Dave Graney is an Australian rock musician, singer-songwriter and author from Melbourne. Since 1978, Graney has collaborated with drummer-multi instrumentalist
Clare Moore
Clare Christina Moore is an Australian musician, songwriter, arranger, producer and performer whose principal instrument is the drums. She has also performed as a keyboard player, singer and vibraphone player. Moore writes and performs with son ...
. The pair have fronted or been involved with numerous bands including
The Moodists
The Moodists were an Australian post-punk band. They were formed in late 1980 by Dave Graney on lead vocals, Clare Moore on drums and Steve Miller on guitar, all from punk group the Sputniks. They added bass guitarist Chris Walsh in early 1981 ...
(1980 to 1987), Dave Graney and The White Buffaloes (1989 to 1990), Dave Graney and The Coral Snakes (1987 to 1989, 1991 to 1997), The Dave Graney Show (1998 to 2003), Dave Graney and Clare Moore featuring The Lurid Yellow Mist or Dave Graney and The Lurid Yellow Mist (2004 to 2011) and Dave Graney and The mistLY. ''Everything Was Funny'' (2021) was credited to Dave Graney and Clare Moore.
Graney was awarded the
ARIA Award for Best Male Artist
The ARIA Music Award for Best Male Artist, is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. It is handed out by the Australian Recording Indus ...
at the
ARIA Music Awards of 1996 for his work on ''The Soft 'n' Sexy Sound'', while "Feelin' Kinda Sporty" won the
ARIA Award for Best Video in
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
and he has received seven other ARIA Award nominations. Since 2009, Graney has co-presented a radio show on Melbourne's
3RRR called Banana Lounge Broadcasting.
Biography
Early years to The Moodists
David John Graney grew up in
Mount Gambier, South Australia
Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with an estimated urban population of 33,233 . The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier (volcano), Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about sou ...
.
He attended St Mary's Primary School, Marist Brothers College, McDonalld Park Primary School and Mt Gambier High School. He finished school after Year 12. In 1978, he relocated to Adelaide and, as lead vocalist, he teamed with drummer
Clare Moore
Clare Christina Moore is an Australian musician, songwriter, arranger, producer and performer whose principal instrument is the drums. She has also performed as a keyboard player, singer and vibraphone player. Moore writes and performs with son ...
to form Sputniks with Liz Dealey on bass guitar, Phillip Costello on guitar and Steve Miller on guitar.
Sputniks released one single, "Second Glance" on an independent label before moving to Melbourne in 1979 where they disbanded.
Graney, Miller and Moore formed
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-r ...
group
The Moodists
The Moodists were an Australian post-punk band. They were formed in late 1980 by Dave Graney on lead vocals, Clare Moore on drums and Steve Miller on guitar, all from punk group the Sputniks. They added bass guitarist Chris Walsh in early 1981 ...
with Steve Carman on bass guitar in 1980.
They released a single "Where the Trees Walk Downnhill"/"I Should Have Been Here" on the
Au Go Go label. Carman was soon replaced by Chris Walsh on bass guitar. This line-up released a single "Gone Dead"/"Chad’s Car", and an EP "Engine Shudder" on the Au Go Go label. In April 1983,
Mick Turner (previously in Sick Things, Fungus Brains, later in
Dirty Three
Dirty Three is an Australian instrumental rock band, consisting of Warren Ellis (violin and bass guitar), Mick Turner (electric and bass guitars) and Jim White (drums), which formed in 1992. Their 1996 album '' Horse Stories'' was voted by '' ...
) joined on guitar and they relocated to the United Kingdom in October.
They released their studio album "Thirsty's Calling" in 1984 on the Red Flame label with
Victor Van Vugt co producing with band along with engineer Tony Harris .
Red Flame also released a six track mini album in 1985 called "Double Life". A single "Justice and Money Too" was released on the
Creation
Creation may refer to:
Religion
*'' Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing
*Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it
*Creationism, the belief that ...
label. Chris Walsh left in the same year, 1985. David McClymont joined on bass and the band recorded two 12" EPs "Take the Red Carpet out of Town" and "Someone's Got to Give" on th
T.I.M.label in the UK.
