you were deep inside that thought: June 2021

Thursday, June 24, 2021

Live dates in July. South Australia, QLD, Melbourne and NSW.

We have a new song out right now. Its a re-recording of Saturday Night Bath which originally appeared on Hashish and Liquor in 2005.

The song and accompanying clip were all captured in the tv studio at RMIT. Thanks to everybody who worked on it.

Its a pre-pandemic recording. No overdubs, just a tight combo all paying together in a studio.

saturday night bath
steam and heat electric light
the world is really happening down in the city
but I am here at my place
with my big toe in the tap and a wet cloth over my eyes
I am out of time, baby
I am fresh and rested now
tomorrow people will be madly reading the newspaper outside their cafes
looking for a life where they could lay down
one saturday night in a bath of hot water
and let the world world go by
I am irrelevant
I am just not there
I am here
I am not in the moment of the world
I am havin a moment of our own here in this house
in this part of the world
the trees black and swaying with the wind in the darkness outside
there's a dirt road leading to this house
I've stood in the field and looked across at the lights in the night
and wondered what it would be like to come across this scene
a saturday night bath stickin my leg out the side

I played the guitar, bass and sang on the original 2005 recording. Clare Moore played the piano and Warren Ellis plucked some violin stuff in there as well. (He sent it from his studio in Paris).

We never subsequently played the song live much but whenever we did so people really reacted to it. Must be one of those songs that has a funny, folkie charge in it. Though its really reaching for some jazz tones in it. This is the 2021 version at Bandcamp.

Clare Moore and I have been in the studio recording some songs for the two projected releases we have in mind. These songs are more for a Graney and Moore collection. Just loose, weird songs, not meant for a band to play.

We have started the following ...

The Smoking Years

I Was No Captain

Ronnie Loves To Hear People Talk

Where Did You Glom Your Glimmer?

Everyday Its The Blues, Period.

The Ballroom Blitzed.

The Anita Effect

Beckett And Joyce

Diaghelev And Nijinsky

Ice Bergman

I Knew The Wild Angels

We go into a studio in Melbourne in a couple of weeks with the mistLY to record songs for a more rock'n'roll collection.

What Used To be There?

We Need Cash

The Old Swagger

Wilco Got No Wilcos

Where Are You In The Underworld?

Now You Must Die

Tang

Silver Bullets

Velvets MC

There are quite a few other songs happening as well. And Clare Moore has her own album to do....

In the meantime we have some dates to do. Most of these are by Clare Moore and myself, except for July 17th at the Brunswick Ballroom which will be a rare Dave Graney and the mistLY event. Why is that? Mostly the pandemic. Numbers of people allowed in rooms is limited in most states so a duo makes sense. Also, things are so open to last minute changes and border closures. When its just us two, we aren't having to mange too many changed flights or hotel bookings.

Thursday June 24th - 8pm Live streaming Online set via STAGE IT. Show #83

Sunday morning/Saturday night Live streaming Online set via Stage It. Sunday 8am in Melbourne-Saturday afternoon 3pm in LA, 5pm in Chicago, 6pm in New York City, 11pm in the UK.

Friday July 2nd - Three Brothers Arms, Macclesfield SA
https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=752809&

Saturday July 3rd Trinity Sessions - Adelaide SA
318 Goodwood Road, Clarence Park, SA 5034

https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=755401&

Sunday July 4th Bellwether Wines - Coonawarra SA
www.eventbrite.com.au/e/dave-graney-clare-moore-at-bellwether-tickets-156035274707

Thursday July 8th

Goleby's Basemen West Street Ipswich, QLD
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/skc-168-dave-graney-clare-moore-tickets-156859275315

Friday July 9th Imperial Hotel Eumundi, QLD
https://tickets.oztix.com.au/outlet/event/1bf28183-d54c-4ff7-a80f-28463fc6229

Saturday July 10th Toowoomba Bar Wunder , QLD

moshtix.com.au/v2/event/dave-graney-and-clare-moore/128635

Saturday July 24th , Archies Creek Hotel, Victoria

https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing?embed&eid=761742

Friday 30th July 30th
Citadel Murwullimbah, QLD
https://events.humanitix.com/dave-graney-and-clare-moore

Friday August 13th Smiths - Canberra
https://bit.ly/3vfIlYA

Saturday August 14th - Palais BallroomKatoomba, NSW

Saturday August 21st - POME - 267 Swan Street Richmond, VIC 3121.

Firast of a FOUR WEEK residency by Dave Graney and Clare Moore in this boutique venue.

Saturday August 28th - POME - Richmond residency

Saturday September 4th POME - Richmond residency

Saturday September 11th POME - Richmond residency

“I caught a set from Dave Graney and Clare Moore at Finding Fillmore’s in Kiama.
As always I just dig their vibe.
Doing it their way, with their
smooky sounds (smooth and kooky, a term I have coined just for them) weird and hilarious songs and stories and Dave’s golden voice.
Cool venue too!”

Jodi Phillis

We watched the last season of RAY DONOVAN. I highly recommend this show! This season was epic in its grim, deathly gripping of ya. Like tv Death Metal. Apparently it was cancelled after this but due to audience outrage (like Deadwood) a movie is to be made which will tie up all the loose ends.

I also bought a hardback book which has five books by Vladimir Nabokov in it. Wow! Lolita was such a horror story! And such a clear eyed view of the USA in 1947. Granted, by an evil minded and perverse freak but it is such good writing. I haven't seen the Kubrick directed movie in many years but I read that it was very much influenced by what was allowed to be filmed in Hollywood. The code. In the book, the girl, Dolores (Lolita) is twelve years old.

