I've been writing the occasional blog for Myspace. I thought I'd put them here for people who ain't into that scene. So as they can see what I'm goin' on about over there.

Mark Fitzgibbon and Dave Graney

30 Sep 2007
POINT BLANK- first week
Current mood: excited
Category: Parties and Nightlife
We started the shows on Thusday night. Being a prt of the Fringe festival its a bit of a scrap to get any awareness out there of the event happening. The first night is me gesticulating and frothing at the mouth ( well thats the way it must have seemed) and grabbing my crotch and talking to a small statuette of myself to a handul of ladies who of course, are the kind of daring and up for it people who keep theatre going. Clare heard one saying 'well that was differrent!" on the way out. Thats a high compliment.
Friday got better and Saturday (even though it was Grand Final night) was a full house. Two people got up and walked out and I took that as a sign that I still had it as well. (the delusions of performers have neither beginnings or end) .
We set up again tonight and then again from next Thursday to Sunday. The show is really humming and has gotten bigger and sharper. This will be the last time we do it in Melbourne. We are looking for a venue in Sydney and maybe Newcastle as well for December.
Following is a story that appeared in the Age on Friday.....................
Officer of musical truth
The Melbourne Fringe festival kicked off on Wednesday and this year's program hits a number of musical high notes. Dave Graney's acclaimed Point Blank show, playing at the Butterfly Club, features Clare Moore on vibraphones and bongos and Mark Fitzgibbon on piano.
The performance is part-music, part spoken word - Graney strips back autobiographical songs such as No Pockets in a Jumpsuit, I Held the Cool Breeze and Lt Colonel,Cavalry to their essence, singing them unamplified and filling in the gaps with tales of his upbringing in Mount Gambier and his reign as the King of Pop before going it alone as an independent artist.
He explains that Lt Colonel,Cavalry was inspired by an article written by British rock journalist Nik Cohn that described lounge singers across the US as the infantry holding up the sagging front lines of the entertainment war. Graney continues the theme on I'm a Commander by urging musicians to die for his song.
"Music and entertainment is a war," he tells Sticky. "At a certain level, road crews are like pirate gangs, coming into port, attacking and securing a situation and holding it to their advantage, press ganging local layabouts into their crew for a day and then leaving the scene by darkness as if they'd never been there. There are songwriters and musicians, camp followers, infantry and the officer class."
He also likens fleeting pop stars to soldiers - "they are told to go over the top and fight for a certain bit of land and, unbeknownst to them, to DIE", while the officer class are behind the scenes, summoning up the pieces of land and devising the battle plans.
"Officers for me are Hank Williams and Jim Morrison. I check with them," says Graney. "All the people who play with me are officers. Everybody else, we pretty much consider infantry, especially the ones on the covers of magazines and on the radio. Michael Jackson was an officer who had a great officer in Quincy Jones on his staff. Prince is a five-star general."
Graney says the local twist to this paradigm is that Australians have always been told that they are roughnecks and larrikins who do not take kindly to officers. "It takes real officers to command and prevail in this particular theatre of action. It's a civil war here, I guess." Intrigued?
Catch the show at the Butterfly Club, 204 Bank Street, South Melbourne, every night at 9pm until October 7. Bookings: 8412 8777 or www.melbournefringe.com.au.
Currently reading :
Hangover Square (Penguin Modern Classics)
By Patrick Hamilton
Release date: 28 June, 2001
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25 Sep 2007

back to earth
Current mood: exhausted
Category: Automotive
We left Cocos in the afternoon and flew to Christmas Island, where the poor "illegal" detainees are kept and continued to Perth where we arrived at 10:30 pm their time.
We dropped Stu D off at his Mothers pad and went to the hotel.
The first show we did was at 6pm in a bar coming right off the street in Northbridge which is Perths area for party drugs and boofy nightlife. A good crowd filled the place and we did two sets, The place kept filling up and geting more unpredictable by the minute. It was a free entry show so although most of the people knew who we were and some of our material and what kind of a situation they were in there were also blow ins from the street and the world. One of these was a young hens party who grooved to our dance tunes. I like it when I have the sense people are coming to our music and responding to it for the sheer initial flash of it. ( I appreciate it when people have some of our albums and want to hear songs they "own" as well).
During our second set a youngish buck with an expensive , distressed cotton white shite and gelled straight hair came up to the stage, beckoning me forwards. I am a congenial gent and did as he asked. He told me that we should all look at the audience more , in the eyes as we weren't doing so and so we weren't communicating our enjoyment and that I should not stand in front of "the young lady" when she sang. I looked at him and then we counted in the next song which was a new number called "you had to be drunk" which is about a strategy to deal with the world we are presented with.
We finished the show and then packed up our gear. the man came back to me and I said I had talked to him and could he go away. I said I remembered what he said about looking at people. (He was a dick, I do look right at everybody when I play, I like it!) He said, "and what was the second thing?" It was like having a conversation witha minister from the Hillsong singers. One who was on coke and thought he was even more interesting and brilliant. I tried to control my mouth and just said I was busy and could he go away. He did, or I did. We continued packing up and then he was giving Clare the life coaching treatment as well. He held her elbow in some controlling way he must have learned as he smiled and preached his entertainmnet dogma. This guy must watch Australian Idol and take notes! It was still early in the evening and he would still have plenty of time to annoy the wrong person that night, we hoped.
Perth can be a strange place, full of money and dope and crims and we were glad to see the end of that street as we drove to Fremantle.
We set up at the Swan Lounge and I changed my clothes.
We came on and powered into 'feelin kinda sporty" and "rock'n'roll is where I hide". We had a level of energy that was really exciting. It hadn't been this tight and rocking for a long time. The sound was loud and the audience was in our sights. Bands can be delicate things and sometimes they chug away and then all of a sudden they swtch into a new found gear and thats what happened on this trip. It was the best we had been for a long time. It had been buidling up since the show with the Apartments. We had been working on new material and rehearsing and then recording. Something new was going on. WE have found some new kind of balance and poise and direction.
We did a long set and ended it with "boogie oogie oogie", "shame shame shame" and our second Elvis number, "one night of sin" which has a swinging 6/8 feel and a vocal elivery people don't hear much nowadays.
Mick Blood from the Lime Spideers was there and many old friends. it was a cool night.
The next day I got up at 8 am ( I had hit the sack at 3) to got to an ABC studio to talk to the arts show on ABC local in Melbourne, where it would be 11 am. I put the headphones on and the producer asked me about my football team. I said I wasn't interested. ( I was a bit shocked, thinking this was an ARTS program andthere would be football all over the place for the net week). I wanted to talk about our show "point blank" which was on in Melbourne the next week. I got my message across, a little bit.
We then went out to Yum Cha with Stu D and his family and then set up in the garden of the Balmoral hotel.
We played two sets to a pretty packed house. Many pals were here as well. We have played in Perth many times over the years and people do love music there. The last time we had been there was in January and we had played with vibes, bass and twelve string. This time we had some real firepower going on.
We'll be doing some shows in Melbourne and Sydney before the end of the year.We packed up and drove to the airport and caught the 11:30pm flight to Melbourne, where we landed at 4:30 am.
The next show is "Point Blank" which starts this Thursday and goes until the 7th October. It'll be the last time we do the show in Melbourne.
Currently listening :
It’s About
By Charles Schillings
Release date: 22 January, 2002
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21 Sep 2007

thecocos club
Current mood: crushed
Category: Parties and Nightlife
Our last night on the island. We had spent the day at the beach, snorkelling and reading and dozing. We got the gear together and set  it up inside the Cocos Club which is the only drinking place on the island. Kylie and Ash run the place, a lovely couple who had taken us out canoeing on South Island. Ash is  a real rough diamond who loves to talk about his favourite music, Supercharge and Sweet . He spent most of his life in the West Australian goldfields, including playing footy on dirt tracks  so I am intrigued as to how he has taken like  a natural to such an marine environment. They run a very social hub and keep the community together. I have driven through so many dusty country towns where you can sense that everybody keeps it in the home and there ain't much clubbing together happening.
We can't resist having a smirk at Clare behind her Gary Numan like electronic drum kit. She has sworn death upon anyone who actually laughs and is also intent on getting her own kit as a five year old child could lift one. We play two sets of songs, different in tone to the Sunday family friendly session the other day. Paul gets up and sings "Hi Heel sneakers" and "Suzie Q" with us. I chose the songs as they're the only kinds of blues I know .
Everybody we'd met during the week was there and we had  a great time. After we packed up they followed us back to our pad and drank all night. Brett the Kite ski man, Michelle, Catherine, JCR (the King) , Ernie, Emma, Borby, Megs, Brad, the shaven Chad Morgan, the Perth millionaire and many others.
After a while I went to bed and left them partying. I watched  a movie from early 50s Britan which had Patrick Maghooan,Sean Connery, Gordon Jackson, Alfie Bass, David MaCallum , Herbert Lom and Stanley Baker acting up a storm as greasy working class truckers.
This afternoon we fly to Perth where we do three shows in two days. Next week we start our Butterfly Club shows,
Currently listening :
In a Silent Way
By Miles Davis
Release date: 20 August, 2002
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20 Sep 2007

Dave Graney and Clare Moore sitting in with the Sand Pebbles 2006. Esplanade.