1986-1998: The Coral Snakes and White Buffaloes
In late 1986,
The Moodists
The Moodists were an Australian post-punk band. They were formed in late 1980 by Dave Graney on lead vocals, Clare Moore on drums and Steve Miller on guitar, all from punk group the Sputniks. They added bass guitarist Chris Walsh in early 1981 ...
ground to a halt and after taking a break Dave Graney and Clare Moore formed
Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes (also seen as Dave Graney with the Coral Snakes) in late 1987 and played in London pubs and clubs.
Other members were
Gordy Blair on bass guitar,
Malcolm Ross (ex-Orange Juice, The Moodists) on guitar and Louis Vause on piano and keyboards.
In 1988, with
Barry Adamson (former member of
Magazine,
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian rock band formed in 1983 by vocalist Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and guitarist-vocalist Blixa Bargeld. The band has featured international personnel throughout its career and p ...
) producing, they recorded enough material for an extended play, "At His Stone Beach" released in September on the Fire label.
The cover had ornate Edwardian lettering by UK illustrator Dave Western. By 1989, Graney and Moore were ordered out of the country by UK immigration authorities.
The four tracks, "World Full of Daughters", "Listen to Her Lovers Sing", "A Deal Made for Somebody Else" and "The Greatest Show in Town", were later included on CD version of the Dave Graney with the White Buffaloes album, "My Life on the Plains".
Back in Melbourne, the couple formed Dave Graney with The White Buffaloes with Rod Hayward (ex-Little Murders) on guitar,
Conway Savage
Conway Victor Savage (27 July 1960 – 2 September 2018) was an Australian rock musician.
He was a member of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, providing piano, organ & backing vocals from 1990–2017.
Savage released solo albums entitled ''Nothing ...
(Boy Kings) on keyboards and Walsh (The Moodists) on bass guitar. Graney sported an Edwardian/Western image, wearing snakeskin and brown suede, sporting a curled moustache and waxed goatee.
The band released "My Life on the Plains" in 1989 with
Phil Vinall producing.
Vinall, a friend of Graney and Moore, later worked with
The Auteurs,
Placebo
A placebo ( ) is a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like Saline (medicine), saline), sham surgery, and other procedures.
In general ...
and Magic Dirt (among others). The album included tracks written by other artists, such as Gene Clark, Fred Neil,
Gram Parsons
Ingram Cecil Connor III (November 5, 1946 – September 19, 1973) who was known professionally as Gram Parsons, was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist who recorded as a solo artist and with the International Submarine Band, ...
and the traditional "
Streets of Laredo". In their live shows they included songs by
Doug Sahm
Douglas Wayne Sahm (November 6, 1941 – November 18, 1999) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born in San Antonio, Texas. Sahm is regarded as one of the main figures of Tex-Mex music, and as an important pe ...
,
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...
,
Buffy Sainte Marie and
Tim Rose. The title was from an autobiographical tome by
George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars.
Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his clas ...
in 1876, the year he died at
Little Big Horn. The cover featured images of a young
Jesse James
Jesse Woodson James (September 5, 1847April 3, 1882) was an American outlaw, bank and train robber, guerrilla and leader of the James–Younger Gang. Raised in the " Little Dixie" area of Western Missouri, James and his family maintained s ...
, Custer and ornate Edwardian lettering by London artist Dave Western, based on a
Frederic Remington
Frederic Sackrider Remington (October 4, 1861 – December 26, 1909) was an American painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer who specialized in the genre of Western American Art. His works are known for depicting the Western United Stat ...
cowboy painting. It reflected Graney's obsession with wild western myth and late 1960s psychedelic bands with similar tastes,
The Charlatans and
Quicksilver Messenger Service from San Francisco. No singles were released from the album, although a video was shot by Tony Mahony for "Robert Ford on the Stage". Savage left to join Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and they were joined on pedal steel guitar by
Graham Lee (
The Triffids
The Triffids were an Australian alternative rock and pop band, formed in Perth in Western Australia in May 1978 with David McComb as singer-songwriter, guitarist, bass guitarist and keyboardist.McFarlane (1999). Encyclopedia entry fo"The T ...
). This line-up recorded "Codine", a live in the studio four track
extended play
An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record. , which was issued late in the year.
It was later added to the CD version of the "I Was The Hunter... and I Was The Prey" album. "Codine" was written by Buffy Sainte-Marie and had been performed by The Charlatans in swaggering space cowboy style while the Dave Graney with the White Buffaloes cover version was equally tough.
The EP sleeve was another Dave Western illustration.
