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.
We have a new digital single out now. Recorded mostly in late 2017. It's called Song Of Life.
I wrote the song when in hospital for an appendix operation earlier that year. I was feeling very mortal as it was an old school operation due to being a pretty advanced case and then I got a bit of an infection.
So I thought of writing a song about my life.
I was laying there in my cot and thought that that was they it ends up for most people, if they're lucky. Looking out from their cot... just like they were when they were babies.
I'm unsure where "zip-a-dee-doo-what is/was/that/this?" came from. Maybe it's the sort of thing that would be the last lick to loose through your mind as you slip outside this house for good?
Twelve string acoustic guitar, fuzz bass, vibes and melodica. Its both stark and grand.
A big chorus. Two verses.
credits
Dave Graney - 12 string acoustic guitar , fuzz bass, beat, keys and vocals
Clare Moore - vibes, congas, melodica
Stu Thomas - bass
Recorded at the Ponderosa November 2017 by Dave Graney and Clare Moore.
Released February 23rd.
lyrics
yeah starin' out from my cot
back where I started
where it begins
where it stops
meet everybody by the age of ten
you search for those cats again
all your life
faces in the street
you put 'em to that lens
try everything on in your teens
even though so much is down to your JEANS
never knew such plenty in your twenties
get real sentimental in your thirties
get awful mean in your forties
get even better in your fifties
then you better find somethin' else to do
song of life
zip-a-dee-doo-WHAT is/WAS/THAT/this?
zip-a-dee-doo-what IS/was/that/THIS?
yeah it all closed in on me
my mind seized down
chucked all my toys out
staring out from my cot
song of life
When were in Europe in September/October 2017 we shot some scenes of us hanging about in Esch (near Luxembourg). Barry C Douglas edited into a video.
I have continued recording some songs but am very keen to get into the studio with the mistLY and do a proper session in the first half of this year. We have quite a few songs ready to go.
To get them into shape we are playing a month of Sundays in the excellent front room of the Croxton Park Hotel, 607 high st Thornbury, showtime from 4-6pm.
We will be previewing songs as well as revisiting specific albums and have special guests each week.
Hey, we realized we hardly ever play in Melbourne, where we live, so we will be playing a residency in April. Every Sunday 4-6pm at the Croxton Park Hotel. We'll be revisiting some favourite albums and previewing some new material.
APRIL MELBOURNE RESIDENCY - DAVE GRANEY AND THE MISTLY IN THE EXCELLENT FRONT ROOM OF THE CROXTON PARK HOTEL. 607 High St, Thornbury. Every Sunday in April from 4-6pm. presenting different albums weekly and previewing new material. Book for the first Sunday here.
Take your pick of any of the Sundays below.
Dave Graney, Clare Moore, Stu Thomas and Stuart Perera. Dave Graney
and the mistLY. Two guitars, drums, keys, vibes and bass. Acoustic
guitars, electric guitars, six and twelve string guitars. And four
voices.
There was the Moodists, there was Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes and there is Dave Graney and the mistLY.
Clare Moore and myself had a run of shows booked in New South Wales. We rehearsed a great set of vibes and guitar, we were playing mostly regional areas and small rooms at that. Then tehre was a sudden illness in Clare's family in Adelaide and it was determined that I'd complete teh shows solo.
First up was a Wednesday night at Smiths Alternative in Canberra. I took three guitars to have a bit of textural difference in the set(s). My K Yair acoustic 12 string, Maton EB808 acoustic and my '57 Ibanez Salvador archtop guitar.
In the rehearsal time I had started playing the archtop with a slide in open G and three songs had tumbled out. In the week leading up to leaving fo the tour I recorded one of the tracks, YOU'RE ALL WRONG. It'll probably be our next digital release after SONG OF LIFE.
On the Tuesday I did my show, BLB, at 3Triple R in Melbourne. It was an interview with old friends Dave Ruffy and Seggs who were in town to play as the RUTS , opening for the Stranglers at the Forum. You can stream the interview here.
I left town straight after the show and drove about five hours to the town of Gundagai. A pretty spot off the Hume Highway.
I mostly listened to a three disc set of 50's Kenny Burrell albums all the way. Jazz guitar. And some Janet Jackson.
The next day I drove into Canberra. I played two sets to a sold out room. A former bookshop which will soon be expanding into the shop next door, its a great, accessable venue right in the middle of Canberra. Robin Casinader, of the Coral Snakes, lives in Canberra and joined me for the second set. He played the standup piano which is on the stage.
We played The Stars, The Birds and Goats, I'm Not Afraid To Be Heavy, Warren Oates, Robert Ford On The Stage , Mt Gambier Night and All Our Friends Were Stars (both of which he learned that night) and a few others. We had a great time and then sat at some tables on the street to eat some great food that Robinspartner Christine had made and we ate it in the warm summer air. (Its tough to get anything to eat in Canberra after 9pm on a week night).
I should say I'd started the 5/2 diet. Two days a week of around 600 calories only. I also hadn't eaten any meat or bread since December.
The next day I drove to Wollongong where Justin Frew put a show on at his back porch and 50 people paid to sit in deck chairs and listen to me play for about 90 minutes. Justin had a small vocal pa and people went for a swim in his pool after I played. The venue I had been booked into had closed a fortnight before and Justin had suggested this patio show. Thanks comrade!
This was the scene before the show.
Justin has been collecting small dogs and they kept wandering onto the stage. Never work with animals, hey! I disciplined them after the show. Indi still licked my face.