The Lurid Yellow Mist

the big house
Current mood: quixotic
Category: Games
We took the 7:30 ferry (cost $2.00) over to Home Island, the other inhabited island where the Malays live. At one point, during the colonial period, there were about 1800 people who had been brought or enticed here to work the Clunies Ross Copra plantation. The island is smaller but more populous and is very quiet due to Ramadan being in effect. The streets are empty except for the occasional golf buggy type vehicle that rolls along. Each house has an outdoor cooking area and some kind of boat. The power is supplemented by solar panels and some wind generators are going up. Is this the future? I could deal with it in this tropical clime with the soft sea breezes.  There is one shop and a mosque. We meet with Paul at the school who us to take us on a  guided tour. he comes with four young Malay kids who give us a bit of commentary as well. Two girls, who are wear scarves on their heads, and two boys.
We drive to the BIG HOUSE which was the mansion built by the Cluinies Ross family . (The family of the king we had had dinner with the night before). I ask the girl sitting with me if she goes here and she says they gather Guava here from the trees in the ground after school. She also volunteers that it is haunted.
We walk up to the house and Paul sees the lady of the manor. She takes us inside, which scares the kids and is a bit of a privelege for the rest of us. The place is a big two storey pile on the very edge of the sea, at a high point. It has an exterior of white glazed bricks which were made in Singapore in the 1880s. They make it look strangely modern.
Inside it has furniture all aover the place and double doors opening from the entrance to a grand ballroom. Different wings were added at different times and the present owners have an idea to bring it back to some "original" state. Deciding which original state to approximate might be a bit of a job in itself, getting materials and workers is another. On the lawn is a shipping transport container and its contents also spill across the lawn.Including a  small cherry picker
In the entrance hall, the wood panelling, in teak or jarra wood, goes completely from floor to ceiling. The lady goes to get the man of the house, and he presently comes down the stairs like the proverbial ghost. The children shrink back, he is a squat little bull of a man with a protruding pot belly coming over the top of his straining at the waist boxer shorts. He has a voice like a demon and a white moustache stained red at the lips by his everpresent rollup cigarettes. He takes us through his discoveries of the construction of the building. the strength of the foundations and how various renovations over the years have altered the original design. He is another rich dominant bull who is used to the sound of his own voice and getting his own way. We don't talk up much and the kids are in shock.
He apparently sleeps most of the day and wanders the house atnight. He does not look like Bela Lugosi though.
We walk around to the kitchen and he shows us  a guitar he was playing the night before, a semi acoustic jazz box by Ibanez. He says "it looks good, they gotta! Same with dames, they gotta look good to start with!" We laugh. His wife adds that she will keep him to that.All the while we are being bitten to death by mosquitoes. They don't seem to be a problem anywhere  else on the island. Natures justice, cruelling the scene for those on knob hill.
I doubt he will finish the renovations. The remnants of the dynasty sit over on the other island, cracking cans and working up new schemes to get some economic power happening.
We hear a story of the last Clunies Ross to live and rulle from the BIG HOUSE coming back for a visit during the 90s. the one who charmed the queen. He got off the plane in his white suit and took his shoes off and walked quietly around the streets of  the West Island before taking the ferry to his former domibion on Home Island where the Malays greeted him warmly.
We take the bus around with the kids. Stupidly, I tell them I saw the ghost while we were there at the BIG HOUSE. I say that I shook my finger at him and told him to go away. I say he had a white beard and a sharks fin.
During the trip the little girl tells me she can talk English and Malay and also read her Koran in Arabic.She volunteers that she loves the West Coast Eagles and also has a soft spot for Geelong. She points out her house and says she is living there with her two brothers and sisters while her parents have moved to another house to look after another sister who is having a baby. She does the cooking and cleaning, with help from her siblings.
As we say our goodbyes one of the boys comes up to ask what the ghosts face looked like. I feel stupid and say I was only joking.
We find a shady bench to sit on at the beach and eat some sandwiches, discretely, due to those behind the curtained windows not being able to eat between sunrise and sunset.
We take the ferry back to West Island where we spend the day filming some more scenes for a video we are shooting for our soon to come single, "I'm in the future now".
We make some pasta and eat with Ernie and then go to the radio station where we act stupid for an hour or so. As you do.
Currently listening :
Proud Mary: The Best of Ike & Tina Turner
By Tina Turner
Release date: 26 March, 1991
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19 Sep 2007

tea at the house next door
Current mood: cheerful
Category: Parties and Nightlife
We walked over the hollow logs that serve as a fence to the household belonging to man I referred to as "the King". His name is JCR and his family was given these 27 islands in 1824 by Queen Victoria dn they ruled them until 1978 when they sold up to the Australian Giovernment. They had their own money and all the people on the island worked on their business which, I think , was Copra.
He is a big and powerful fellow. We had visited his giant clam and angel fish farm the other day. He was not there but left the radio playing to the clams in this strange outdoor aquarium next to the sea. Next door had been a drydocked boat on the grass which a young siren was turning into an art gallery facing the rolling waves.
The feast was plentiful. We sat on Victorian chairs in a verandah/ patio area with two goats running around and crying as well as two cute kittens/ We ate chick pea curry and chilli chicken wings and some squid and rice. Copious amounts of Melbourne Bitter cans were thrown across the table to other people. The cans were referred to as "soldiers". All the people there were working on the island as teachers or kite ski instructors or fishermen. Everybody had  a lusty appetite. JCR is indeed like something out of a Somerset Maugham story. The big family mansion is on the other island where all the Malays live and he resides here in the town. His son, also called JCR was here and I asked about the previous JCR. JCR the elder brought out a framed picture of his father looking like  a movie star standing, in a blinding white linen suit, with the very young Queen Elizabeth. It was 1954 and she visited the island. She did indeed look very taken with him but JCR took it further and said, "she wants him!! She's thinkin' 'fuck it!~ I'm on holiday!' She thinks he's fuckin' hot!". Not many people can bring out a family photo like that.
The night went on with much light hearted banter. A Millionaire Perth businessman came over for a chat.He spends 4 months of the year on the island. He had spent the morning exercizing in his gym while watching a video of David Byrne, he told me. He knows the man who owns the "Big JCR House" currently and says he is a "lovely, eccentric fellow". Buildings in this place need constant maintenance and it would take "five million" to fix the house properly. He would never take it on.
JCR junior told me of New Years Eve and how he and his father take care of fireworks, stringing them all across the lagoon. How would it be to know the land and the sea and the tides and the wind and the seasons so intimately? To have so much family history entwined in such a place?
Another fellow, Brett , talked of fishing in Bass strait with waves the size of telegraph poles and falling overboard and how you have to take off your waterproofs and tie a knot in the legs and blow them up so you can rest your arms on them. I'll remember that. He also spoke of the wild and narrow current as you sail through Hells Gates in Tasmania where the "worst" convicts were tortured further. He had fished Crays all over the place and was now working the kite skis.
It was a very interesting collection of people in a very interesting place. I left early, dodging a couple of cans as they flew acrtoss the room.
Currently listening :
The Inner Mounting Flame
By John McLaughlin & Mahavishnu Orchestra
Release date: 18 August, 1998
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17 Sep 2007

