dave graney - Moodists-Coral Snakes-mistLY-FEARFUL WIGGINGS

dave graney - Moodists-Coral Snakes-mistLY-FEARFUL WIGGINGS
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About Me

My photo
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.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Recent posts from the music life




A solo show I'm doing in an historical woolshed at Glencoe- near Mt Gambier. September 27th. Tickets here

August 12th

 Saw Robin Casinader play another masterful set of brilliant sounds in a Northcote bar (Open Studio).With his keyboard and MELLOTRON. A songbook with fresh tunes and others going back decades. Accompanied by Natasha on viola who had met him ten hours earlier. A clip from last year.



Robin played a song going way back to Plays With Marionettes, his band that was contemporary with the Moodists in early 80s Melbourne. It was a great tune! He played Salty Girls which he wrote and sang on the album "The Soft n Sexy Sound" with us in 1995. Sounded amazing!

Robin lives in Canberra and will hopefully play more regularly in Melbourne. Nobody else like him. Not with the skills and the sensibility. He was so relaxed in performance too. Loose but totally concentrated when playing. Not a lot of chat but when he did it was perfect for the moment. Julitha Ryan did a fine opening set. She did so even though Robin soundchecked until well past the time she was supposed to begin.
I know that would have been upsetting but as an audience member I enjoyed Robin taking so long to set up and the tension building. He should do it every time as an opening act...

(At a show in the same venue last year Robins' accompanist and co singer (Francesca) injured her arm the night before so he hired another mellotron and they did the gig as a Mellotron duo, facing each other, with Francesca doing her cello parts on the keyboard. Must be a jinxed room.)

 August 16th

Great night of music at the Northcote Social Club last night. On Diamond were so confident and spellbinding. Sometimes it was like the first version of PIL with Anne Briggs singing but they are really their own thing. The bass player nailing it all to the floor and the drummer swinging so loose and relaxed and Lisa Salvo and the guitarist swooping to and fro up in the heavens. In a music scene that is choked 95% tribute nights and the like this sort of act is so valuable.



Machine Translations were playing in support of a re-release of a 2002 album called HAPPY. Full of great pop moments and wilful artistry. Greg Walker is a favourite songwriter of mine. His voice and demeanour are very winning and his guitar playing and chordal divinings are mesmerising. He played an SG through and Ampeg amp as well as acoustic. With a great rhythm section and prog biker cat on guitar/keys/melodica and xylophone and two backing singers. They probably had never played the whole album before as it seemed to involve a lot of studio creativity/cutting and pasting. They played one of my favourite songs called The Monkeys Back which Greg introduced as having written about Australians keeping voting in John Howard and he said it was horrible that it was still relevant. Listening to it roll out was that feeling I used to get as a kid listening to the hopelessness in Neil Youngs On The Beach. Unbearable helpless feeling. 

"Monkey came 'a knocking
At your door
You know you should be careful
What you wish for
Now the monkey's back
We all get what we deserve
Roll out the plastic cheese
Flatten the earth
Now the monkey's back
He knows just how to please
That's how I'm living in this
Pile of leaves
Monkey at the wheel's got
Huge control
Bonny says it feels so
Safe and cold
Will she be lying when she says I do
Get on the monkey's back
We all get what we deserve
Roll out the plastic cheese
Flatten the earth
La la the monkey's back
He knows just how to please
That's how I'm living in this
Pile of leaves
Martyr of the roses
Black and blue
You know you should be careful
The things you do
'cause now the monkeys back
We'll all get what we deserve
Roll out the plastic cheese
Flatten the earth
La la the monkeys back
Now forget what you learned
That's how I'm living in this
Pile of earth
"
It was a rush of ambivalent feelings listening and watching them play it. Very powerful. Anger and frustration.
They ended with another favourite, the beautiful chords, words and loops of "Be My Pillow".
I know its also retro having a band get into some old performing shape to play an old album again but some music is so rich and actually worth someone taking the time and trouble. Beyond nostalgia, it was all still ringing with me this morning.

The early 2000s were a pretty horrible period for music, continuing the dreadful slowdown that happened in the late 90's. Machine Translations were a highlight of the time and Greg has continued to put out fantastic music ever since. 




The only negative of the night was that it should have all started two hours earlier. Late gigs are silly.

Another great musical experience recently was getting to interview Peter Asher and Albert Lee on the radio show I do on Triple R . We also went to their Melbourne show and had a wonderful time. They mostly told stories of their lives in music but when this touches on experiences with -or parralel to - the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, Waylon Jennings, Elvis Presley, Emmy Lou Harris, James Taylor, Carole King, Linda Ronstadt and many others.... well, the names just keep on getting dropped.... so you roll with it...

