One Million Years DC digital album by Dave Graney and Clare Moore out now

pic Barry Douglas 

How good a songwriter do I think I am? Probably better to ask me how poor I think most other peoples ideas of what a song can be are. And by that I mean people who talk about music and people who think they write and play it. (I used the word "poor" as a starting point there)


Songwriters I admire? Robyn Hitchcock, Peter Milton Walsh, Greg Walker, August Darnell, Paul Westerberg, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, Matt Walker, Scott Walker, Nick Drake, Bobbie Gentry, Jodi Phillis, Lisa Salvo, Malcolm Hill, Jonathan Bree, Lawrence Arabia, Sylvia Robinson, Judee Sill, Carly Simon, Alex Chilton, Jim James, Bill Callahan, Bonnie Prince Billy, Mick Jagger and Keith Richard, Roy Wood, Ike Turner, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Burning Spear, Lee Hazlewood ....... AND A FEW -  QUITE A FEW- MORE......

 Anyway, we have kept a very high standard of song crafting, summoning, conjuring, teasing and construction since 1987 or so.  The Post Moodists period. Well, the last EPs by the Moodists - the David McClymont period- had a more intense focus on song writing. Before that it was more unconscious. Thug life. Started out bawling, ended up balling.
I really love all the songs we've put out. All the albums. A really consistent standard. Few other people have matched it. There, I said something almost qualitative.

ONE MILLION YEARS DC is a pretty high water mark though.  It follows ZIPPA DEEDOO WHAT IS/WAS THAT/THIS? Some of the songs were finished before most of those tracks. I just thought they'd hang together better in their own set. That album was about the mistLY playing songs for the most part. This one is all Clare and myslef and it's about the songs. It follows from Lets Get Tight in that way, though there are more live drums and bass on this one.




You can get the album at Apple Music here. 

He Was A Sore Winner

“it was a thing/ a real thing/ they gathered in mobs/ they gathered together to howl/ the sore winners…”

How many recent political players have tapped into popular feelings of bitterness in the community? Jealousy and envy. Fears that “others” are getting a “free ride”. Uneasy chords over a swinging beat.
Kind of Kinksy. The chords in the chorus have an A#major seventh and I drop the bottom note to A and hold the shape to A#. Then do the same with Fmajor7th.

he was a sore winner he was a sore winner
it was a thing  

a real thing
they gathered in mobs 

they gathered together to howl
the sore winners

they were the real people
the forgotten ones
he was their boy
their man I mean
oh yes a man
he was big on that
the sore winner

they had everything that you could want
but they heard whispers
about other people who got stuff
too, too easily
they turned to the sore winner
they heard the sore winner
he spoke for them
he said
“I got this…”

he was a sore winner
he was a sore winner

credits

Dave Graney – vocals, guitars, bass.
Clare Moore - drums, keys, vocals.
Shane Reilly, pedal steel. 

Hell Is You, Babe 

“you got to tell me what I look like/ How are my shoes babe? How is my breath?”

Slide guitar over a slack key tuning (G Major seventh). Lyric is about a hot, intense personal relationship. Using language inspired by Jean Paul Sartres “No Exit” where the protaganists are in hell and there are no mirrors and they have to ask each other what they look like and who they are. (This play inspired the phrase “hell is other people”).
I don't really think this song has a beginning point or an end pony though. Its not about anything. More of an erotic play on long felt intimacy.
I made a Spotify playlist for this song.

Hell is you, babe
c’mon over here
and give me a taste of whatever you feel like givin’ me
throw me a bone
finish me off babe
tell me what I did and what I do
hell is you, babe
I got no reflection
you got to tell me how I am
you got to tell me what I look like
how are my shoes? babe
How is my breath? babe!

hell is you, babe
O beast!
machine!
unfeeling presence!
unseeing eye!
octopi
lets gild the lily
I’m burnin up with your eye
you never look at me no more!

you know all about me
I cant do anything to change
to be new in your eyes
I’m at the mouth, the hellmouth
I don’t care
oh its dark and hot
we don’t know much and we’re cool with that

hell is you, babe
it’s wherever you are
that’s where I wanna be
hell is you, babe
burnin’ in your reflection
it’s the only one I’ve got

hell is you, babe
hell is you!

credits

Dave Graney – vocals, guitars, rhythm machine beat, bass.
Clare Moore - vibes, vocals. 

 

Pop Ruins

“look at that beautiful song/ lyin’ there in the sand/ busted/ hey where did that sand come from? Must’ve been with the song…”

For this song, I was thinking of the ending of a sci fi movie like Planet Of The Apes where a person encounters the ruins of a great civilization. I was thinking that has been a lot of my experience working in music. It’s so much like wandering around in a wasteland with ghostly transistors half buried in the sand, still playing an old monster hit.
I made a spotify playlist of the pop references in this tune.

Oh look at that beautiful song
lyin’ there in the sand
hey, where did that sand come from?
must’ve come in with the song
Pop Ruins

I love this song!
Hey, you know, we built this song
this song in the sand
Pop Ruins

Edith Grove
Powys Square
56 Hope Road
Petrie Terrace

This Brokedown Palace
on Shakedown Street
this Family Dog
we listened from a window in the Mars Hotel
there’s a Marquee Moon as well
busted
absolutely wrecked
Pop Ruins

The Roxy
The Odeon
Apollo
Palais
Olympia
The Whiskey
Detroit Grande

yeah I felt bad for places and times that were never mine
Brooklyn 79
back in the day, back in the day
the Zen Arcade
arcady
arcadium
with the Jimmy Castor Bunch
Pop Ruins

yeah
I love this song

credits

Dave Graney - vocals, guitars.