Trannies beach/big pams curry/ south island canoe
Current mood: chipper
Category: Travel and Places
Got up early, as you seem to do here, 5:30 am and went down to the beach, facing Africa beyond the rolling surf and read Trotsky, my feet up as the sand was swarming with scuttling crabs. I sat cross legged on an old concrete block and learned some new and exotic terms of abuse such as " house broken gradualist" and bourgeoise vulgarian". I tried some out on the crabs. They ran off, comically.
Then we caught up with Ernie for some of Big Pams Chicken and Dahl curry with rice at the club. We also played some table tennis and visited the tourst museum. This place slows you down. We went later to the improbably named Trannies Beach where we snorkled in the lagoon as the sun set and took some video. We went back to the house and watched ourselves on the video and then went to the one restaurant which is Portuguesse and ate curried fish and rice followed by apple crumble with custard and ice cream.
This morning we got up at 6pm to go for a canoe trip acrtoss the  lagoon to a few other islands. WE had breakfast at the first stop (Champagne and orangefor everybody, orange for me) and then continued to another island, taking it in  turns to drive the motor. We finally got to eat a coconut. It had been maddening to be surrounded by them at all times yet Ernie refused to get his machete out and cut one for us. Finally Ash did the trick and we tasted the forbidden fruit. Ernie looked quite upset to see us taking a portion of his treasure.
We went over our survival plans and noted that there was a lean to shelter on the island so Clares work was done. There were plenty of coconuts so Stu Pereras work was also in the pocket. I traced a small "HELP" onto the sand for practice and a plane immediatley landed to see if we were ok.That worked. All we needed  was the certainty of our fish supply. Stu D said he was still to google a bit about that and would do so when we got back. We felt let down by his efforts and had  a talk to him about it and he took the criticism on the chin and vowed to be more of a team player in future.We were cool, though, as long as we remembered where this island was.
We motored to another island and snorkeled around a reef and RIP area. We got into the current and flew over hundreds of fiish and spiny urchins and glimpsed some baby sharks hiding in the rock shelves. I swam away as fast as I could.
Very enjoyable. Very very enjoyable.
Tonight we feast with the King.
 
Currently reading :
The Age of Permanent Revolution: A Trotsky Anthology
By Isaac Deutscher (ed)
Release date: 1964
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cocos food and art festival
Current mood: exhausted
We had our stage set up under a marquee in a  little clearing opening onto a  classic desert island lagoon-ical beach. The stage was bordered with coconuts and palm leaves. Warren Snowdon, the federal shadow minister was there to meet some far flung constituents and an opening speech was delivered by a  member of the family who used to own and run the island until 1979.
Cheese is a delicacy here. Lettuce costs $7.00. Fruit is a luxury. Beer is tax free.
We played from 3:30 to 5 pm . A long set . A bunch of 8 year olds were dancing up the friont. I told them they had their pocket money tripled and could drive the police car whenever they liked and didn't have to go to school. They gave  a big "yay" after every bit of shameless pork barrelling. I then told them they had to buy me a house to live in on the island in the future.
We stopped and had something to eat and then did another short set. The adults all started dancing madly now. KIcking up the sand in the moonlight. It was quite pagan. We did a lot of Elvis songs and I tore my voice up. I scared those little urchins with "one night of sin" right into their mushes! They trusted me and asked "how do you drive the old people crazy?" as their parents cavorted madly all about. I felt cool, like Rufus Thomas.
Oh, and Clare is playing an electronic drum kit and likes it. I want to get a guitar with no head to it to go totally futuristic.
I ate some baclava made from Cocos honey. It was ......awesome.
We are making a  video clip as we go along. Perhaps for "I'm in the future now".
The sky is beginning to bruise and tomorrow we sit on the beach and read books.
 
Currently listening :
In My Lifetime, Vol. 1
By Jay-Z
Release date: 04 November, 1997
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15 Sep 2007

direction island
Current mood: tired
Category: Games
There are no dogs or birds on the West island which is where we are staying. Home Island is where the Malays live who are going through their version of Ramadan at the moment.There are feral cats and chooks and large landcrabs. Apparently they can take out a chook. There are 25 other islands which are uninhabited. Tony Mokbel should have come here.
So we caught the ferry to Direction Island at 9:30 and set up camp in a nice clearing.I was feeling good. Then Clare said, "its great isn't it, you forget you're on a   tiny speck in the middle of the ocean." My blood ran cold. I had put thoughts of earthquakes and tsunamis and hurricanes to the back of my mind and now I am presented with a vision of the very uselessness of our existence! I am then informed that the lagoon or bay we are sailing through is actually the mouth of a giant volcano and we are situated inside it! I laugh and look foward to the day. It may be my last.Again!
 Its kind of exactly like Gilligans Island or the scene in the movie Age of Consent. Absolutely staggeringly beautiful. No shops or cars or even roads on Direction  island, just the beach. I raise the subject of us being stranded with the team and we decide that Stu Perera will get the coconuts, Stuart Thomas will score the fish and Clare will build the shelter. I will think of ways to communicate with passing boats.
We walked to the place where the RIP was guaranteed to be. Its a sheltered inlet where a fast stream of water runs down at incredible speed . You swim out and fly down like you have steeped onto a bus and gaze in awe through your goggles at the large fish and coral underneath. Like a trip in a 3d world. Clare saw 3 sharks and a Barracuda.
We spent the day underneath palm trees swimming and relaxing. Idyllic.
Clare went for a walk and saw the cove of thongs which Monica had told us about. Every lonely lost thong in the Pacific has drifted towards this eerie graveyard of rubber footwear.
And then we took the boat back to the West Island.
There must be something going on here. Life is too easy and people are too happy. I will endeavour to root out their dark secret and inform the proper authorities on my return to civilization.
Currently reading :
Ashenden Or: The British Agent
By W. Somerset Maugham
Release date: 1941
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maelstrom slightly not
Current mood: cheerful
Category: Travel and Places
So we flew to Perth and stayed in a  travelling salesmans hotel near the airport. Hookers everywhere and traces of blow on the elevator control panel. We made the airrport again at 9 amd and caught a small plane for 6 hours straight out into the Indian Ocean. I read " the restoration iof capitalism in the USSR" by an American communist author called Martin Nicolaus. Written in 1975 it follows a line from China and Albania at the time that Stalin was great and there was a military coup after his death led by Kruschev. Strangely, on the way to the airport we had heard an author of a new book on the Kennedys talking of the same thing happening in the USA in 1963.
I believe it all.
I also started a book by W Somerset Maugham called "Ashenden". It is an espionage tale featuring an author recruited by the Secret Service. Must have been the inspiration for Jason King.
We stopped to refuel at an airstrip in Exmouth where it was forbidden to take photos as there were American facilities nearby.
We continued on for another 3 hours to Cocos .
We arrived at 3pm their time and were greeted by our man in the Ocean, Ernie with a tablefull of coconuts filled with punch. With little umbrellas in them.
I informed him without smiling that I did not pollute my body with such poison while the others ruined my game by grabbing their cocnuts gleefully.
We drove 200 metres to Ernies pad and then spent the day driving from one incredibly idyllic beach to another. This joint is outrageous and we are trapped here for a week!
Tomorrow we take  aboat to Direction Island. We call it DI as we are old hands at being beach bums already and it is a dumb in joke about a piece of musical equipment.
Oh, I was reassured about there being no danger of tsunamis as the water is so deep. then I noted  a sign at the airport saying that the elevation was 10 feet above sea level. We have been metric for many decades. Has it changed?
DI is promised to have a "great rip" that we can swim in which is "full of fish". I have a mask and a snorkel.
Currently listening :
Morphosa Harmonia
By Toby Dammit
Release date: 14 December, 2004
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13 Sep 2007

descent into the maelstrom?
Current mood: chipper
Category: Life
Today we leave for the West. Its blowing a gale in Melbourne and the news reports are full of earthquakes of ever rising richtonian power tearing the Indian and Pacific earth asunder and tsunami warnings for the tiny atoll that is the Cocos Islands, where we are heading. Our man in Cocos comforted me with talk of the island having a five kilometre sheer drop off to the oceans floor. I feel even more vulnerable thinking we'll be sitting on a coral button which sits atop a flimsy stalk of more dead plant life stretching 5 ks down to Davey Jones locker. Should I take PG Wodehouse to read or the Trotsky anthology? Adieu sweet MySpacians. I may be some time!