During June 1990, Graney, Moore and Hayward travelled to London and recorded "I Was the Hunter... and I Was the Prey" with Blair on bass guitar, Ross on guitar, and Vause on piano. The album was produced by Vinall at a
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extens ...
home studio run by former
Procol Harum
Procol Harum () were an English rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single "A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have sold over 10 million copies. Although noted for t ...
organist
Matthew Fisher. The cover by Western shows Graney with full '
Hickok Hickok may refer to:
People
* Eugene W. Hickok (born 1951), American education advocate
* Laurens Perseus Hickok (1798–1888), American philosopher
* Lorena Hickok (1893–1968), American journalist
* Wild Bill Hickok (1837–1876), American sc ...
' curled moustache and velvet pomp. It was not issued until May 1992, due to a crisis with indie distribution in the UK, under the name Dave Graney with The Coral Snakes. In mid-1991, the band had moved back to Melbourne with a line-up of Blair, Graney, Moore, and Hayward; with
Robin Casinader on keyboards (ex-
the Wreckery).
In July 1992, they released a live album, ''Lure of the Tropics'' on the Torn & Frayed label on Shock Records.
It was recorded at
St Kilda's Prince of Wales Hotel. The cover art was by Tony Mahony, the album featured three other improvised tracks (along with the title piece) and was originally mixed by
Phil McKellar – it was re-released in 1997 with extra tracks and remixed by
Tony Cohen.
For their April 1993 album, ''Night of the Wolverine'', the band signed with
PolyGram
PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be ...
, Andrew Picouleau (ex-
Sacred Cowboys) provided the bass guitar and Tony Cohen co-produced.
The album has been described as "a certified Australian rock classic. It captured Graney at a new peak of his songwriting powers ...
racks were
Rack or racks may refer to:
Storage and installation
* Amp rack, short for amplifier rack, a piece of furniture in which amplifiers are mounted
* Bicycle rack, a frame for storing bicycles when not in use
* Bustle rack, a type of storage bin ...
full of elegant and eccentric detail".
Tex Perkins (
The Cruel Sea) guested on lead vocals for "Night of the Wolverine II" with Amanda Brotchie on backing vocals.
The title track and "You're Just Too Hip, Baby" reached No. 48 and No. 59 on
Triple J's Hottest 100 for 1993.
Cover art was by Mahony who directed the video for "You're Just Too Hip, Baby". The band toured outside the inner city of Melbourne and Sydney for the first time backing Hunters & Collectors, then
The Cruel Sea before heading their own national tour. The album and tours had raised their profile with mainstream music critics.
"Night of the Wolverine" earned an
ARIA Award
The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...
nomination for 'Best Alternative Release' at the
1994 ceremony.
It was released on the This Way Up label in the UK in 1996.
The band's next album, "
You Wanna Be There But You Don't Wanna Travel
''You Wanna Be There But You Don't Wanna Travel'' is the fourth album by Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes (also seen as Dave Graney with the Coral Snakes). With Graney on vocals, the Coral Snakes line-up included his wife Clare Moore on drums a ...
", which peaked at No. 10 on the
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replac ...
(ARIA)
Album Charts, was released in June 1994.
With Blair back on bass guitar, it was co-produced with Cohen.
The singles from the album were, "I'm Gonna Release Your Soul" in April, and "You Wanna Be Loved" in August. A limited edition of the album included a bonus disc, ''Unbuttoned'', with seven extra tracks. The promotional film clip for "I'm Gonna Release Your Soul", directed by Mahony, was nominated as 'Best Video' in
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...
.
The group's July 1995 album, ''
The Soft 'n' Sexy Sound'', was produced by Victor Van Vugt.
It reached the Top 40 and earned Graney the 'Best Male Artist' accolade at the
ARIA Music Awards of 1996.
Graney was wearing a hot pink, crushed velvet suit and a wig and said (under his breath) 'King of Pop'.
This was a reference to a 1970s
pop award which was presented by teen magazine, ''
Go-Set
''Go-Set'' was the first Australian pop music newspaper, published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974, and was founded in Melbourne by Phillip Frazer, Peter Raphael and Tony Schauble. NOTE: This PDF is 282 pages. Widely described as ...
''. The album also received nominations as 'Best Cover Art' for Mahony and 'Producer of the Year' for
Victor Vaughan . "I'm not Afraid to Be Heavy" (June), "Rock 'n' Roll Is Where I Hide" (August) and "I'm Gonna Live in My Own Big World" (February 1996) were issued as singles.