Clare Moore - vibes, bass xylophone, backing vocals
Stu Thomas - backing vocals

 

56 Hope Road, Jamaica. Bob Marleys home.

Powis Square, Chelsea - home of Turner in Nic Roegs film, PERFORMANCE.

I'm Not Just Any Nobody

“I’ve got words! I can describe my rooms/ I know the limitations of my moment…”
It’s hard to be humble. I goofed around on some new chord inversions and when recording, lucked onto a “ghost bass” sound.

I’m not just any nobody
I’d have you know
if you could hear me
I’ve got words
I can describe my rooms
I know the limitations of my moment
I’ve got ideas
I’ve got ideas about my station
I’m not just any nobody
I’d have you know
if you could hear me

I’m not every nobody
they’re not in me
nobody knows nobodies like nobody knows no no nobodys know nobodies no
it’s the celebrated ones that fascinate like nobodies business
I wouldn’t say I’m the nobody’s nobody but
if you could find a way to drop that into a conversation
could ya?
I’m not just any nobody
I’d have you know
if you could hear me

credits

Dave Graney – vocals, guitars, bass, keys.
Clare Moore - drums, vocals.
Shane Reilly, pedal steel.
Stu Thomas - backing vocals

Comrade of pop

“Comrade of pop/ FKOP/ former king of pop/ ironic ‘uh?”

The opposite of King Of Pop. Two verses address Iggy Pop, Jim Morrison who have been my comrades of pop. All the mythical stories, “cincinatti pop-peanut butter” and “miami Jim – Sagittarius bullshit”. Lots of pop culture phrases like “make the scene/kill the Dean” which was from an episode of Get Smart. "Gabba Gabba hey- we accept you" from the 1932 movie FREAKS by Tood Browning.

I made a Spotify Playlist of references in this song.

FKOP
Former King Of Pop
ironic? unnhh
Iggy Pop
Cincinatti pop
peanut butter
Radio Birdman up above
yeah, hup
Gabba Gabba Hey
we accept you
one of us
Comrade Of Pop

no time for talk of kings and queens
got to make the scene
got to kill the Dean
Gabba Gabba Hey
we accept you
one of us
Comrade Of Pop

Miami Jim
Sagittarius – bullshit
got to get your kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames
Gabba Gabba Hey
we accept you
one of us
Comrade Of Pop

a spectre walks the earth
comrade of pop
Gabba Gabba Hey
we accept you
one of us
Comrade Of Pop

credits

Dave Graney – vocals, guitars, bass, keys, rhythm machine beat.
Shane Reilly - pedal steel 

Where Did All the Freaks Go?

“where’s our green light? wheres’ our Kings Cross? where’s our Soho? “

Just occasionally have the feeling the world is very straight and no place for freaks. Especially when some kind of “freakiness” is all around the place. (See tattoos and piercings etc). The bvs are mostly Clare Moore, with some texture from harry and Edwina. I was very happy with my guitar solo.

when the going can’t get weird
and the weird can’t 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?
they must be in a church
though nobody knows a church
it must be right
anything else would be just weird
when the going can’t get weird
and the weird can’t 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 what’s happening?

credits

Dave Graney – vocals, guitars, bass,
Clare Moore - keys, vibes, marimba, vocals.
Extra backing vocals Harry Howard and Edwina Preston 

You’ve Been In My Mind

“you got access/ Triple AAA/ You know my ways/ my passwords…”

We released an album of this name in 2012. Its always a big thing for a rock artist to reference an earlier release on a later album. This is me having that moment. Robin Casinader who played with us in the Coral Snakes for ten years flew in some some amazing mellotron.

Lyrically it chimes in with Finally I Come Clean. Thinking about being exposed to the elements for so many years, pouring my voice and words out. Never really been confessional as a writer but you don't know what people will hear.

you’ve been in my mind
person
where is my Id?
where is my super-ego?
you’ve got access
Triple AAA
you know my ways
my passwords
you’ve got clearance
you’ve been in my mind
person
you’ve been in my mind
you’ve read it and heard it all
you’ve been to places I never want to know

you’ve been in my mind
person

where is my north?
my south?
east or west?
where is my evening star
where is my donk?
my badonk-a-donk?
you’ve been in my mind

credits

Dave Graney – vocals, guitars.
Clare Moore, vibes, percussion.
Robin Casinader – mellotron 

Answering Machine 

“Once I had an answering machine though I never asked it a question..”

This wrote itself. Like a machine tooled it! In some ways inspired by William Burroughs talk of inventing a “wishing machine”. Back in the days when we could be just a little but available and also unavailable. People knew each other better. The chords were irregular in their number but it sounded great when all the cassette noises were thrown in. (Thanks to Matt Dower from Sizzletown for sending them through. Though only three!)