Be seeing you.

davegraney.com

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

So, I'll tell you what happened out there

So .....

Clare Moore hates people starting off sentences with "so". She says she has noticed it a lot recently. She finds it very passive/agressive. I think.

So...

I started to notice it too. Now.

So...

So we played with our band the mistLY on Sunday May 2^nd at Howler in Brunswick . It was our first shows with the band since February 2020 and its always touch and go playing in Melbourne, where we live. Our audience is like no other and we always try different venues. They aren't people who go out to rock clubs a lot. So this turned out to be a great evening. A seven o'clock show for which the Covid affected audience was all seated at tables. I mean Covid affected in the number that are allowed in the room. I like this Covid effect. I'm always looking at 50's movies of people in nightclubs sitting at tables watching lounge singers or jazz combos and wonder to myself what the hell happened to show business that it has to take place in a paddock somewhere with thousands of people. What the actual....? (On a similar note we watched a documentary about a Sri lankan train station which is high in the montains with a classic nine arch bridge for the train to cross a gorge. Dozens of people are employed to walk along the tracks and clean it and oil it and more work to keep the station spotless. So many people working! And the train ride cost Three Euros. More people working and less costs for living, sounds great).

For the Howler show we played mostly songs fom our last four albums. They were Zippa DeeDoo What Is/Was That/This?, One Million Years DC, Lets Get Tight and Fearful Wiggings. I blame the pandemic.

We also caught the last day of Stu Thomas and Kim Salmons art show at One Star Lounge in West Melbourne, a new coffee lounge/gallery run by Mick Harvey and Katy Beale. We took our old friend and band mate Steve Miller along and then Mick Turner (also once of the Moodists) walked in. Almosta reunion.

Clare and I then flew to Coffs Harbour, hired a car and drove to Grafton in Northern Rivers area of NSW where we played at the Pelican Playhouse, a really nice community run theatre.

This is our gear at the airport. Of course, getting into an airport and then a plane was a bit of a THING after being housebound for so long. The man pictured below was standing there, talking loudly into the void/earpiece phone. There were a few others acting similarly. Have they no sense of dignity/other people? I wore two masks in the airport and on the plane.

note doublemask.

Two guitars, effects rack, keyboard and suitcase. Just us.
Grafton South was where our show was located. We had last been there in November 2019 when this usually green and lush area was totally ravaged by bushfires. A unique looking town.

We were staying in Coffs and driving out to these other shows. Walking along the beach in the morning.

We had been offered a gig on short notice in a beautiful spot called Red Rock. The local councils in NSW were being really proactive in getting people out and about to community events. We did a set in the afternoon on a stage facing an estuary. It was quite delightful. The local tv news filmed an interview with us.

After playing for 45 minutes we drove on to Bellingen where we had some coffeee and played that night. A strange venue, the audience on a level below us. A possum came into the room and swung from a mirror ball in our second set.

After the show we drove back to Coffs and then on to Brisbane where we did two sets the next day at the Junk Bar. This was the first time back at the venue since it had changed hands. The young man doing sound helped it run smoothly. A tiny venue but a great place to play in Brisbane.

We played at 5 and 7pm and then ate some Indian food at a nearby late night food joint.

We flew back to Melbourne for a few days and then drove to Newcastle where we played at the Stag and Hunter. Always great to play in Newcastle. Another great young sound man . The lights went luminous after the show.

We then drove to a beautiful wide spot in the road up near Taree in NSW and played at the Flow Bar. The town was called Old Bar. Deluxe sound and stage outside with people seated around eating and drinking. The sound man was an American known as Cali Dave. It sounded great.

We then had a few days off in Sydney before a show at the The Vanguard in King st Newtown.

We went for a long walk around Clovelly and Bronte, looking at the seabaths.

The Vanguard is a place we have played at many times over the last two decades, up the end of King st near the University. Next to where Goulds Bookshop used to be. Set up like a small theatre with audience seated below and an upper area to sit as well. We played two sets. Lindy Morrison burst into our band room before we played and actuallly stayed for the two sets. I think she was impressed and enjoyed the sounds. It was nice to see her anyway. She said we should play with an orchestra but you know us - we lean more towards jazz than longhairs and strings.

Then we drove south to play at Kiama, near Wollongong. A beautiful part of Australia. A young guy had set up a music venue in a kind of inside/outside configuration all around his own food truck which worked a treat. Audience seated again as in a theatre or club situation. The PA blew up after our first set but they found another.

Had a great night. We were playing mostly newer material , including unrecorded instrumentals and songs. People come to us for a show or a night out. Its not an album/tour situation with us. Our good friend and fellow traveller Jodi Phillis drove from Wollongong to say hello.

We had a show the next day in the Southern Highlands at Bowral but it had been cancelled. Something we would never do. The promoters idea. Oh well, a night off in Sydney.

Sunday morning we packed everything and drove to the SHIRE to play at the Brass Monkey. This is in Cronulla, where our filthy PM has his seat. Always great to play in this venue. We have been here many times before too. The hospitality is the best. We made show at 1pm , playing two sets until driving away at 5pm towards Melbourne. We stayed the night at Mittagong and then made it home nine hours later.

Here are some links to shows we are playing soon. We really enjoyed that run of dates and appreciated people coming out. The experience of COVID has been universal and flattened the world, especially the flimsy showbusiness world. Peoples habits with QR codes were noticably more effective in NSW, QLD and SA than Victoria. Hopefully that will improve.

Thursday June 10th - 8pm Live streaming Online set via STAGE IT. Show #80