The limited edition album's bonus disc, ''Music for Colourful Racing Identities'', featured seven live tracks.
It was also accompanied by a media CD with an interview of Graney by
HG Nelson called ''A Word in Yer Shell, Like''. It was released in the UK and Europe on the This Way Up label in 1996. Graney and Moore spent 6 months of the year recording and working in London.
The next album, ''
The Devil Drives
''The Devil Drives'' is the sixth album by Dave Graney 'n' The Coral Snakes. It was released in May 1997 on Mercury Records. Note: n-lineversion updated from 1999 book. The album peaked at No. 18 on the Australian Recording Industry Ass ...
'', was released in May 1997, and reached the Top 20. It was recorded in Melbourne and mixed in London at Maison Rouge studios and co-produced by Graney, Moore and David Ruffy along with engineer Kenny Jones. It spawned the single, "Feelin' Kinda Sporty" (co-wriiten with
Clare Moore
Clare Christina Moore is an Australian musician, songwriter, arranger, producer and performer whose principal instrument is the drums. She has also performed as a keyboard player, singer and vibraphone player. Moore writes and performs with son ...
) . The single won 'Best Video' by Mahony in
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
, the album was nominated for 'Best Cover Art' by Mahony and Graney received a nomination as 'Best Male Artist'.
The single was promoted with an appearance on the daytime soap
Neighbours, in which Dave sent up his sinister lounge-core persona in a pastel blue suit and a fedora – in one memorable scene holding the character
Toadfish
Toadfish is the common name for a variety of species from several different families of fish, usually because of their toad-like appearance. "Dogfish" is a name for certain species along the gulf coast.
Dolphin-Toadfish relationship
Toadfish mak ...
upside down and shaking him for the return of his mobile phone. It is unknown what if any impact this had on sales of the record. The second single was "A Man on the Make". ''The Devil Drives'' was the last studio album for Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes and with Universal Music as Graney and Moore disbanded the group and parted ways with the label in December.
Album also accompanied by a media CD with an interview with Dave Graney called ''Coffins Have no Pockets'', which was part of a media booklet based on a Holden Monaro owner's manual. In 1997 Graney released his first book, ''It is Written, Baby'', a collection of his lyrics interspersed with fragments of journalism, memoir and opinion, with photographs by Mahony.
Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes released a compilation, ''The Baddest'', in September 1999. It included an unreleased version of "The Sheriff of Hell" from ''The Devil Drives'' which was re-recorded and remixed with Andrew Duffield (ex-
Models) on keyboards, Phil Kenihan and Billy Miller (
The Ferrets) on guitar and vocals. The same team had remixed "Feelin' Kinda Sporty" the previous year. It also featured an unreleased cover version of the
AC/DC song "Show Business". Cover art was provided by Tony Mahony.
1998-present: The Dave Graney Show- the Royal Dave Graney Show – the Lurid Yellow Mist to the mistLY
Graney and Moore's next band was The Dave Graney Show (elaborated in 2003 to The Royal Dave Graney Show), which formed in early 1998 with Stuart Perera on guitar and Adele Pickvance (
Robert Forster Band) on bass guitar.
The single, "Between Times", and ''The Dave Graney Show'' were released in November on Festival Records. Guest musicians included Duffield,
Sean Kelly (ex-Models) on backing vocals and Billy Miller. It was co-produced with Duffield and Kenihan. In February 1999, "Your Masters Must Be Pleased with You" was released as a single and Billy Miller had permanently joined the line-up.
The latter single's video was part of a twenty-minute film shot and edited by Mahony called ''Smile and Wave''. This album saw half of it recorded and played by only Graney and Moore, then the rest of the band was brought in to play the other half.
Graney and Moore continued to perform live around Australia and released material on their own Melbourne based label, Cockaigne. Cockaigne's first release was The Dave Graney Show's single, "Drugs are Wasted on the Young" in February 2000 ahead of the album, ''Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye'' in April.