Once I had an answering machine
though I never asked it a question
it wasn’t for me
I suppose I could’ve called it myself but those were more serious times
things were simpler
everybody had one
they were filters
extensions
others threw them up as screens
force-fields
that’s how simple things were
you were in
you were out
you were how or away
people knew you
you knew how people knew you
if you weren’t around they could leave a message on your answering machine
don’t you wish you had an answering machine?
it never got smart
it never got any smarter
it didn’t answer back
it just answered
people had no reason not to believe that you weren’t really there
that you were sittin’ there listenin’ in real time
“hello, you have called Blah, Blah and Blah
we ain’t here right now
leave a message after the beep and we might get back to ya
hah!”
Once I had an answering machine though I never asked it a question
don’t you wish
don’t you wish you had an answering machine?

credits

Dave Graney – vocals, guitars, bass, sound effects, rhythm machine beat.
Clare Moore – ride cymbal, tom-tom brushes, tambourine. 

You Can’t Have Your Boogie 

“is the world so small that people like YOU can grab it? No! You can’t have your boogie and boogie too!”

I started writing songs for my guitar with a slide and open G tuning. The lyric concerns people who see themselves curators or “creative” when they are just barkeepers. I find “rock theme” bars to be really dopey. More Pop Ruins…
The title came from some old schoolyard joke I was sure I heard Conway Savage say one day. 'You can't have yer boogie and eat it too" . Though every conversation with Conway was full of half heard mutterings and jokes as he expectorated and honked the words from out of his thin body and face. RIP.
I made a Spotify playlist so you could actually have some boogie - if you'd care to.

you can’t have your boogie
and boogie too
you can’t re-pop a cherry
just your cork now
all you curators out there
all you curators nowhere
phony rock’n’roll clubs
guys collectin dogtags
cosplay cos
curators over here
is the world so small that people like you can grab it?
No!
you can’t have your boogie
and boogie too

you’re a bad shopkeeper
a sad barkeep
got your bar in the street with the gunslingers
we got the tales to tell
you can’t have your boogie
and boogie too
dunno thyself
I dunno
dunno thyself
barkeep!
what’s with the make up?
shave off that beard
so many brands in one face!
you can’t be iconical and be iconic too
you can’t have your boogie
and boogie too
woah!
you can’t have your boogie
and boogie too

credits

Dave Graney – vocals, guitars, bass, rhythm machine beat, keys.
Clare Moore, percussion, vibes, marimba. 

Finally I Come Clean 

“I was at the mic so long / losing my head / but I never squealed / how would you be?”

Of course I never squealed but standing there singing for so long, I must have betrayed myself at some point. When you're singing or playing you're wide open to the world. Mostly I like to stay pretty buttoned up.

I was at the mic so long
losin’ my head
I sung like a bird
but I never squealed
how would you be?
In the afterlife
in the words in peoples minds
how would you be?
finally I come clean
and I’m dirty
I got drunk in your eyes
and let you crawl all over me
don’t tape me up
when I’m winding down
when I won’t know what I’m sayin’
and I’m ridin’ in my wits
how would you be?
what if I come clean?
and I’m dirty

credits

Dave Graney – vocals, guitars, bass, keys.

Old Friends 

“old friends/ old busted couches and dead lawns/ I walked out of the room for a decade and blinked/ old friends…”

I wanted to write a song that was a little bit Samuel Beckett and a little bit Merle Haggard and this is it. Lots of tension in the chords but a simple conversational vocal. No bass, just lots of guitars. Amazing backing vocals by our friends Will Hindmarsh and Emily Jarrett from Go Go Sapien.
There's no bass and it gives  alot of room for teh vocal and th acoustic guitars. I thought it sounded like the Who when they did acoustic tracks like Magic Bus.

old friends and the way they lay their heavy hands on ya
bony hugs
when they drop down
like birds
of prey
whatever
grey
old friends
they know you for so long
no no no no
you hear a familiar song and groan
you go back to the hits
you play the standards
the classics
old friends
re-creatin’ the scenes again
they were finished when I met them
that was very attractive
compelling
they’ve been over forever
there’s been no boom
no bust
old friends
there’s a wreck on the lawn
the gate is broke
there’s a wreck on the couch
lookin for coins
old friends
old busted couches and dead lawns
I walked out of the room for a decade and blinked
old friends
they were over early
closed off
gated
it was great
old friends
smilin’ skulls
lampshades covered in human skin
shocking
teeth like
what can you say?
fuckin’
fuckin’ like cadavers
what?
like fuckin’ cadavers
so many ways to say it
old friends
hello
don’t take this bad
just got the horrors
old friends

credits

Dave Graney – vocals, guitars, keys.
Clare Moore, percussion.
Will Hindmarsh and Emily Jarrett, backing vocals.

2019 shows 

October 24th Dave Graney and Clare Moore will be playing with the mistLY at THE JAZZ LAB - 27 Leslie St, Brunswick
Melbourne. 

October 25th and 26th Dave Graney and Clare Moore will be appearing at the JUNK BAR in ASHGROVE, BRISBANE. (Nights mostly full but tickets remain for the Afternoon show on the Saturday)

November 15th Dave Graney at the Music Lounge, Merrigong theatre Company, WOLLONGONG.

November 16th Dave Graney and Clare Moore at SOUNDS DELICIOUS in HUSKISSON, NSW. 

November 17th - Dave Graney solo at Gasoline Pony, Marrickville, NSW. 

Thursday November 21st - Dave Graney and Clare Moore at DUSTY ATTIC MUSIC LOUNGE in Lismore, NSW

Friday Nov 22nd - The Dust Temple, Currumbin

Saturday Nov 23rd - Pelican Playhouse, Grafton NSW. 