Cocos in the tent by the lagoon

Clare e-kit

Stu Perera and Stu D

11 Sep 2007

recording session
Current mood: energetic
Category: Friends
We had been rehearsing new material for the last few months in the Yarraville Mouth Organ Band Hall (which is an experience in itself) and had also been playing a few tracks live. We went into Sing Sing South studios last Saturday (sept 7th) to lay down the song with Adam Rhodes. Adam has worked with us on many discs such as "the first Dave Graney Show cd, Kiss tomorrow goodbye, Bad Eggs , the Brother Who Lived and Heroic Blues. He is a great "can do" guy and a good friend. He also has all the old school recording skills to do with mic placement etc as well as the new world digital know how.
We had last been in a big studio to do a session about nine years ago, to do the first Dave Graney Show cd which came out , kind of, on Festival records. (Since then, we have been at our own place, the Poderosa or recording , setting up a computer in different spaces we liked) This studio had been very spruced up and vogueuish then. In a late 90s techno style. The place had been the stomping ground of a svengali type producer who had a teen rock act coming out just then called Killing Heidi. The place still had his touches on it with one wall of the control room being covered in faux bunny rabbit tail furry things. Something you'd giggle at if you were stoned I guess. Otherwise it was still a great room to record in. Before him it had been a top shelf working studio called Platinum and had a history going back to the 50s.
We had also done the Devil Drives album, which was recorded in 1996, in here and a session with the Dirty three to murder a Burt Bacharach tune around the same time.
This time was a bit different. Different world outside. Music was under different pressures to exist at all. The only people who give a fuck are us.
We set up the drums and the keyboards in the big room and put the guitar amps in smaller rooms where they could be closed off. the bass guitar went straight into a preamp ( no amplifier box) and I stood iin the control room with Adam and played my semi acoustic guitar and sang a guide vocal. ( So everybody can follow the arrangements)
We started running through the songs at about 1 pm and had seven in the can by six pm. Three were pretty modal slow burning funk grooves and three were pretty tightly arranged pop songs. We broke for a meal and Mark , our keyboard player, wrote out the charts for a piece of his music. (Everybody else had written the music for a song which I then put some lyrics to) . This took a bit of rehearsing but it turned out great, like a classic Roxy Music song and I started to do the vocals. By ten pm we had all the backing vocals and lead vocals done and we were packing up.
Recording sessions have never been more productive or sweeter. I don't know why they've been so daunting in the past. The music we're playing is pushing the boundaries in all the areas a lot more. The arrangements and playing and keys and tempos are all different. (As well as more varied) Must be that we're all on the same page somehow. All that rehearsing and nutting out arrangements in the GIMP Hall.
We recorded "lets kill god again", "I'm in the future now", "I like to be haunted", "I was a country boy", " I come from the clouds", "bring me my liar" , you had to be drunk" and " whores of the orient".
We have a few more songs to record, such as "crime and underwear".
We plan to put a single out ( via itunes) in November and release an album in 2008.
Currently listening :
Judgement Days
By Ms. Dynamite
Release date: 11 October, 2005
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02 Sep 2007

august- september -everything in particular
Current mood: happy
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes
After visiting the planets Elvis , Batrider, Milton Walsh, Fauve , Cabaret, Wydler, Miles and Buzzard we landed back at the compound where we walked down into the studio and finished work on the new darling Downs cd. This is to come out this year and sounds great. Its a real privelege to work with Kim and Ron and they seem to like working in our style which is as far away from a conventional studio as you could get.
The album sounds great and has the same ultra mimalist voice and guitar approach except Kim is branching out to banjo on several tracks. The songs are again, like gems and shine in their stark relief.
Work was also done on an album for Jane Dust which will also be coming out this year. This is also very minimalist and features Jane on driving acoustic and her incredible voice. I think she is a bit of a genius musician and writer . He lyrics are superb and one in particular , I told her, could have come from ancient greece, so mythic is it in its voice and scope. She played everything perfectly and knew the material so well I only had to open the mics up. I think its gonna be called "a spray of red from the deep". A classic waiting to spring out.
We have also been busy organising an arts show which I am putting together for the Victorian Arts Centre in November. More will come of this laster but its gonna be called "the bewdy of speed" and will be an hour long art / music happening in a venue in the Arts Centre called the Black Box. Wednesday November 14th.
We are also rehearsing every week in a shed in Yarraville . This has been to get some new material together and my objective is to make a recording with more input from Stu Thomas, our brilliant bass player and Stu Perera, our equally sharp and inspired guitarist. Stu Perera has been with us since 1998 , the second longest stayer since Rod Hayward in the white buffaloes/coral snakes and Stu Thomas has been with us since 2004.
Both of them are really strong on r&b/jazz flavours and voicings and Stu perera knows what I'm talking about when I'm going on about hip hop tracks. Stuart Thomas is right on the money on everything else, from disco to jazz to Elvis and Lee Heazlewood. I mean we can communicate easily and quickly.
We have come up with a lot of stuff which we have strated to play live and are going to put down some tracks in a big studio this weekend. Mark Fitzgibbon is also involved and is bringing his arrangement skills to the tunes. I'm very happy with the songs and think we're going to make a real high point / artistic achievement of an album.
We are planning to have an itune strack called "I'm in the future now" which has music by Stu Thomas and words by myself up in November.
Plans are also afoot to finally release what was "the brother who lived" album in the UK and on itunes as well. This was released and ignored in Australia in 2003 and was also a real artistic breakthrough/ achievement album. Its terribly disappointing to fire such perfect shots out there for them only to be swallowed up in the void. Soemthing about timing is all you can think. I'm glad its going to get a second airing anyway as its a great collection of songs that came after Clare and I plugged back into the incredible power and energy of the Moodists when we did a few reunion gigs. The original disc had 10 songs but its going to come out again on a British label called Re-Action with 16 tracks. the rest being unreleased songs I did by myself aroud the same time which never seemed to fit in anywhere. They are weird and abstract and were done with no thought of anybody or anything or being even released and Innes, the man at the label, loved them the most! He is going to put out an iTunes single called "68 babe" in October. This song is 7:39 in length and I am trying to figure out how in the hell to ever play it live. The only way to do it would be to get Grinderman to do it!
Th rest of the album will be coming out in february.
Time was also taken out to take in a rare visit to melbourne from NZ band, the Brunettes. We have seen them every trip they have made since 2004 and its always a gas. This time they had a new album called "strucuture and cosmetics " out and they rolled it out like a deluxe film at the East Brunswick club. Inspiring artistry and personality abound in this band who are uisch a loveable unit.
In the meantime we will be rehearsing and recording and playing live. Our next show is , of course, on the Cocos islands and then we have a few dates in Fremantle and Perth on the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd.
We then come back to melbourne for two weekends of POINT BLANK from the 27th September to the 7th November.
Currently listening :
Supa Dupa Fly
By Missy Misdemeanor Elliott
Release date: 15 July, 1997
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20 Aug 2007

