Malcolm Ross played with us in the latter days of The Moodists and early (London lineup) of the Coral Snakes. Previous to that he had played in Postcard Records bands Josef K and Orange Juice.
Georgio “the dove” Valentino is an international man of mystery who currently lives in Athens. Previously he had worked out of Brussels, Detroit and St Augustine, Florida. We met Georgio when he came to Melbourne in 2017 to record with David McClymont, who had played in Orange Juice (and in the later version of the Moodists) and now lives in this part of the world. We did a session at Mick Harveys studio and then Clare Moore and I had Georgio and bass player Patrizia Finzi open for us in a run of shows around the east coast of Australia. A few weeks driving through Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales.
This led to Georgio offering to return the favour should we do any shows in Europe. So in September that year Clare Moore and I left Melbourne. I wore a pair of suede trousers, a suede coat and a pair of patent leather shoes. All our clothes in one bag and gear in another. Clare had a Yamaha REFACE CP keyboard (all electric piano sounds) and I had my Maton EBG808 acoustic with a MXR micro amp pedal for clean boost, an Aphex acoustic BIG BOTTOM pedal and a Tech21 XXL overdrive. We landed in Amsterdam and Georgio picked us up in his car and proceeded to drive us to a run of shows through Holland, Luxembourg, Belgium, France, Spain and onto the UK. It was the easiest and most fun tour of Europe we had ever done. He drove and negotiated all these different cities and learnt our songs on the bass and generally educated us on music, history and culture. Highlights were a long walk through Madrid to find the only statue of Lucifer in Europe, a visit to Beau Brummels’ grave in Caen and a night in the principality of Andorra, a show with Tav Falco and Panther Burns in Vitoria, Euskadi and generally enjoying Spain for the first time. Patrizia Finzi played on most of these dates, with Georgio and also getting up with us..
Malcolm Ross joined up with us in the UK and we then played Manchester, Hull, Edinburgh and London. Georgio drove all the way, juggling GPS, meal breaks, places of interest and educating us on the Doors, mid period Scott Walker and the Damned.
Mostly, apart from our own guitars, we played the shows on borrowed or house gear.
We played Hull on a Sunday night in a room that was part of a boxing gym. The show had been organized by Lou and Rich who had been in a band called the Red Guitars that the Moodists had share a bill with at the ICA back in 1984. We came off after the show and people were absolutely beaming. They all really dug “Heroic Blues” which we’d started doing for this tour. A fellow mentioned “You Need A Kleek, Klook” as he’d been to Klooks Kleek in the 60s and saw Jimi Hendrix three times.
We played Wednesday and Thursday shows at the Betsey Trotwood. Both nights were pretty wonderful. Many old friends and comrades came along. Thanks to us and thanks to everybody.
Written from Melbourne during the pandemic lockdown.
L-R Georgio "the dove" Valentino, Malcolm Ross, Clare Moore and Dave Graney. Shot taken by Lou Dufy-Howard directly after the performance in Hull. This was the backstage area in the venue.
Dave Graney, acoustic guitar and vocals, Clare Moore, keys, backing vocals, drums, Georgio “the dove” Valentino, bass
Malcolm Ross, electric guitar and lap steel.
Recorded at O’Rileys in Hull Oct 9th 2017 and the
Betsey Trotwood, London Oct 11th and 12th 2017.
Mixed at the Ponderosa in Melbourne May/June 2020 by Dave Graney.
Mastered by Greg Wadley.
Track listing:
1 Clinging To The Coast 3:52
2 Everything Was legendary With Robert 4:18
3 A Boy Named Epic 4:39
4 Twilight Of A Villain 6:01
5 Heroic Blues 5:10
6 Happy Boy (Malcolm Ross) 4:20
7 You Need A Kleek, Klook 4:45
8 How Long Does The Raunch? 5:14
9 All Our Friends Were Stars 4:16
10 Robert Ford On The Stage 4:27
11 My Avenger (Malcolm Ross) 3:50
12 We Need A Champion 3:51
13 Night Of The Wolverine VI 5:37
14 I Been Trendy 4:15
15 How Can You Get Out Of London? 4:24
16 As Good As It Gets (Malcolm Ross) 5:28
17 Rock ’n” Roll Is Where I Hide 7:00
Or access the album via Apple Music here.
Thanks to Rich and Lou Howard Duffy in Hull, Bob Osborne in Salford and Manchester,
Buckleys Chance and Maggie Holland in Edinburgh and everybody at the Betsey Trotwood, Patrizia Finzi, Mel Ashton, Luc Dumas, Miqel Gistas, Joost Verhagen , Tim Wootton and Seb Blanchais.
Most songs written by Dave Graney.
Copyright Control except Happy Boy (Malcolm Ross) My Avenger (Ross-Wedell-Malinen) and
As Good As It Gets (Brogan-Clark-Condie-Fowler-Ross-Webster)
L-R Malcolm Ross, Georgio "the dove" Valentino, Dave Graney and Clare Moore Shot taken by Dave Western directly after the last of the three shows we did at the Betsey Trotwood in London.
Links- Josef K album via Les Discques Du Crepuscule
Tracks 1-5 damn near definitive. Yous save yrs best for OS!
ReplyDelete