Thursday November 28th Dave Graney and the mistLY at Birds Basement jazz club in Melbourne.

ONE MILLION YEARS DC out this week

 

Art by Tony Mahony

One Million Years DC comes out October 10th.

You can preorder a copy from Apple Music here.  Or preorder from BandCamp here.

This is a digital only release.

Its an album credited to myself and Clare Moore. Guests include Shane Reilly from the Lost Ragas on pedal steel, Will Hindmarsh, Emily Jarrett, Harry Howard and Edwina Preston and Stu Thomas on backing vocals and Coral Snake Robin Casinader on mellotron.

 

pic Barry Douglas

It follows our album with the mistLY, ZIPPA DEEDOO WHAT IS/WAS THAT/THIS which came out in April/May. Some of the songs were recorded around that same time but seemed to suit a different thematic collection. ZIPPA DEEDOO was more of a "band" album. This - like 2017's LETS GET TIGHT -  is more of a song based album. 

It has a loose sci fi / post apocalyptic theme. It came through the songs themselves. They come from some general interior flow I've been riding for all my life.

In more recent times I've been obsessing over the Rolling Stones. They've been a constant presence in my musical world. Sometimes they've been pretty much off the boil and out of the way and I found it strange that people would still refer to them above all others. I remember when in a full post punk narrative and "Miss You" came out as a single and I bought it to see what they would do in response to the challenge being tossed up to them. Annoyingly, it was pretty great and the album Some Girls had a very strong set of songs and the usual amazingly current sound. Everything was still shot through an orgiastic haze though. It was all rampant, horny toad, sexual language. The great thing about punk and post punk was that it turned off those mad burners for a brief period and an asexual air was about. It gave people room to move differently in for a while. 

That was it for the Stones creativity though. Subsequent songs like SHE WAS HOT and others like SHES SO COLD just couldn't cut it in a world with Kid Creoles' OFF THE COAST OF ME, Televisions VENUS DE MILO , Richard Hells LOVE COMES IN SPURTS , the Pop Groups SHE IS BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL or Pere Ubu's DUB HOUSING. The Stones were over there with Benny Hill and Carry On Movies.

Time bends all things though. 

ZIPPA DEEDOO had my homage to all things ULTRAKEEF on it. 

I kept dipping in and out of their catalogue, my own personal life history being bound up with the songs and albums.

Clare and I started playing a song from the 1974 Mick Taylor era of the Stones called TIME WAITS FOR NO ONE. Mick Jagger has a great lyic in it where he summoned up an image from Shelleys OZYMANDIAS which went...

"Time can tear down a building or destroy a woman's face
Hours are like diamonds, don't let them waste
Time waits for no one, no favours has he
Time waits for no one, and he won't wait for me
Men, they build towers to their passing yes, to their fame everlasting
Here he comes chopping and reaping, hear him laugh at their cheating
And time waits for no man, and it won't wait for me
Yes, time waits for no one, and it won't wait for me
Drink in your summer, gather your corn

The dreams of the night time will vanish by dawn"

 

Anyway, this imagery is most evident on ONE MILLION YEARS DC in songs like Pop Ruins and Comrade Of Pop. In the former I  was thinking of the ending of PLANET OF THE APES where the human hero  comes across (again Ozymandias) a head of a giant statue buried in the sand. 

In my song I sense a beautiful song lying in the sand. Like many of my lyrics its going off in all sorts of directions. I like the flash and the sensation above all. Lots of little clues and personal jokes but the general way of the song is the feeling that I have lived and worked in a kind of wasteland. In Pop Ruins. Abandoned cities and people acting out rituals for which they don't know any meaning of or expect any meaning from. 

(In my life, music festivals would be definitely one of these rootless forms. I was so surprised when they made a return in the 90s. They are still mostly appalling ways to experience music).

The song references The Grateful Dead (liberally), The Rolling Stones, the movie PERFORMANCE, Bob Marley and the Saints.

Oh look at that beautiful song

lyin’ there in the sand

hey, where did that sand come from?

must’ve come in with the song

Pop Ruins

I love this song!

Hey, you know, we built this song

this song in the sand

Pop Ruins

Edith Grove

Powys Square

56 Hope Road

Petrie Terrace

This Brokedown Palace

on Shakedown Street

this Family Dog

we listened from a window in the Mars Hotel

there’s a Marquee Moon as well

busted

absolutely wrecked

Pop Ruins

The Roxy

The Odeon

Apollo

Palais

Olympia

The Whiskey

Detroit Grande

yeah I felt bad for places and times that were never mine

Brooklyn 79

back in the day, back in the day

the Zen Arcade

arcady

arcadium

with the Jimmy Castor Bunch

Pop Ruins

yeah

I love this song

Comrade Of Pop is more about the kinds of bonds of fellowship and camaraderie I have found in the underworld of music, poetry and street life. Beyond the confines of success and industry and career there is the underworld stream of thought, imagery and desire to communicate. The chorus comes from the 1932 Todd Browning movie, FREAKS where the freaks chant "we accept you! One of Us!" much to normal human females horror. (I know this was also used by the Ramones in their song Pinhead - just another circumstance of streams of fellow thought and inspiration going on)

Elsewhere in the lyric it references a certain episode of Get Smart where the pop group (managed by Larry Storch) tries to subvert the students into rebellion. Iggy, Jim and Karl Marx feature too.