Gertrudes show Friday nite
Current mood: cheerful
Friday night saw us arriving at Gertrudes in Fitzroy to open for Batrider. A small joint, Batrider arrived with their gear and left to go and do something else, saying anybody was free to use their stuff and they would see us later. They are a very relaxed and cool unit.
We soundchecked with their drums and bass amp. The pa was strictly for vocals and we were set up on the floor.
It was myself, Stuart Perera, Stu Thomas and Clare Moore. Drums, bass two guitars.
We left and had some fine Indian food and then arrived back at the venue. Pets with pets were doing the opening set. A young fellow with a hoody on drums facing sideways on the right and another young fellow on Casio and guitar facing sideways on the left . They were fast and willing. Zayd ( the guitarist) stood over the Casio , wearing a black duffle coat with black jeans and sneakers , manipulating some pedals and playing these mean and low arpeggios in minor modes with his black fringe hanging down like Jerry Lee Lewis. His voice was untrained ( in a military/gun barrel sense) and uncompressed and sprayed out like a cat. He also picked up his white Strat and played hard and true chords wih great precision. I was conscious we were playing to a group of people who would never come to see us but may have heard of my name and may associate me with somethin' vaguely stoopid so I was looking forward to doing a highly compressed set . (So this is how I presented what I thought was our best sounds and moves to this crowd of aliens)
We came on and played Feelin Kinda Sporty with two guitars blazing , then we did lets kill god again which is a groove and Stu thinks is like a Prince song , I put down the guitar for my schtick weighs a ton which has some tongues and drama in the setup and delivery. A man on the make is a groove with a syncopated lyric and story, Stu sings his classic what if she comes? Biker in business class has its Coltrane like beakdown and rock groove, Clare sets up and goals with alphonus will get you, we switch to Miles Davis modal style with bring me my liar , go into a classic groove with I'm gonna release your soul. We then present I'm in the future now which is a new song with music by Stu D and lyrics by me an finish with youre just too hip,baby where I tell the people I'm going to show them some old school dance moves. For historical interest.
It was great fun playing to a new crowd and people really got into it. They took it for what it was. It worked on a simple level of flash and fire. Coming out of the clouds!
Batrider then come on and do a blisteringly great set. I have never seen them do a bad show and they can set up anywhere and wail. They are great and they will be doing one more show in melbourne before leaving for the UK. They will be in Brisbane at the Troubador this weekend ( 24th August).
Currently listening :
The Best of Kansas
By Kansas
Release date: 23 February, 1999
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17 Aug 2007

musical trips
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Travel and Places
So we got into playing Miles Davis "in a silent way" at the Blue Diamond which was a big step for us into some big shoes. People were dancing to it which was a blast!
The next day we started to think about recording a track for the "I'd rather Jack" show which is on at midnight on Wednesdays on RRR. They wanted guests to come in to do cover versions or , as it was late, to pre record one. I said we'd prepare one at home. We'd been talking for ages about doing a version of "hard times" from the first album by Dr Buzzards Original Savannah Band, an album which came out in 1976 and which is a classic of writing and playing and producing. (The band featured August Darnell and Coati Mundi who went on to form Kid Creole and the Coconuts). Listening to the song we realized it had quite a sophisticated chord structure so I asked a fellow on Myspace called the Chameleon who I noted was a Buzzard afficionado and he suggested contacting Coati Mundi who played vibes in the band. I did just that and woke the next morning to see a reply from Coati ( aka Andy "sugar coated" Hernandez) where he kindly gave me the chord roughs. We spent a couple of days working on the track and then burned a copy. It was too late to post it so we dropped it in to the studio at midnight after a rehearsal. RRR is in the middle of a radiothon/ subscriber drive so the studio, which would usually have been quiet, was buzzing with a roomfull of volunteer phone operators and different musicians hanging around. RRR is an amazing institution in Melbourne and drives so much of the creativity in the scene. Its is alive with interested parties and people pay for the privelege of having it every year. Amazing.
The girls, Clem and Jess had me on as first guest and made me read a poem about Shane Warne out of a recently published book by Victoria Coverdale called "Come Shane". I chose one called "cream for Shanes groin" because it promised some smut and thats always good for late night radio.
The next stop after Miles and Dr Buzzard was Elvis presley. We had been asked to play a set at an exhibition at the RMIT in Melbourne called "Living Elvis" . The very next night after the RRR visit. It was a very , well , arty to do with speeches by august cultural commentators and many art pieces in different materials. Paintings and video installations and textiles and some of Elvis's costumes. Elvis does not need the art comunity to interpret him of course. As they said at the time, "50,000,000 Elvis fans can't be wrong". The artists had a lot to play with anyway. His presence is exhaustive. After the speeches we went to a corner of the white walled gallery, beneath a couple of huge coloured interpretations of Andy Warhols interpretations of Elvis and ripped through the following songs
Good Rockin Tonight
Mystery Train
Suspicion
Crawfish
Return to Sender
One night of Sin
Thats alright mama
I'm a stranger in my own home town
Tonight we return to home base and play our own music with Batrider at Gertrudes.
Currently reading :
Funk Lore: New Poems (1984-1995)
By Imamu Amiri Baraka
Release date: November, 1996
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12 Aug 2007

the Blue Diamond experience
Current mood: exhausted
Category: Parties and Nightlife
We did the last two Saturdays at the Blue Diamond which is a club on the 15th floor of the RACV building in Queen st Melbourne. We set up at 5pm , went out and ate in the city and did our first set at 11pm, arriving back at the home compound at 4:30 am.
Queen street is a riot of 20 something partying all night. The streets are covered in spew and girls and boys running and falling around freezing their arses off in t shirts and lingerie in the winter night. This is what we got up to over the last couple of weeks.
Stu Thomas , bass guitar , vocals and trumpet
Stu Perera , vocals and guitar
me on electric and acoustic guitar and lead vocals
Clare Moore on drums and vocals
Mark Fitzgibbon, electric piano
It was quite relaxing playing three sets to such a late night crowd. People coming and going over along period of time. Didn't have to do so much talking and try to knit a narrative together. it was all about keeping a pulse going and building up some moments.We played on a rectangular stage and all around the room was the city with its towers and lights putting on another show through the windows....
have you heard about the melbourne mafia?
don't mess with the blood
ooh child (stairsteps)
A man on the make
what if she comes? (stu Thomas)
he was only passin through (unrecorded)
sometimes you can see yourself
goin down south (instrumental arranged by Mark Fitzgibbon)
I'm in the future now (unrecorded)
I wanna get lost again
parchman farm
death by a 1000 sux
mr wicks (instrumental from Bad Eggs)
feelin kinda sporty
mr bad luck
out of where
in a silent way (MILES DAVIS)
boogie oogie oogie (a taste of honey)
alphonsus will get you
lt colonel, cavalry
real big spender (stu thomas)
all our friends were stars
apollo 69
the brother who lived
I'm a stranger in my own home town (Percy Mayfield)
You're just too hip,baby
my schtick weighs a ton
lets live properly
a lot to drink about
bring me my liar (unrecorded)
Biker in business class
crime and underwear (unrecorded)
lets kill god again (unrecorded)
I'm gonna release your soul
I will have always been here before
feel like makin love (Roberta Flack)
I'll be around (Kim Samon)
the bogus man (Roxy Music)
sorrow (Daid Bowie)
Currently listening :
Quincy Jones and Bill Cosby: The New Mixes, Vol. 1
By Herbert
Release date: 13 July, 2004
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10 Aug 2007

RRR fill in show with elizabeth mccarthy playlist 7/8/7
Current mood: good
Category: Automotive
Visit to a sad planet -Leonard Nimoy "Outer Space Inner Mind"
Fuchsia, beige, green, olive, orange, black from the Ken Nordine album, "Colours"
whole lotta shakin goin on Jerry lee lewis
You can have your sheilas I'll stick to me booze- Chad Morgan
"twilley don't mind" -Dwight Twilley
"soul sheriff smells a rat"- Thomas Wydler
"heartbreak hotel"- John Cale
"codes over colours"- Plutonic Lab
"vampire Blues"- Snowman
"Autumn" - from "seasons of love" by the actor Gerard Kennedy
"live at Mr Kellys 1964"- Woody Allen
"Some velvet Morning" and "Sundown" - Lee Heazlewood
"some scientific abstract type shit"- Mo Wax
track 6 ( we were playing track 6 from all the cds ) from the White Stripes "Icky Thump" and the Queens of the Stone Age "Era Vulgaris"
"cuntry Disco" - the Hapy Mondays "uncle disfunctional"
A track from Common with Lily Allen singing
"Harlem River Drive" - track 6 from the "Blue Break beats" comp
"mrs murphy" -the walker brothers
"tara"- Batrider
Some shelia from Brooklyn who Elizabeth liked. Billed as "Dutch Jewish American"
"Killing Floor"- Howlin Wolf
"I'm Bad"- Michael jackson ( I though these songs sounded similar, one being ina minor chord)
"beautiful militant"- the Brunettes
"my big sectret"- James Cruikshank
"just can't get it up" and "middle class man" by New Waver
Currently watching :
Wattstax (30th Anniversary Special Edition)
Release date: 07 September, 2004
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06 Aug 2007