It was co-produced by Graney, Moore and Adam Rhodes. Other singles were "Out of the Loop" (with Mahony video) and "Have You Heard About the Melbourne Mafia?", both with cover art by Mahony. Graney described the album as "dark, brandy flavoured funk". It was released in the UK and Europe on Cooking Vinyl. A tour of Europe, with a line-up of Graney, Moore and Perera, supporting Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds followed in 2001. It was during this tour that Graney contracted a filthy lung infection which resulted in an operation at a hospital in Paris. Clare Moore released her first solo album, ''The Third Woman'', on
Chapter Music
Chapter Music is one of Australia's longest-running independent record labels. Chapter Music has worked with a broad range of mostly Australian artists, in genres such as rock and roll, indie pop, post punk, country and western and folk. Betwee ...
in August.
July 2002, saw the release of ''Heroic Blues'', which was produced by Graney, Moore and Adam Rhodes. The single, "Are We Goin' Too Fast For Love?", was issued. The title track was recorded live at a sound check at the
Tarwin Lower Pub earlier in the year. Graney improvised the vocal about a performer playing to an empty room. He called it a "folk soul" album.
Moore appeared with Melbourne band, The Sand Pebbles, on stage as well as on record. She contributed strings and keyboards to albums by
Kim Salmon as well as the Wagons. She played on Robert Forster's (
Go Betweens) covers CD ''I Had a New York Girlfriend''. She appears with Jane Dust and the Giant Hoopoes, her own band the Dames and with jazz combination Henry Manetta and the Trip. Graney and Moore engineered and mixed the debut albums by the Darling Downs (Salmon and Ron Peno) and the Muddy Spurs. They both played in Salmon, the seven guitar, two drummer heavy rock orchestra devised and led by Kim Salmon.
In 2003, Graney and Moore briefly reformed The Moodists – with Turner, Steve Miller and Walsh – for a limited number of performances in Melbourne to promote the release of a double compilation album, ''Two Fisted Art (1980 -1986)''.
The album was released on the W.Minc label – run by Steve Miller – in 2003 and contains nineteen of the band's studio tracks on the first disc and sixteen previously unreleased live recordings (recorded in Sydney (March 1983), Melbourne (December 1984) and London (July 1985)) on the second disc. As Dave Graney and Clare Moore, the couple worked on the soundtrack for the feature film, ''
Bad Eggs'',
and released ''Music from the Motion Picture – Bad Eggs''
in July. They received a nomination for
ARIA Award for Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album at the
2003 ceremony.
''The Brother Who Lived'' was released in 2003 by The Royal Dave Graney Show (a nod to the Royal Melbourne Show) – with a line-up of Graney on vocals, harmonica, organ, and bass, acoustic and electric guitars; Moore on drums, vocals, keyboards, percussion; Billy Miller on acoustic and electric guitars, and vocals; Perera on vocals and electric guitar; and Pickvance on vocals, percussion and bass guitar. It was produced by Graney, Moore and J Walker. Singles issued were "Midnight to Dawn" and "All Our Friends Were Stars". The latter had a video shot and edited by Graney, Tony Mahony made a video for "The Brother Who Lived". The main part of the album was recorded, after The Moodists reunion, in a day with all the band in the studio together. Four other tracks were recorded and mixed by Graney and Moore at their Melbourne studio. Pickvance left the group and bass guitar was taken up by
Stu Thomas
Stu David Thomas is an Australian musician, born 1967 in Canberra, raised in Perth, and currently musically active in Melbourne.
He is a multi-instrumentalist, performer, singer, composer, arranger, producer, bass player, guitarist, trumpet pl ...
(
Kim Salmon and the Surrealists,
Kim Salmon and the Business
Kim or KIM may refer to:
Names
* Kim (given name)
* Kim (surname)
** Kim (Korean surname)
*** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties
**** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948
** Kim, Vietnamese fo ...
, Salmon, The Stu Thomas Paradox) in 2004.
Graney contributed music to and played a small (musical) part in a stage production of the 1960s British play ''Stone'' in 2004. Graney and Moore released a double album, ''Hashish'' and ''Liquor'', in 2005, with the first disc, ''Hashish'' performed by Graney and the second, ''Liquor'' by Moore.
Jazz pianist Mark Fitzgibbon played on a lot of the album and
Warren Ellis
Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including '' Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), '' Global Frequency'' ...
(Bad Seeds-Dirty Three) guested on flute, mandolin and violin)
In 2006, Graney's ''Point Blank'' was recorded, which he described as "a song cycle of a life as a heavy entertainer", for which he was accompanied by jazz musician Mark Fitzgibbon (The Moodists) on piano and Clare Moore on
vibraphone
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist, ...
