming about my body and the open wound.

So I had to wear this little thing, about the size of a thick hardback book, around and also sleep with it on.   Our health system is amazing and I had a nurse visiting every day to attend the dressing and take blood pressure and general temperature and blood samples etc.
I wore the pump to some interviews at 3RRR and at 3AW in Melbourne. We also had a rehearsal and my voice came back.

On the day of the gig I kept pretty quiet and low key at soundcheck and leading up to showtime. I'm not the type to do a lot of performing off stage , anyway.

Julitha Ryan opened proceedings with a great band. Stu Thomas on bass, Mick Harvey on guitar and Idge on drums and Brett Poliness on percussion.

A few friends came backstage but I might have freaked them out with my stillness and long overcoat. I'd lost a  bit of weight, too.

For the gig I wore my dark blue Safari suit which I must have last pulled out of the cupboard some time in 1994. I needed the belt to feel its support around my waist. Holding stuff.

Before the show I unplugged my vacuum pump and sat on a stool as we started. Then I stood up and white line fever or Dr Footlights took over. I did a pretty tightly wound show as compared to our recent Basement Sydney gig which was intense and up close stuff.  After the first song I found my tempo and it all went really well. I like to do a show that hangs together for an hour and fifteen minutes. The talk and the moves and the music all builds to a point and releases over and over. Its a highly compressed set that we do. A decade of work in one gig.

People who haven't ever seen us think they know what we do or what a show is. They know fucking squat is what I'm sayin'! Their expectations are LOW.

After the gig I plugged back into my vac pack and went and stood at the merch table.

Our audience is vintage for the most part though there were some people in their twenties around. Fucking cool kids!

It's been great playing with Rod and Robin again. We might do more if we get the right kind of situation. We're not into going around playing in clubs and having to do all the heavy lifting as far as PR goes. We need that to be taken care of, part of the deal. Then we can just turn up and play.

Thanks again to everybody who came along.

And thanks to Clare Moore for organizing all the gigs, the logistics and the planning and timing amd rehearsing and getting information out to all concerned. It wouldn't happen without her tour managing and deciding and execution. 

Oh, and I've still got the vac pump connected. Hard Core!

Dave Graney and the mistLY w/Died Pretty and Radio Birdman July 1st Croxton Band Room. 

Dave Graney - solo - By request show- Sunday July 23rd at SOME VELVET MORNING. 123 Queens Parade in Clifton Hill. A LEAPS AND BOUNDS festival event. 

Dave Graney and Clare Moore Saturday August 5th and Sunday August 6th at the JUNK BAR in BRISBANE.

Dave Graney and the mistLY
The Wheatsheaf Hotel - Adelaide November 11th and 12th 

Our JUNE digital release is TWO BASS DRUMS AND A MELLOTRONE.