29 Jul 2007

writers clamber up to take in what they can...
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Pets and Animals
Recent writings on our activities. Some good some bad. Just to see whats happening outside the room. Blind dudes feeling parts of an elephant and describing what their fingers tell them , what?
21.07.07: Brisbane Powerhouse
The confines of the new Turbine Hall at the Powerhouse find the evening open up with Rosie Westbrook's bowed double-bass instrumentals, as Mick Harvey's After Dark shows offer up a rare solo set from his touring bassist. Shadowing the instrumental depths of Sigur Ros and The Dirty Three, the Melbourneite (complemented by electric piano, guitar and drums) provides a rather interesting take on stand-up bass playing that's difficult to pigeon-hole, yet simple to find irresistible.
Mt Gambier's favourite son Dave Graney is tonight in exceptional form. And with his pared down band and 12-string acoustic strapped up high like an Easybeat, his consummate showmanship and charisma help colour Graney's command of the English language. A South Australian Serge Gainsbourg in op-shop clothes, he's a man born for the lights and the stage  -  resonating a bygone polyester-clad sexuality complete with witty wordplay. Guiding the audience through stripped-back versions of songs from his Coral Snakes-era of the early 90s right through to today, the hits and coulda-been-hits neatly sidle around the set's early highlight, Graney's romantic reading of Suicide's 'Diamonds, Furcoat, Champagne.'
With his long-time partner Clare Moore on vibes and shakers and Stu D on a Burns 6-string electric bass making up the Lurid Yellow Mist, the '95 hit 'I'm Gonna Release Your Soul' is stripped of its Vegas-like bombast, revealing a newly acquired sense of intimacy. Recalling her stint in a Catholic school, Clare Moore's tender reminiscence about a nun's disciplinary cane named 'Alphonsus' almost steal's the show,  Graney indulging in some rather risqué stage moves as he's freed from vocal duties, as Moore dips into selections from her Liquor album.
When people go to Dave Graney shows, they come from all walks of life  -  the teenager, the elderly gent with the salt-and-pepper beard, and the dapper chap with the English accent in the seat behind reminiscing about a Moodists' show he saw at Dingwalls with his friend are all here to be entertained. And as far as entertainment is concerned, Graney proves that it doesn't have to be throwaway  -  or too deep and alienating  -  in order to be understood and appreciated.
Australia's 'King of Pop' may have since been dethroned and been replaced by mediocrity  -  yet his relevance remains not only intact, but endlessly endearing upon each new experience.
DONAT TAHIRAJ
Talent: Dave Graney and Clare Moore and the Lurid Yellow Mist
Date of Review: Monday, 23 July  2007 
Venue: Turbine Hall, Brisbane Powerhouse
Clare Moore towers over her vibraphone to the left of stage while, to the right, a very dapper Stuart Thomas checks his bass. Centre stage, Dave Graney swaggers a little. Together, they open their set with a song called Vengeance Is On Its Way. This is a pared-back version of Dave Graney's band - the Lurid Yellow Mist. But, the guts of what's being executed are present, and I'm loving the sound.
It's not often you get to hear a vibraphone live in action, and Clare makes it chime perfectly in accompaniment. There's something about Stu and Clare's unison backing vocals and that vibraphone which casts a Californian, gameshow-like quality to tonight's sound. I can't quite describe what it, but it's unlike any other treatment of downbeat rock-pop I've heard. Dave himself is an odd bloke, like an uncle that invites himself into an outdoor spa with leopard-print swimwear, a cigar and scotch, while his nephew and mates are trying to avoid the old folks. His shtick is unashamed (if it is indeed mock), and that's part of his charm. He's that crooner you'd prefer wouldn't croon in your direction, but does so anyway. And, somehow it's a joy.
I've never seen Dave Graney before, so I was looking forward to seeing him and his creative partner Clare Moore at the Turbine Hall as part of the After Dark series that Bad Seed Mick Harvey has curated. All I knew of Dave was that he was awarded an ARIA in 1996 for Best Male Vocalist. And I recall images of him on television talk shows, striking an odd point of difference in Australia's music scene.
Since then, Dave and Clare have chosen to continue making music in a do-it-yourself fashion, and they've been touring with the Lurid Yellow Mist since releasing Keepin' It Unreal in 2006 (a retrospective album of sorts - 15 songs from throughout their career). Consequently, the rapport between these three is obvious. Clare rolls her eyes at Dave's self-depreciative jokes and Stu seems to really enjoy the bass/lead guitar interplay with Dave. For a few numbers, Dave concentrates on lead guitar, as Clare and Stuart perform their own songs about big spenders and nuns with canes. Though, two of the best songs of the night are Dave's - You Put a Spell On Me (a play on Nina Simone's I Put a Spell On You), and the energetic Let's Live Properly (Like We're Stoned). Overall, the three of them are great to watch and are incredibly open with the audience, with Dave talking quite freely between songs.
There's no other songwriter or character quite like Dave Graney, and there is certainly something very 'Australian' about him. Whatever that quality is, though, I'm not sure this particular setting is the right fit. The Turbine Hall has become an odd space at the Powerhouse, trying to accommodate small-to-medium scale performances.
Friends who've seen Dave and his band at music festivals say that's the perfect environment to see him, so maybe that's it. Either way, something's not quite right about tonight. Perhaps it's the bar's proximity. Dave seems like he'd benefit from being within view of liquor. I don't know. As they say, I want it again, with feeling!
- Scott Spark
Young Fogey, Brisbane.
Thomas Wydler & Friends
Brisbane Powerhouse - Thursday July 19
It's from a group of his friends that Mick Harvey has selected to curate four nights of live music in the Powerhouse's airy but warm Turbine Platform as part of the Queensland Music Festival, with a very matey feel enveloping the performances. Best known for his work alongside Nick Cave in The Bad Seeds (and earlier), some of Harvey's friends are peers whose careers also stretch back decades into the Australian underground (Dave Graney, Clare Moore, fellow Bad Seeds), while others are younger contemporaries with sympathetic tastes (Melbourne independent instrumentalists Silver Ray). Regardless, an almost subconscious theme of music of the '60s seems to abound, whether in the shape of old-time country, cinematic jazz, or avant-pop. The second and fourth nights of the program are examined here.
Supports each night feature members of other bands on the bill performing solo. The third member of Graney and Moore's trio, Stu Thomas opens Thursday with a set of old Americana country, from a time when 'if the sun and scorpions didn't get you, a bullet would'. Death, old testament God and dark romantic obsession are referenced so often that songs about people outside the law by Johnny Cash and Peggy Lee are almost an uplift in tone. Using his guitar alternately for both melody and rhythm, Thomas most notably uses space in his songs, further fleshing out the lonely feeling of an open plain where a note can carry for miles.
Cam Butler of Silver Ray provides two vastly different support slots. Thursday's begins with just Butler and his guitar, but via a self-operated sampler, he builds a band behind him, recording and adding sounds at the press of a pedal. The effect is relatively hypnotic, falling into a widening 20-minute groove that uses harmonica, feedback, tapping his guitar and even sliding his finger up the strings to experiment with new noises. His second instrumental support is backed by The Shadows Of Love Orchestra, whose use of double bass, violin and cello as well as drums and Butler's guitar on largely unnamed tracks ranges from the echoing mournful to the rollicking manic. Also, Butler's handlebar moustache is captivating.
Mick Harvey & Friends
Brisbane Powerhouse - Sat July 21
Morphosa Harmonia has only been performed publicly twice before, so little is known of the eight-piece led by the composer and Bad Seeds drummer Thomas Wydler. Comprising drums, strings, guitars, keys, a laptop and a vibraphone staffed by Harvey, Moore and the festival's other participants, dirty bar grooves, gradually structuring atmospherics, and urgent detective noir soundtracks are included in the fifteen lyric-free songs. However, the standout performance is from a masked Graney, whose role from a stool up the back of stage, is to introduce each song with a spontaneously lurid story, and sit in the spotlight while it's played, adding a ridiculous element to a fantastic show.
THE APARTMENTS, DAVE GRANEY AND CLARE MOORE FEATURING THE LURID YELLOW MIST
Northcote Social Club
With an average audience age around 37 this was clearly a night for revisiting golden years of performer and and punter alike. (The Apartments had never played here before -ed) There were, however, enough curious youngsters present to rightfully indicate that The Apartments are something for the ages as well as all ages. (Many were there for us as well-ed) Kicking off the night by back-announcing the last track playing over the PA, (I was playing some Sugarhill Gang classics and was enjoying it-ed) Dave Graney did what he does best (in fact, quite possibly all he can do) which is play the lounge lizard, a master of style over substance who never un-cocks his hat. With an oddly congruous (sic) backing band made up of the ever-impressive Clare Moore, the pelvis-thrusting guitar of Stu Perreri (Perera-ed) (a man who simply canNOT leave the wah pedal alone for a minute), the classy keys of Mark Fitzgerald (Fitzgibbon-ed) and subtly on-point bass of Stu Thomas, Graney leads them through a typically blaze Let's Kill God Again (one of many songs we were previewing for the first ever time-ed) . Before the chorus comes in for the fourth time you know what you're getting, and for the following half hour you get it. Various versions of a vaguely catchy title (Biker in Business Class, Bring Me My Liar, Crime And Underwear etc.) repeated beyond the point of tedium while Graney attempts to distract from the lack of ideas with sycophantically(?) played 2-note guitar licks and a natty suit complete with ocker bling. Too blithe to offend or be especially anything, the two 'classics' (You're Just To Hip Baby and Rock And Roll Is Where I Hide) show that if you dig anywhere for long enough you'll eventually find something of interest, but overall the chat was more rewarding, giving Graney a chance to shoot his mouth off in style - something he'll clearly never be short of.
Playing their first ever Melbourne gig ("we always meant to come here") The Apartments are a band many thought to be a British cult act of the early 80s (myself included) until last week. (We were lending them our gear and were happy to do so-ed) ) Knowing now that we can claim a songwriter like Peter Milton Walsh as our own is a truly wondrous gift it would be criminal to ignore (well you ignored him pal-ed) . Featuring ex-Go Between John Willsteed, drummer Gene Maynard (who appears half the age of the others), trumpter Jeff Crawley, keyboardist George Bibikos and the slippery lead guitar of Eliot Fish they open with a quietly astonishing The Goodbye Train. The stride is hit and jaws drop to the brittle and cascading chorus of their 1986 Rough Trade single All You Wanted. (1982, It came out before the GoBetweens Batchelor Kisses, which resembles it quite a lot) Though the band is clearly fresh to playing live ("we're raggedy, we're not slick" Walsh states emphatically), there is a rawness that keeps things alive. Walsh's voice is held back in the mix and lyrics are often lost, but it's done in such a genuinely gripping way that ears keen to catch a lyric a la REM circa Murmur. Songs such as Something To Live For and Make It Count (written for but not recorded by Dusty Springfield) exalt in their unadorned glory while allowing you to see how he never quite made it to the levels he should have. Coming across like a less confident Joe Jackson, (Oh dear, this fellow is so close yet so far off. One of the musicians playing on the night was and continues to be very close to JJ's ex wife-ed ) Walsh sings while standing on his toes and leaning over to reach the microphone cutting an distinctively awkward figure.
While songs often go on for longer than expected (and in fact often sound very much like each other given the near-identical instrumentation and lack of dynamics), they come across as dry shoegaze anthems driven with a bookish intelligence, never letting the feeling of compulsion slip.
His explanations behind songs are told in an unrehearsed and absorbing way, never outstaying his welcome. His way with words is a brilliant talent that there is no excuse for leaving a city waiting 30 years to hear. (What did it take to drag you here? ed) When Time Off editor Matt Connors claims that "arguably the greatest crime of neglect committed in Australian music" is the lack of attention given to this band, he's spot on. This gig is proof of that
Young Fogey, Beat, melbourne
Currently listening :
Icky Thump
By The White Stripes
Release date: 19 June, 2007
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27 Jul 2007