. Concurrently, a touring trio of Graney (12-string, vocal), Moore (vibes, vocal) and Stu Thomas aka Stu D (
baritone guitar
The baritone guitar is a guitar with a longer scale length, typically a larger body, and heavier internal bracing, so it can be tuned to a lower pitch. Gretsch, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, ESP Guitars, PRS Guitars, Music Man, Danelectro, Sch ...
, vocal) was formed, performing extensively across Australia, in support of the 2006 CD, '' Keepin' it Unreal'' on Cockaigne. This trio appeared in Europe in 2008 as opening act for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
In 2007 Graney and Moore joined with guitarist, Perera, pianist Mark Fitzgibbon and bass player Stu Thomas to form The Lurid Yellow Mist featuring Dave Graney and Clare Moore (or as Dave Graney and The Lurid Yellow Mist).
The name of the band, according to Moore, was based on the strange miasmic cloud that the man in the 1957
science fiction film
Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstell ...
, ''
The Incredible Shrinking Man'' drove his speedboat through just before he started his transformation.
As a collective they worked on a batch of new songs at the Yarraville Mouth Organ Band (YMOB) hall, before entering Sing Sing Studios in September where they laid down eight tracks in a day, virtually recording live. Graney and Moore then mixed it at their home studio, Ponderosa, finishing in November. The resultant album, ''We Wuz Curious'' was released on the Illustrious Artists label on 14 June 2008. The first single, "I'm in the Future Now", issued in November 2007, had music written by Stu Thomas, who also made the video (filmed in Cocos Islands]). A video was also made for "Let's Kill God Again", which received some radio promotion.
In May 2009, Graney released his first album credited as a solo billing, ''Knock Yourself Out''. Described by Graney as an "electro boogie" album. It was produced, recorded and mixed by Graney, with Moore co-writing some tracks, arranging and contributing instrumentation, with Thomas and Perera from The Lurid Yellow Mist as guest performers.
A video was produced for the title track, "Knock Yourself Out", directed by Nick Cowan, it was shot in Hosier Lane and Smith Street, Melbourne.
A follow up show to the narrative performance ''Point Blank'' was performed at the Butterfly Club in 2009, which was called ''Live in Hell''. It featured songs by Graney with other Hell-related tunes by Elvis Presley, Roxy Music, the Fall and the Doors. Mostly without any amplification, the line-up was Perera on acoustic guitar, Thomas on bass guitar, Moore on a small drum kit and Graney on vocals. In 2010, a third narrative style show was performed at the Butterfly Club. ''MC Bits'' featured the duo of Graney accompanied by Mark Fitzgibbon on piano.
2010 saw the release of ''Supermodified'', a remix and remastering compilation project where Graney went back to the 2001 and 2003 albums ''Heroic Blues'' and ''The Brother Who Lived'' to sing, play extra guitars and add keyboards and percussion and remix the songs. Previously unreleased tracks were included in the package of 18 tracks, with a Mahony illustration on the cover.
2011 saw the release of ''Rock'n'Roll is Where I Hide'', on Liberation. The album was recorded at Soundpark in Melbourne by Graney and The Lurid Yellow Mist and mixed by
Victor Van Vugt in New York. A collection of re-recordings with The Lurid Yellow Mist of songs from his back catalogue. It was released with Graney's second book, ''1001 Australian Nights]'', by
Affirm Press
Affirm Press is an independent Melbourne-based book publisher.
History
In 2010, Affirm Press began publishing several books a year as a part-time operation between Martin Hughes, former editor of '' The Big Issue'', and Graeme Wise, founder of ...
,
which concentrates on his life as an artist and performer.
In 2012, the band's name was altered to Dave Graney & The mistLY, and the album ''You've Been in My Mind'' was released by Cockaigne. The lead single was "Flash in the Pantz", with an accompanying video of the band shot live at Meredith Music Festival 2011. A further video for "We Need a Champion" was filmed and edited by Nick Cowan.
Graney and Moore also played and recorded an album as rhythm section for Howard and the NDE, a band fronted by old friend
Harry Howard (
These Immortal Souls,
Crime and the City Solution
Crime & the City Solution are an Australian rock band formed in late 1977 by singer-songwriter and mainstay Simon Bonney. They disbanded in 1979 leaving only bootleg recordings and demos. In late 1983, Bonney travelled to London and in 1985 he ...