Comrade of pop
FKOP
Former King Of Pop
ironic? unnhh
Iggy Pop
Cincinatti pop
peanut butter
Radio Birdman up above
yeah, hup
Gabba Gabba Hey
we accept you
one of us
Comrade Of Pop

no time for talk of kings and queens
got to make the scene
got to kill the Dean
Gabba Gabba Hey
we accept you
one of us
Comrade Of Pop

Miami Jim
Sagittarius – bullshit
got to get your kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames
Gabba Gabba Hey
we accept you
one of us
Comrade Of Pop

a spectre walks the earth
comrade of pop
Gabba Gabba Hey
we accept you
one of us
Comrade Of Pop

Oh, there is also a song called WHERE DID ALL THE FREAKS GO?

We put a lot into this album.  Its a standalone thing but sits very neatly with ZIPPA DEEDOO.

Its out Thursday October 10th. You can preorder a copy from Apple Music here.  Or preorder from BandCamp here.

 

pic Barry Douglas

2019 shows

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.

Sunday October 13th at 2pm Dave Graney and Clare Moore will be playing at Scrub Hill 1869
1713 Daylesford, Ballarat Rd, Newlyn VIC 3364 phone 0409 645 237

October 25th and 26th Dave Graney and Clare Moore will be appearing at the JUNK BAR in ASHGROVE, BRISBANE. (Afternoon and evening shows on the Saturday)

November 15th Dave Graney at the Music Lounge, Merrigong theatre Company, WOLLONGONG. 

November 16th Dave Graney and Clare Moore at SOUNDS DELICIOUS in HUSKISSON, NSW. 

November 17th - Dave Graney solo at Gasoline Pony, Marrickville, NSW. 

Thursday November 21st - Dave Graney and Clare Moore at DUSTY ATTIC MUSIC LOUNGE in Lismore, NSW

Friday Nov 22nd - The Dust Temple, Currumbin

Saturday Nov 23rd - Pelican Playhouse, Grafton NSW. 

Thursday November 28th Dave Graney and the mistLY at Birds Basement jazz club in Melbourne.

davegraney.com

ONE MILLION YEARS DC new album out OCTOBER - HE WAS A SORE WINNER this week

A tip if you tend a blog. Write things down when they are still a hot experience, when your clothes are still smoking. Get it down.

I flew to Hobart to do some shows at short notice. Another player had forgotten he had a gig double booked at a  music festival in Europe so I was asked if I could volunteer. "Yeah, why not?"
I said.

The first show was at a room I'd played at before but had recently changed hands.

A week before the gig the new owner was played my song ULTRAKEEF by the cook and she tore the promoter a new one via the phone, telling him I was not to play anything of the sort in her venue and she wanted "nice music for nice people". Wow! Still got something or other! I thought and chuckled.
"Sure", I said. "Why not? I can be nice!"

Show time came and the promoter picked me up. I basically thought I was doing everybody a  favour stepping in to fill the breech. Actually being nice!
He filled me in on the scene. It was a good room and there weren't many of those in the town and it'd be great if I could be nice. "I can be nice!" I said, and chuckled as I looked out of the car window.

We parked outside the venue. Misty rain was coming down. There was a young woman standing in the adjacent business's doorway. She had her hood on. She smiled, I said hello. I got out my guitar and bag and she came up behind me and asked if she could help. I said "nah, I'm right thanks" and kept walking.
She followed and said "you wanted to meet me."
I said "I'm sorry?"
She said, "you wanted to catch up!"
I said, "hey I'm sorry but what's this all about?"
She took a  step back and said "you wanted to talk to me about cyber bullying..."
I said "cyber bullying? Sorry I dunno what you're talking about."
It was still raining and we were still standing in the street.
She kept taking steps backwards and started saying "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" and then turned and disappeared - somehow - walking quickly into the empty street.

It was the reopening of the venue after having been dormant for a while.

I stowed my case and took my guitar down to soundcheck. the shaven headed, bearded barman said hello and the female venue owner came in to talk to the promoter. She nodded at me. They chatted and she mentioned she'd been meaning to put the name of the entertainer up on a board outside but hadn't gotten around to it yet. The show was a matter of hours away.

It was raining outside and there were buckets on the floor in front of the stage, collecting the occasional drop.
I soundchecked and then thought I'd eat. A young woman was writing the menu up on a blackboard. She was on a ladder. The barman "joked" that she'd asked to work as she loved my music. He thought that was amusing. That a person would know of my stuff, let alone like it.

She looked embarassed.

The opening act was standing around having  a beer. A solo performer. I tried to talk to him, a fellow traveller and all, a comrade. He had a strange smile and said "what?" to every question I asked. It was tiring. A nervous thing, I know. He looked and smiled a lot like the British comic actor Nick Frost. Perhaps it was actually him? Researching a new role.
I had a plate of vegetables and went for a walk. I came back and the rain was bucketing down. Literally, splashing into a bucket in front of the stage and also out of that and all over my guitar pedals. The other singer was sitting and watching it. He seemed to be incapable of any action that could influence the world as it rolled out over him. I moved my pedals back and the young woman wiped the floor.