salmon east brunswick thursday 2nd August
Current mood: cheerful
Overseas, SALMON's debut album, "Rock Formations" is garnering the kind of praise befitting such an extreme and complex outfit of six guitars and two drummers. On the one hand Denmark's Low Cut are saying, "If you have heart troubles, avoid listening to this record .. a vicious aggressive kick in the nuts … if you dig Slayer, Hawkwind and Sabbath, you'll love this – four stars". In the UK Stewart Lee of Sunday Times London says, "…a clever cubist critique .. an act of genius – four stars!"
The Spanish press are even more slavish saying " Blues, heavy metal, rock n roll, even pop are extrapolated into symphonic movements like a rain of steel from this squadron of Junkers bombers." Ruta 66
It's not just overseas that they've been garnering high praise.
Here in Melbourne, "Rarely has the line between genius and madness been so obscured – four stars" – Jeff Glorfeld, The Age, and it's "the soundtrack for a journey through the suburbs in a hotted up Monaro" – Patrick Emery, Beat Magazine.
If, you're still not sure……
SALMON play the East Brunswick Club on Thursday August 2nd.
Cover charge is a puny $12.
Support is Batrider.
There will be copies of 'Rock Formations' in cd or double gatefold vinyl for you to buy so that you can own an 'act of the genius' too. Currently listening :
Era Vulgaris
By Queens of the Stone Age
Release date: 12 June, 2007
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25 Jul 2007

social rounds 2007
Current mood: busy
Category: Parties and Nightlife
Well there was the night at the Hat Society dinner where I had been wrangled in to be a judge. Sitting with a Samoan woman (who actually makes hats in a factory) and her construction worker husband. Across the way there was a man with a fez which had a stuffed bid on top of it and all around , women with outlandish creations dangling over and beside and around their faces. The Samoans had tried to get out of the dinner as they don't fit in this society scheme but they had to come as she was, like me, for some reason, a judge. Her husband ate all the bread he could get and drank the wine and was singing softly to himself, with his eyes closed, before the main course arrived. As he opened his eyes we were surrounded by skinny models in bikinis modelling hats , walking in a circuit through the room. Ending on a raised podium just above his head.
There was a competition which had a prize of $3000 given by a rich Perth financier and his film maker wife who were sitting opposite. A lovely couple , they told me they look for things to support with money every year. I wish I had some cash to lose. Just for a stir.
At the end there was an incongruously cute raffle which had about 16 prizes. these included jars of buttons and boxes of "stiff cataplans". (Probably spelt this wrong, something you need to make a block for a hat).
Before that there was the radio show I did with Elizabeth McCarthy on RRR. For three hours, there'll be another one on August 7th from 9am to midday. I try to play contemporary music and some stuff from my vinyl collection. (Last time it was "Don Adams, the roving reporter". This time it was some of Steve Martins "comedy is not pretty" album and "the piano teacher" from Dudley moore and Peter Cook.) Elizabeth plays her music of choice as well and works the panel. Theres so much music released its hard to find a way into it. We decided to play track 8 from every CD as she says thats always the best. Next time it will be my fave track, 6.
Then there was my nephews engagement party which was held in Springvale and was a traditional Cambodian affair. A totally new housing area, we all stood in the cold but brilliant sunshine and walked down the street, carrying plates of fruit and rice cakes , walking in file two by two and stopping as the master of ceremonies asked that we be admitted to the girls house. After we were let in there was a lengthy discussion as the parents on both sides were bowed to and given respect. then there was a barbecue out the back. The Cambodian men all standing around the barbie cooking an enormous amount of meat. there was an older crowd and a younger crowd. Some of their life stories are incredible wth boats over the ocean and time in refugee camps and being kids in a foreign land and not speaking english. I spoke some halting French with afellow around the barbie. We both wished we had atrip to Paris soon. Inside, the giant plasma screen played the Collingwood game to a roaring crowd.
We've also been recording the new Darling Downs album with Kim Salmon. Ron is coming out soon to put his vocals down. Penny Ikinger has been recording as well and also the sand pebbles. Clare is also recording and playing with Crystal Thomas.
The Darling Downs did a show at the Tote organized by Crystal and I did a dj set. Probably the first time that Snoop Dogg, Tupac, Ghostface Killer, the Sugar Hill Gang, Notorious BIG , Slick Rick etc have been played in that joint!
Then we left for Brisbane where we were part of a week long series of shows organised by Mick harvey. On the first night I was standing around, checking out the race, when Ed Kuepper came into the room. We were chatting away and then Chris Bailey loomed into view! My brain could not compute the two of them being in the same place! Amazing.I would have loved to have seen the Saints who had played the previous week.
On the first night Rosie Westbrook played with a band including Josie Jason on guitar and Clare Moore on drums and vibes. then Silver Ray did a set. On the second night it was a brillant solo set by Stu Thomas ( standing at the back of the stage with his baritone guitar/bass and a radio headset mic, singing all songs about the devil and gaol and satan and death row) and then Cam Butler doing a solo set and then Thomas Wydler playing with the Morphosa harmonia ensemble. This has Thomas on drums at the centre and front with Julitha Ryan on piano. James Johnson on guitar, Rosie Westbrook on bass, Mick Harvey on guitar and Clare More on vibes. I was asked to mc the show which I did from the back of the stage, wearing a Zorro mask.
On the Friday night Rosie Westbrook did another set. this time with Brett from Silver Ray on drums.
I then did a set with Clare Moore on vibes and Stu D on bass. We rocked.
On the last night it was Mick Harvey closing the season with Julitha Ryan, James Johnson, Thomas Wydler and Rosie Westbrook. the opening set was by Cam Butler with his string section.
Then there was an all night party in Brett's room.
The first night back in Melbourne we were rehearsing with Stu Thomas and Stu perera for new material and the upcoming shows in Melbourne.
Currently listening :
Al Bowlly
By Al Bowlly
Release date: 02 August, 2004
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09 Jul 2007