, the Pink Stainless Tail) and
Edwina Preston.
2013 saw a series of digital only singles released as work was begun on a solo acoustic album.
A fourth narrative show was also performed at the Butterfly Club in Melbourne. A solo show called ''Early Folk'' featured Dave Graney playing songs from across his career which had been inspired by the town of Mt Gambier.
May 2014 saw the release of ''Fearful Wiggings'', the second album to be credited as a "solo" album. Again, Clare Moore featured extensively on the album playing vibes and singing. UK guitarist
Nick Harper played on two tracks and Graney recorded all the lead vocals with
Lisa Gerard (
Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance are an Australian music duo first established in Melbourne. Currently composed of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, the group formed in 1981. They relocated to London the following year. Australian music historian Ian McFarlane d ...
) at her studio in country Victoria. Three songs from the album had accompanying video clips. The song "Everything was Legendary with Robert" had a video made for it by film makers Donna McRae and Michael Vale, while a video for "Country Roads, Unwinding" was made by Dave Graney. This video featured footage of the drive along
the Coorong between
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...
and
Mt Gambier shot by Heath Britton.
2015 saw the release of several digital only albums. 2015 also saw the first of several reunion shows with Dave Graney 'n' The Coral Snakes, playing to sellout crowds in Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle and Adelaide.
The Melbourne annual Leaps and Bounds Festival honoured Dave Graney and Clare Moore as ''Living Legends'' and a concert was held at the Gasometer Hotel with many Melbourne musicians paying tribute to the pair by playing their songs. The performances went for 5 hours.
''Dave Graney and The mistLY'' played an ATP Festival in Prestatyn, Wales, curated by comedian
Stewart Lee, a long time supporter of their activities. They joined up with former guitarist
Malcolm Ross and played shows in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester (including a BBC6 session with dj
Marc Riley
Marc Riley (born 10 July 1961 in Manchester) is an English radio DJ, alternative rock critic, musician, and former music businessman. He currently presents on BBC Radio 6 Music.
Formerly a member of the Fall, he co-owned a record label, In-Tap ...
) and continued on to dates in France, Holland, Belgium and London.
In July 2016 there was a further return show for Dave Graney 'n' The Coral Snakes to a packed house in Melbourne.
In April 2019, Dave Graney and The mistLY released an album called ''Zippa Deedoo What Is/Was That/This?''
In November 2019 a digital only studio album was released by Dave Graney and Clare Moore called ''One Million Years DC''. The album featured guest appearances by Shane Reilly from the Lost Ragas on pedal steel and Coral Snake
Robin Casinader on mellotron.
Dave Graney and Clare Moore inducted into South Australian Music Hall of Fame December 2019.
Other Performances
Graney has played at the
Big Day Out
The Big Day Out (BDO) was an annual music festival that was held in five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The festival was held during summer, typically in January of ea ...
Festival on many occasions, as well as the
Livid festival and the
Falls Festival
Falls Music & Arts Festival (commonly known as Falls) is a multi-day music festival held annually in Lorne ( Victoria), Marion Bay (Tasmania), Byron Bay (New South Wales) and Fremantle (Western Australia), Australia over the New Year's Eve ...
. He performed on the TV shows ''Recovery'', ''Nomad'', ''Smash Hits'', ''Live and Sweaty'', ''Denton'', ''Midday with Kerry Anne'', ''
Jimeoin'',
Shaun Micallef
Shaun Patrick Micallef (; born 18 July 1962) is an Australian comedian, actor, writer and television presenter. He is currently the host of the satirical news comedy series ''Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell'' on the ABC. He also hosted the game s ...
's ''
Micallef Tonight'', ''Mornings with
Bert Newton'', ''AM with
Denise Drysdale'', ''
Sale of the Century
''Sale of the Century'' (stylized as ''$ale of the Century'') is an American television game show that originally debuted on September 29, 1969, on NBC daytime. It was one of three NBC game shows to premiere on that date, the other two being t ...
'', ''
The Games'', ''
RocKwiz'', ''Spicks and Specks'', ''Australia's Dumbest Musician'', ''
Neighbours'' (two-episode story), ''Review'', and
Roy and HG
Roy and HG are an Australian comedy duo, comprising Greig Pickhaver in the role of "H. G. Nelson" and John Doyle as "'Rampaging' Roy Slaven". Their act is an affectionate but irreverent parody of Australia's obsession with sport. Their charact ...