Listen back here, the interview starts at about one hour into it....

The week before that, David McClymont - who played with us in the latterday Moodists (my favourite period of that band) - came in to talk about his new album which is available at Bandcamp.

You can listen back to that show here. Again, the interview starts at about one hour in

He continues to record new stuff and this song Centuries came out after the album.




Then he came over to our studio last week and we recorded a song with him. Well he then trashed it and re-arranged and re-wrote it so we will do it again. Will sound cool though!

Our new album ONE MILLION YEARS DC is mastered and in the pipeline for an October release.
It is also sounding GREAT to me. A strong collection of songs. Its all set in the end of the world - yes, the present day....


We are lining up some shows for September onwards

September 7th Dave Graney will be doing a solo show at the Homestead in Hobart.
September 8th Dave Graney will be appearing solo at MONA in Hobart.
September 27th - Dave Graney solo at PALOMINO NIGHTS. A show in SA at the heritage GLENCOE WOOLSHED. (Near Mt Gambier).Tickets here.
October 10th, 17th and 24th Dave Graney and Clare Moore will be playing with the mistLY at THE JAZZ LAB - 27 Leslie St, Brunswick
Melbourne.
Octber 25th and 26th Dave Graney and Clare Moore will be appearing at the JUNK BAR in ASHGROVE, BRISBANE.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Recently I




Recently I made an attempt to stay away from Social Media. Just wanted to try it after having a  funny feeling about being so exposed to whatever elements might be brewing about.

I have a song on this new album we are finishing called Finally I Come Clean where I was worrying about that kind of stuff. A lifetime of writing and singing words in public. I'm not the confessional type of writer/singer but I've still been out there - in the wind. So I went off of it just to see how it went. If I went near my computer or phone it would be just to look up something or work on Protools or write something. I don't really enjoy arguments online at all. Once I thought that Facebook might be good for actually keeping in touch with friends and family but I don't think so. Not for me anyway. Time and again I get so much more out of talking on the phone or in person with people. Same with music stuff, the faux intimacy of the internet is something I've written about in songs before. Such as in Matey From On High...



 In Finally I Come Clean its the idea that even if you were careful what you were saying, you never know what people are going to hear.


I had a great surge of energy and felt so positive spending less time with my head in that electronic soup bowl that is social media. It was great.

I drifted back over a period and still don't get much from it. Just goofy distractions. Narcissistic - yes. Staring into a stagnant pool or a dirty mirror. Crude images and distorted reflections anyway.



Then yesterday I saw this person air raiding me... or more acurately, using me to start/settle  an argument with..... the world/internet..... (They were framing it -me - around a picture of a new supergroup trio of Mia Dyson, Liz Stringer and Jen Cloher).





(Got to say I just wanted to collect all this here as I don't want to be arguing with them. Its such an illustration of how much time and energy social media can waste. I just wanted to get it all out of my head though...Also I'm referring to "them" as they talk from behind a snappy internet superhero nickname/persona...)

I got upset and involved as it was needless kind of slander.



They responded in the manner that suggested I shouldn't get involved any more. Just a dogmatic brain typing words.


Being called "nice" was bad enough but "privilege" seemed to be the worst. I know they meant MALE PRIVILEGE but fuck it. 

I got upset because its a kind of argument that swirls around the sloppy argumentative internet media world. All about gender and equality and stuff. All very good. But the people they are dragging into it are MUSICIANS. We all ran away to the circus. WHERE FREAKS BELONG. All this rational thinking and ordering of the world is nice. Very neat and tidy. But leave US the hell out of it.

Privilege. I am not here to defend Tex but both he and I did not come from the world of Private Schools and academia, WHERE MOST MUSICIANS AND ARTISTS COME FROM. In my case my mother raised six kids and my father painted public buildings for the local council and worked nights in a bar. 

Also, in the mid 90s Tex was undeniably involved in two of the hottest combos possible. The Cruel Sea were undeniable, as were the Beasts Of Bourbon. As were Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes AND THE CLOUDS. We all worked our arses off too.



There is another song on our upcoming album called WHERE DID ALL THE FREAKS GO

When the going can't get weird and the weird cant get going
when the going is only weird and the weird can't get going
where did all the freaks go? Huh?
How straight are weddings?
"It must be in a  church!" Though nobody knows a church
"It must be right - anything else would be just weird!"
where did all the freaks go?

When the going can't get weird and the weird cant get going
when the going is only weird and the weird can't get going
where did all the freaks go? Huh?
where's our green light?
where's our Kings Cross?
where's our Soho?
what's our sound?
How can we tell whats happening?
where did all the freaks go?

The Dave Graney and Clare Moore album is still on schedule. We have some shows lined up for October-November and will be announcing soon. 

promo cd cover...

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