A few people came in and the opening act started. A very straight folk singer. He had skills, chops. He had obsessed over his chosen frequency. I could have been in the same room in 1964. He had no rock'n'roll in him. His showmanship was nil. Normally I would have loved this level of rough non-engagement with showbiz. He would talk with a wry, secret smile in between songs, sentences trailing off, talking to himself more than anything else. Old folk songs, grim tales of Irish rebels and transportation, poverty, mining and death and ghosts. I was sitting there all dressed in black leather as I had been  expecting Antarctic weather and I'd been proven right to have done so. Then a man started dancing. He wore an old beanie and an old flannelette shirt undeneath which I could see the frayed, pilled sleeves of two older jumpers. His pants were torn short above his ankles like a pressed ganged sailor and he had long johns on underneath. He had no shoes on. He danced a jig for a couple of songs. A couple of feet away from me.

I sat on a chair and did my two sets. It was quite enjoyable in the end. I didn't swear and it was kind of illustrative how many of my recent songs had that kind of rough language in them. GLORIA GRAHAME as well as ULTRAKEEF.

 I chatted with a few people and then after an hour or two, went upstairs to bed.

The next morning I was fixing a coffee and the woman owner of the venue walked past. We were the only two people there. She nodded and kept to her work, cleaning a couple of other rooms.

I took my bag and guitar and, leaving the key in the door, walked down to the water and caught a ferry to MONA where I did a long set of music sitting in the Nolan room.
I sang many songs with swear words as well as long, slow tunes that you couldn't really let fly in a  pub room. Here in an art gallery with high ceilings they could work.

I had a  ticket out of town for 9:45 and it was 3pm. I sat and had a coffeee while I waited for a bus to the airport. When it came it turned out I was the only passenger and I had a nice chat about Tasmanian football with the driver.

I thought I could talk my way into an early flight but they love to say "No" at Virgin so I sat to read my book. I was at page 908 of John Cowper Powys's OWEN GLENDOWER.

After a while I noticed the plane didn't have any boarding time. Then it got delayed for half an hour. This kept happening every half hour or so until well after the flight time of 9:45. At 10:30 they gave us meal tickets.
It kept getting put back until, finally, at 1:30 am they admitted it was cancelled and we had to collect our bags and wait for details of our accomodation or the night.

It felt a bit like a disaster movie. I'd started to chat with a  young couple who'd actually been at the show on the Saturday night. Very nice, intelligent and amusing company. The girl, Monica, kept buying magazines. She had one called WOMANKIND. I told her it was an Amish stroke mag.

We stood in line  to get our hotel and cab charges. Another couple who I'd noticed earlier were standing near us. He had shouted to her across the airport waiting area about a seat that would be good for her back. He cared too much. She was smothered and was used to it. They were like characters in a play, or a Neil Simon movie.
That couple started to wonder about the person who was looking after their cat and whether it was right to call them at 2am. We were all standing, delirious tired in a queue at the airport at 2am. Me and the young couple were right there as they talked across us. It was like we were in a  circle. Then the man said that it wasn't such a bad thing to spend another night in a  hotel and smiled and they put their phones aside for a moment and cuddled and embraced. We were all getting too close. People were overcooked,too loose or too tight, turning back into their weird, domesticated selves.
Another couple were trying to get to an ill paarents' bedside and also - one of them- to Spain the next day where he was to manage and monetize a young rock climber.
A rotund young Asian man in hip-hop gear and thongs walked around, speaking French into his phone.

I got to bed at 3am and woke at 7:30 and ate a nice beakfast of black coffee and Bircher Muesli before catching a cab to the airport.

There was a fresh group of grotesque travellers. Fat families, tattos, beards and martial arts t shirts. A young lesbian couple locked into a long, tongue kissing embrace for twenty minutes right in the middle of the scrum. Also amongst them were the survivors from the previous night, more than ready to hear of their plane and plans for the future to be cancelled again. 

The plane left on time.

 art- Tony Mahony

New album from Dave Graney and Clare Moore coming in October. ONE MILLION YEARS DC
First single. HE WAS A SORE WINNER.

2019 shows

September 27th - Dave Graney solo at PALOMINO NIGHTS. A show in SA at the heritage GLENCOE WOOLSHED. (Near Mt Gambier).

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.

Sunday October 13th at 2pm Dave Graney and Clare Moore will be playing at Scrub Hill 1869
1713 Daylesford, Ballarat Rd, Newlyn VIC 3364 phone 0409 645 237

October 25th and 26th Dave Graney and Clare Moore will be appearing at the JUNK BAR in ASHGROVE, BRISBANE.

November 15th Dave Graney at the Music Lounge, Merrigong theatre Company, WOLLONGONG.
November 16th Dave Graney and Clare Moore at SOUNDS DELICIOUS in HUSKISSON, NSW. 

November 17th Dave Graney solo at GASOLINE PONY in Marrickville, NSW 

Thursday November 21st - Dave Graney and Clare Moore at DUSTY ATTIC MUSIC LOUNGE in Lismore, NSW

Thursday November 28th Dave Graney and the mistLY at Birds Basement jazz club in Melbourne.

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.

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...

It Don't Stop!

Well I guess IT will have to stop at some stage but while we can shake IT and make some noise we might as well, 'ey?
Though we are instituting a new kind of year zero attitude from here on in. No more setting our  moves to some other time code. No more values imported from outside. We'll be setting off our own timeline. Soon.
I'm referring in some ways to this second album for 2019 which will be finished soon. It will be a digital only release. It's an album that has eleven songs sizzling away at the moment. Just a few more finishing touches. Pretty much all instruments played by myself and Clare Moore.