's ''
Club Buggery
''Club Buggery'' is an Australian television series made in the 1990s. It was created and performed by Australian comedy duo Roy and HG ( John Doyle and Greig Pickhaver) and broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) network ...
'' (1996–1997). He wrote a lyric book, ''It Is Written, Baby'' (1997). With Moore, he composed and performed the score of the movie ''
Bad Eggs'' (2003), and for Mahony's short film ''Ray'' (2005). Graney contributed music to and played a small (musical) part in ''Stone'' (2004), a stage production of the 1960s British play.
In September 2013, Graney also sang on
Nick Harper's CD (''Riven'') on a track called "The Beginning is Nigh".
Bibliography
*
*
*Graney, Dave (2017). ''Workshy: My Life As A Bludge''.
Mulgrave, Vic: Affirm Press.
Discography
Studio albums
Soundtracks
Live albums
Compilation albums
Extended plays
Charting singles
Awards and nominations
ARIA Awards
The
ARIA Music Awards are presented annually from 1987 by the
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replac ...
(ARIA). Graney and Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes have won two awards from nine nominations.
, -
,
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...
, , ''
Night of the Wolverine'' – Dave Graney & the Coral Snakes , ,
Best Alternative Release , ,
, -
,
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...
, , "I'm Gonna Release Your Soul" – Tony Mahony – Dave Graney & the Coral Snakes , ,
Best Video , ,
, -
, rowspan="3",
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on b ...
, , ''
The Soft 'n' Sexy Sound'' – Dave Graney , ,
ARIA Award for Best Male Artist
The ARIA Music Award for Best Male Artist, is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. It is handed out by the Australian Recording Indus ...
, ,
, -
, ''The Soft 'n' Sexy Sound'' –
Victor Van Vugt – Dave Graney & the Coral Snakes' , ,
ARIA Award for Producer of the Year , ,
, -
, ''The Soft 'n' Sexy Sound'' – Tony Mahony
– Dave Graney & the Coral Snakes , ,
ARIA Award for Best Cover Art , ,
, -
, rowspan="3",
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
, , ''
The Devil Drives
''The Devil Drives'' is the sixth album by Dave Graney 'n' The Coral Snakes. It was released in May 1997 on Mercury Records. Note: n-lineversion updated from 1999 book. The album peaked at No. 18 on the Australian Recording Industry Ass ...
'' – Dave Graney , , Best Male Artist
, ,
, -
, "Feelin' Kinda Sporty" – Tony Mahony – Dave Graney & the Coral Snakes , , Best Video
, ,
, -
, ''The Devil Drives'' – Tony Mahony
– Dave Graney & the Coral Snakes , , Best Cover Art
, ,
, -
,
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...
, , ''Music from the Motion Picture – Bad Eggs'' – Dave Graney and
Clare Moore
Clare Christina Moore is an Australian musician, songwriter, arranger, producer and performer whose principal instrument is the drums. She has also performed as a keyboard player, singer and vibraphone player. Moore writes and performs with son ...
, , Best Original Soundtrack Album
, ,
EG Awards / Music Victoria Awards
The
EG Awards (known as ''Music Victoria Awards'' since 2013) are an annual awards night celebrating Victorian music. They commenced in 2006.
, -
,
EG Awards of 2012
The EG Awards of 2012 are the seventh Annual The Age EG (Entertainment Guide) Awards and took place at Billboards on 20 November 2012. The event was hosted by Myf Warhurst. It was the last time under the title of EG Awards before changing its n ...
, Dave Graney
, Best Male
,
, -
South Australian Music Awards
The
South Australian Music Awards
The South Australian Music Awards, also known as SA Music Awards, commonly SAM Awards, formerly Fowler's Live Music Awards (FLMA), are annual awards that exist to recognise, promote and celebrate excellence in the South Australian contemporary mu ...
(previously known as the Fowler's Live Music Awards) are annual awards that exist to recognise, promote and celebrate excellence in the South Australian contemporary music industry. They commenced in 2012.
, -
, 2019
, Dave Graney
, South Australian Music Hall of Fame
,
, -
Notes
References
;General
*
;Specific
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graney, Dave
1959 births
Living people
Musicians from Melbourne
ARIA Award winners
Australian musicians
People from Mount Gambier, South Australia