Dave Graney– The Gov – Friday 12 July 2019
Words Geoff Jenke
Dave Graney has been there and done that, many times. Since 1978, accompanied by drummer Clare Moore, Dave has been a Moodist, a Coral Snake, a White Buffalo, a duo with Clare and now a mistLY with Clare still on drums, Stuart Perera on guitar (and who has been with Dave since 1998) and Stu Thomas on bass. They are at The Gov to promote Dave’s 33rd new album ZIPPA DEEDOO WHAT IS/WAS THAT/ THIS?
First up we had The Sunday Reedsentertain us with their short sharp catchy guitar drenched songs. The Sunday Reeds are guitarist Drew Jones and Romana Ashton on bass and vocals with a revolving circle of drummers to help out. They opened with Drop Dead Cooland took us for a ride through some of their finest songs like Slow Burn, Rosaleen, the brand-newCult Girland the wonderful Jean Luc. Drew Jones has the mop of hair reminiscent of Brian May from Queen, but the guitar sound is very Jesus and Mary Chain/Pixies. Romana doesn’t hold back with the bass, producing pounding killer riffs for the entire set. Romana’s vocals at times reminded me of Chrissie Hynde from the Pretenders. I have to admit not knowing the band before this set, something I intend to rectify in the near future.
Dave Graney appears on stage alone, looking splendid in a pin stripe suit and big white hat. After a bit of tuning, the band walked out to join him in the opening song I Wanna Get Lost Again from 2005 album Hashish and Liquor. At the conclusion of the song Dave said “thanks to everyone for coming and tonight, we will trawl through the back catalogue as well play songs from the new album”.
Next up was the tune Song Of Lifefrom his new album, which he told us was written after he had a severe appendix operation, “writing the lyrics in blood from the wound, on the pillow case”. The song has a 70’s feel while the lyrics relate to the decades of Dave’s life. “get real sentimental in your thirties/ get awful mean in your forties” etc.
Baby, I Wish’d I’d Been A Better Pop Starwas preceded by an amusing tale about hopeful musicians missing the “pop tram because they were scratching their arse and missed the moment”. Was he talking about himself? Well maybe, but then Dave did have some “success” in the 1990’s with a hit single and album. Could he have become a “pop star”? Maybe, but we are glad he didn’t.
Everything Was Legendary with Robertwas a 2014 homage to The Go Betweens Robert Forster. A smiling Dave also told us Grant McLennan “was a very annoying person. R.I.P.”.
And so, it was for the evening, wonderful stories sandwiched between even more wonderful songs. Songs about the Saturday night bath, actress Gloria Grahame who like to watch people have sex, the dilemma of being a musician who has to be cool but needs to be “hot” and people in Hi Vis. Even when he had to tune his guitar it turned into a story of his ambition “to come on stage one night and just tune up my guitar. By the way this was the best tune up I have done in years”
Ultrakeef, from his latest album, is his “homage to the Rolling Stones. Does anyone know who they are? They come from Dartford in England” The song had all the swagger of The Stones in 1969. The sound was a salute to the Honky Tonk Woman sound, complete with cowbell. There were a lot of “F—k’s” in the lyrics, but then this was the best fkn song for the evening.
When the show came to a close, the band didn’t leave the stage. “This is where we usually go off stage and have a cup of tea if it is still hot” quipped Dave. “Is there anything you want to hear played?” he then asked. Songs were thrown at the band but one feels they were totally ignored. They knew what they were going to play. A splendid Three Dead Passengersfrom Night of the Wolverinewas followed by adelightful interpretation of the Buffy St Marie songCod’ne.
While Dave did trawl through his back catalogue of songs, it was the new songs that stood out this evening. Many were obviously about him and his brilliant career, sending himself up as well as reminiscing.
The song title, Is This What You Did? off the new album said it all. Yes, this is what Dave Graney does and he does it so well. A fabulous night.
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