 

Though we are having some touches put on by a special guest on an exotic instrument and once again, Will Hindmarsh and Emily Jarrett have added some amazing vocals to one track.
The projected title is Dave Graney and Clare Moore - ONE MILLION YEARS DC.
There will be no arguments entered into!
October is the month.
We will probaby sneak a song out before the whole thing is let out of our precious bag.

Thanks to everybody who came to our ZIPPA DEEDOO shows. We ended up in Adelaide at the Gov, a wonderful venue that we hope to return to at some stage.
Like our Caravan Club show, we played a set mostly from the last decade of music and mostly from ZIPPA DEEDOO and LETS GET TIGHT.

 

yeah, these were on stage at the end of the night, nestled under my 12 string.

Then Clare Moore and  I had to concentrate on some material for a Scott Walker tribute that we'd agreed to be involved in. That was harder for me as I'm not really match fit as far as boning up on other peoples songs and arrangements go. I had said "yes" to it in a joyful spirit of can do and then I had to face the reality of how many lyrics there actually were in the songs I'd chosen. Clare was playing drums as well as vibes for about 22 songs. Steve Hadley on bass (who had asked us to be involved), Bruce Haymes on keys, Shane Reilly on pedal steel and guitars and Jack Howard on trumpet. The singers chose the material, whatever they knew or thought they knew, and away we went. Ended up having two rehearsals in the week of the gig. We played the Thornbury theatre and the Caravan Music Club. The singers were myself and Rob Snarski, David Bowers, Moogie Morgan and Alyce Platt.

I opened proceedings with Boy Child and Plastic Palace People and later on did Black Sheep Boy, After the Lights Go Out , Blanket Roll Blues and the Old Mans Back Again, Moogy did Mathilde, My Death, Ne Me Quitte Pas, Amsterdam (in french) and Jackie . Alyce Platt did a different arrangement of Amsterdam in English. Rob Snarski did The Amourous Humphrey Plugg, Lady Came From Baltimore, The Worlds Strongest Man and Duchess and David Bowers did My Ship Is Coming In, The Lights Of Cincinatti, Montague Terrace In Blue, No Regrets and the Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore.
I played extra guitar on several and did backing vocals, percussion and emcee'd the show. The music was played in two sets.
I introduced songs and generally talked people through it, presuming they would be knowledgeable Scott Walker fans, i.e, a tough crowd.
Each song had a lot of finicky arrangement and textural touches. Lots of concentration involved. It was surprising to realize that each little package of sound was rarely more than two minutes long because inside them they were so intricate and detailed.
This was the second tribute/homage show I'd been involved in other than the Bowie In Berlin nights we did in 2018.

There has been talk or more shows down the track, who knows?

Then I went back into the studio. We are organizing some shows for later in the year in NSW and Qld.

A review of ZIPPA DEEDOO in the i94bar.

I'm at the first 100 of an 800 page John Cowper Powys novel. Set in 14th century Wales. Owen Glendower.
I've watched four episodes of THE LOUDEST VOICE, the dramatized story of Roger Ailes and Fox news. Never have I watched a show with such absolute turds as the lead characters. Russell Crowe is pretty good as AILES but its hard to cheer on a guy who has had such a profoundly shitty influence on the USA and so, the world.

Oh yes, we had an election too somewhere in there. Like most people, I'm still getting over that. And hoping the Labour Party doesn't chuck itself out of the bath in haste to become attractive to swinging zombie voters. In the UK a tiny bunch of people make Boris Johnson their leader, in the US its Trump, voted in by a percentage of a third of the country . In Australia we have someone leading a  real pack of inept, thoughtless bozos- but we have compulsory voting?!@#&^%#@!




I'm still interested in doing shows outside of pubs and clubs. 

I am up for some PARLOUR GIGS. It's a system or portal where you can book artists to come play in your PARLOUR - House - Apartment - Back yard etc. I have done a few of these with a mic and guitar plugged into my acoustic amp.
Click here for more details.

2 Melbourne then Adelaide then

 

This was our second ZIPPA night in Melbourne. We played North at the Northcote Social Club May 26th and then this show Southside at the Caravan Music Club.

In the week before the gig, Clare Moore and I did an interview with Raf Epstein on ABC Melbournes Conversation Hour. You can stream it here. 

Sean McMahon played an opening set with his band. Excellent people.

We played a long set, probably  75-80 minutes. Its a great room and there were seats, tables and stools all around the place. Great audio and lighting. If you didn't get there, you missed a classic night.

I started the show alone on the stage with the curtains opening and me playing part of a new instrumental piece on my archtop. As I got to the second chorus Stu, Stuart and Clare walked on and we moved into I Wanna Get Lost Again. 

We played straight through with songs from recent albums and earlier as well as ZIPPA DEEDOO. 

pic Graeme Tressider.

At the end I asked if there was anything people came wanting to hear and somebody called out for RUNAWAY, (The Moodists) which we then played. Somebody else wanted us to play Three Dead Passengers In A Stolen Secondhand Ford and we did that as well. We closed with CODINE.

 It was a very wintry day and we had a really fantastic time. Many old friends showed up and I thank them all.

On July 12th we head to Adelaide to play a final ZIPPA DEEDOO tour show at the Governor Hindmarsh. We have the Sunday Reeds opening. Tickets here.

Work is progressing on a new album. Settled on a title and Tony Mahony is working on a  cover.  