I played songs like I'm A Good Hater, You Need A Kleek, Klook, Be Sad For Me, How CanYou Get Out Of London? Drugs Are Wasted On The Young, I Held the Cool Breeze, Night Of The Wolverine, You're Too Hip, Baby, The Stars, Rock'n'Roll Is Where I Hide, Lets Kick This Mob Out, SONG OF LIFE, Warren Oates, Robert Ford, Everything Was Legendary With Robert, I Wanna Get Lost Again, Maggie Cassidy... and my three new songs You're All Wrong, Hell Is You, Babe and You've Been In My Mind.
I asked for requests at the end of the gig and a lady asked for I'm Gonna Release Your Soul and Rock'n'Roll Is Where I hide.
The next day I drove to Orange, New South Wales where I checked into the motel and then played at a venue called the Agrestic Grocer. A stonewashed restaurant/ store on the edge of town in a former Oats factory. Absolutely beautiful sounding room and a sold out crowd. Had a fantastic time.
I asked for requests here and pretty much all were for songs from the Soft'N " Sexy Sound. Songs like Dandies Are Never Unbuttoned, The Pre Revolutionary Scene (Both of which I had only ever played with a band when the album first came out in 1995) and Rock'n'Roll Is Where I Hide.
All these gigs had been very hot days. Over 30 degrees anyway. I still wore my 70s checked coat, t shirt and slacks.
The next day was very hot and bright as I drove back toward Sydney and to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. A little bit cooler but I still went for a walk in a t shirt after sound check.
This show was in a reception / ballroom of the guesthouse I was staying in. Beautiful dark wood panneling everywhere, like in the movie Barton Fink. The show was sold out and seats arranged as in a concert situation.
The sound was not as resonant to me as it had been in the beautiful high ceilinged stone room the day before. this was more of a low ceilinged, carpeted room. I did two sets of music here. I always enjoy playing in Katoomba.
The requests here were for Am I Wearing Something Of Yours?, Mt Gambier Night, Rock'n' Roll Is Where I Hide and My Schtick Weighs A Ton.
I encored with the Doors, The Crystal Ship and Love's ALONE AGAIN, OR.
The next day I drove through Sydney from 9-30am to 1:30 when I arrived at Brooklyn station on the Hawkesbury River, on the way to Newcastle. I put my three guitars, effects bag and amplifier into Steve Griffiths boat and we sped over to Dangar Island.
There are no cars on the island so I pushed my amp on a trolley to the Bowls Club.
I was about half an hour late so I set up and played straight away. I did two sets . There were people all around me, sitting on the grass in the sun and in the shade.
I was also playing Kris Kristoffersons I've Got To Have You at these shows.
After being at the club for about three hours and playing for two of those, I got back in the boat wth my three guitars, bag and amp and Steve drove me back to my car. I then drove back through Sydney and onto teh town of Yass. This drive took about 4 hours.
The next morning I woke early and checked the oil, filled up with petrol and gas (Van is currently at 594,000 ks of driving around Australia) and headed toward Adealaide. After about two or three hours I got to a sign where I had to turn onto the Sturt Highway. It said that Adelaide was a further 993 kilometres.
The drive took about 15 hours. I got pretty delirious. You could pull over and stop here and there but the eerie silence just creeped you out.
I ate a tin of Dolmades, some tinned fish and drank water from a bottle I'd filled up. Also some almonds I had in a bag. I listed to the incredible last two albums from The Beastie Boys, To The Five Boroughs and Hot Sauce Committee Vol 2. Amazing. I had also aquired The Immortal Story, which was a compilation from The Only Ones, equally as thrilling, and the best of Helen Reddy.
I got to Adelaide at about 12:30 am and fell out of the car, which must have stunk!
The next day, I was present at the funeral for Clare's father, Brian Moore. A great South Australian, lifle-long publican, Gilbert and Sullivan society life member and all around powerful and present individual.
Clare and I drove back to Melbourne where we had a gig to play with our band, the mistLY at the Grand Hotel in Mornington. It was great to be back in the fold with our comrades Stu and Stuart and to play some music in a rock band in a rock'n'roll room.
We played for two solid hours.
everything was legendary with robert midnight to dawn your masters must be pleased too hip baby feelin kinda sporty the stars, baby I need to be hot I aint hi vis are you out of your mind?
heroic blues
blues negative flash in the pantz how can you get out of London? sometimes you can see yourself drugs are wasted on the young we need a champion rock n roll is where I hide you wanna be there but you don’t wanna travel I’m not afraid to be heavy warren oates bodysnatcher blues This is the Deadest Place I’ve ever died in all our friends were stars
SONG OF LIFE.
The next day I did a solo show at a pub in Collingwood.
I didn't know what to expect and it was standing on the floor in the middle of a pub. They were paying a good fee so I set my gear up and made show. A silver haired guy was yapping at me as I set up about how he'd never seen me play but loved that song Rock 'n' Roll is Where I Hide. He went on about how Triple J voted it "the greatest song ever" and his female friend tried to stop him yelling. After a while I just said I'd be doing whatver I liked and hoped he enjoyed that too. He just yelled the name of the song and wanted to slap my back or hi - five me.
I went and sat down to wait a half hour or so to play. I did the same two sets I had been doing in regional New South Wales and had a great time. What seemed like a rowdy bar room crowd became a listening audience after the first few bars. The silver haired drunken man left after the first two songs.
pic Barry Douglas
The next day I didn't have a show..
But I had to take part in an art exhibition talk with Mick Harvey at Heide Museum of Modern Art on the occasion of a career spanning exhibition by Jenny Watson. She had painted the portaits on the first Go-Betweens album and had taught Nick Cave at art school. She had also painted portaits of the early Boys Next Door. I arrived late but got to chat a little bit.
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