It's sounding great! Credited to Dave Graney and Clare Moore. October, I hope. 

On the show I do at Triple R I just got an album by a band who proudly say its "their first for twelve years".  Strange, they must be very rusty, you would reckon.

"the Serge Gainsbourg/Lee Hazelwood/Jim Morrison/Scott Walker/Skip Spence/Ern Malley/Lenny Bruce of Australian music.
A genius songwriter with effortless presence and command, and yet also an invisible chameleon, a reflecting surface, an anonymous conduit.
Anyone who saw his and Clare Moore’s ATP sets last year will not want to miss these.
Dave is one of the all time greats. I learned much of what I know from him. Rock and Roll is where he hides”. Stewart Lee


"You can dip in almost anywhere into the vast Graney catalogue and find something deeper and more satisfying than the pop fizz of the day. But if you are starting out, this album and attending a Graney gig on an extensive Australian tour in the next few months is an excellent place to begin".
Noel mengel - MusicTrust.com
"This is your Guernica, your Imagine, your XYGTHO Phase 3, your Raging Bull. Everything you have created before has culminated in this true masterpiece of recorded music. Life, Death, Pathos, Humour, Groove and above all Aplomb = Zippa Dee Do what is-was that-this? Congratulations to you, Clare and the mistLY and thank you for an album that will be on regular rotation in my shack for the remainder of my days".
Grame Tressider

"Dave Graney and the mistLY new album “Zippa Dee Doo What Is-Was That-This?” - guaranteed deep grooves, dangerous themes and hip-heating hot Rock action.
Get the good oil at Rocksteady Records"
Pat Monaghan

"This is described as a “rock and roll” album and in that it reflects music from the late 60s/early 70s (pre-punk if you will) that is a reasonable description but i’d say it goes beyond that basic description as there are modern elements, nods to jazz, the use of current technique, and of course the unique Graney/Moore stylings all present. It adds to and enhances a formidable body of work.
I commend it to you without reservation".
Bob Osborne - Analogue Trash Radio (UK)
“Graney has always been a raconteur – with equal doses of smooth, smug and wit. They say rock ‘n’ roll is a musical genre on the decline – but with this unusually titled album Graney has raised the rock ‘n’ roll flag and wears his love for the genre on his sleeve, meshed with some blues and psychedelia.
An album title that will cause confusion, but a set of songs that remind us of what a maverick Graney is. Liking his music will make you feel smarter!"
Brian Parker- Your Music Radar

”...brilliant show. Best band in this country by miles. Graney and Co. are totally unique. Whatever line-up, always amazing. And FUN!”.
Jon Schofield (musician)

"Just a quick note to say how much I’m loving the new album. Front-loaded with hits, and then a series of great band workouts. Superb.
Can’t decide which version of ‘Song of Life’ I like best. And ‘ULTRAKEEF' is a bloody classic. Am spreading the word on that clip.
And surely you’re catching up to - and have maybe even overtaken - Mark E. Smith in terms of output! Congrats, yet again".
Tony.
"Dave Graney gave me his new album Zippa Dee Doo whatis-was that-this. I saw the Mistly perform 'ultra keef' at one of the those marvellous Croxton Sunday arvo gigs. Fell in love with it and asked him if I could record it. Ending up recording a bit on the album, Dave mixed it. So many great f words on this track, very cathartic. A story about keef, everytime I've seen him play it the lyrics are different, genious".
Idge (Soundpark)

"Had this on high rotation today whilst driving from one place to another and back again. It’s a fantastic and thought provoking unique new album from Dave Graney and the mistly. A whole bunch of truly original well played weird, whack and wonder existentialist outsider art with the usual dash of wit and humour- oh and I can’t stop singing the hit song over and over in my head, “Bam! Baby I wish I’d been a better pop star” - excellent work guys - love it!- congrats".
andy jans brown
 
Dave Graney and Clare Moore CD Let's Get Tight available at iTunes and Bandcamp now.
"* #EzRepost @coiledsprings with @repostigapp
I can’t forget the bill that hot night at the Palace in St. Kilda many years ago…The show opened with a guy called Dave Graney, the song and dance man, the loveable rogue, ‘the love rustler’ with his Coral Snakes, and the serene Clare Moore keeping everything together in the back. Then the Cruel Sea shambled onstage with Tex Perkins, tearing a hole in the night, a bellowing, rancid Lizard King in a ripped Jaws t-shirt. Finally, the Bad Seeds, with Cave mounting the fold-back, capes flowing in an impossible wind, like some perverse southern gothic evangelist, braying to the raptured who were already certain to be damned, and didn’t care. The Palace heaved that night with sweat and obscenity. And we were right there, in Melbourne, at the molten core of the rock world, drinking in the magma. Not even a thousand beers as we poured out of there, and drifted over the tram tracks to the Esplanade, could calm us down and quell the charge. But it was the unstoppable Graney, in his natty jumpsuit, with his wit, and his ways, dipping into the slow chords of ‘Night of the Wolverine’, that we knew we’d found a poet, whose lines were etched like the statue of Carlo Catarni outside and had announced himself, that night, there and then, as a put-down-your-glassss superstar. xo
HandSolo
#davegraney #nightofthewolverine #recollections #thepalace #stkilda #melbournerocknroll #thecruelsea #nickcaveandthebadseeds #coiledspringsstudio“