Jim said it was all over , as a ritual, back in '69!
Current mood: quixotic
Category: Music
I am compelled to register my tiny opinion on the two large concerts that I allowed to enter my compound via the television monitor, however briefly, over the last week or so. I must begin by asserting that I am terribly biased by my own experience and aesthetics and coupled with that, I am a bad critic. Deal with it.
The concert organized by the two princes who are, unfortunately, not in the tower ( where in a perfect world they would have been put by their evil father Charles, who coveted the throne and was , so , forced to have their heads propelled towards the chopping block in order to achieve that aim) , William and Harry. (The latters father was obviously the cad and bounder drunken louche with the red hair, another thing that fucks with Charles as he looks for the executioners number on his mobile). This concert could only have been worse had it been organized by their dead mother! Then it would have been Chris De Burgh , Chris Rea, Phil Collins , Duran Duran and Level 42. ( Charles would have wanted the Three Degrees and Shirley Bassey. Another thing that fucks him off). The boys opened the gig with some bad public speaking. the bastard son of the polo playboy sent a bad tempered cheerio to the lads in his squad in Iraq, saying that he wasn't alllowed to go.Diddums. This moment was the actual rebellious part of the day. I watched Elton and thought of nothing and then Duran came on and eventually I went out for a walk. It seemed to be really the end of the road as far as rock concerts go. A senseless crowd coralled into a football stadium to wave their hands in the air for a few hours. My only hope is that there was a new JG Ballard somewhere in the crowd, or watching it on tv, thinking of something less pragmatic and real than this voided mob. In the seats above them the two princes "partied" with their strumpets and their minders. Neither of them spilled wine from their goblets as they tore a chunk from the side of a leg of lamb with their rotten teeth and then fell from the balcony as they tried to rip the bodice from their wenches dress so they could cop a nice English handful of their comely bristols. No lone assassin rose up from the crowd and threw a round black bomb with a burning fuse in their direction. Being a crude and bored televisual customer, this is what I wanted in my 21 st century cocoon and, being denied it, I did that most rare thing, I turned off the machine and ventured outdoors.
I was gone for days, lost in a social world of playing music and engagement with human beings. I came back to my pad and flipped the life support system on to find another gargantuan entertainment offering on show. This was Live Earth. A global event.
Now, music in these giant stadiums succeeds only in making music smaller And the fact that it is global and everything distorts the performers minds and bodies and they run around like chooks without heads trying to entertain the planet. They look angry and puny.
I said I am a bad critic and I say here that I have only ever been to one concert in a football stadium in my life and even though the band was good (the Rolling Stones in 1995) , the whole ambient experience was really quite poor. Its really not meant to be that way. It sounds bad and it looks bad. And giant tvs are only good in the cinema.
Anyway, the planet kicked off with the Australian show. Paul Kelly dragged Kev Carmody onto tv and that was great. He had Ashley Naylor playing with him too. A star and a friend and a fellow member of SALMON. After that it was the best of Australian music 2007 style . In a stadium, playing to the world. On their best behaviour as someone important , (from the world!) might be watching. Here are some names. Missy Higgins, Wolfmother, John Butler, Eskimo Joe and Crowded House.blank .......space......

I went out with some rubber boots on and dug some wet clay out for a retaining wall . In the rain.
I switched the plastic box with the curved glass window on again and saw Shakira playing a blue strat and doing some rock music. It was awful. then Duran popped up again.
I went and read a book about Bohemians in Paris in the early 20th century. I made a vegetable and lentil soup and went for a walk.I went out with Clare Moore and watched her playing with Crystal Thomas. The club was dirty and the whole audience consisted of musicians. In thrall to rock music from 1972.
I looked at the machine again and Madonna was performing "ray of light" with a les paul guitar and a troupe of dancers dressed in black shirts and trousers with white ties who were dancing in formation in front of her. She went to her Vox amp to get some feedback happening and a kindly fellow twiddled her gain knobs to facilitate said squall of noise as she gyrated in a sexually suggestive manner against the speakers. The crowd was still impressed by this shit!
I thought Madonna was holding some ground of her own high above the pack. It was sad to see her acting so squarely. She'd been brought down to earth.
My expectations were low of course, so nobody really got hurt on the day.
The Live Earth concert had a message behind it of course but you would have to be a reall dill not to have heard that message from outside of that event. You would have to live in a goddamned cave with no tv and no computer not to have gotten that call by July 2007.
Thusly , for better or worse, I have felt the need to opine and have done just so.
Die! Rock festivals and Large Concerts!
Jim was right.
Currently reading :
Bohemian Paris: Picasso, Modigliani, Matisse, and the Birth of Modern Art
By Dan Franck
Release date: 06 March, 2003
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05 Jul 2007

the apartments-pals etc
Current mood: grateful
Category: Friends
Fridays show at the Northcote was very very sweet. Many old friends and new friends all in the room. We got to play with drums and amps for the first time in many months and the feeling was powerful. Clare slamming into the drums and Stu Perera whomping that trick of a guitar. Stu Thomas is , of course, a genius bass player and singer and Mark Fitzgibbon dropped by unexpectedly so we got him to play some keys. I clued him on the notes as we stood on the stage , ready to rake off and there we went.
I took the opportunity to play some music to set the scene and removed the sad, indie Neil Youngismic dirge that was stuck in a droopy loop on the machine and banged up the vibe with Lil Kim . A complaint came from higher up so I switched it to the Sugar Hill Gang with Rappers Delight.
We payed an hours set and pulled out three unrecorded unplayed ever before numbers as I have become addicted to the feeling of playing music that exists only in the room where we are gathered. We did "lets kill god again", "bring me my liar" and "crime and underwear". It was such a thrill to be new again. In the flow of creation .
I was playing my golden gizmo brand new ebay chinese made hollow body guitar and the whole band was cookin'. I put the guitar down for the last song as I wanted to give the people a lesson in dancin'. I busted every move out that I would usually pace over a whole hour set. The stage was in danger of catchin' fire. We trooped off at the end and said to Milton Walsh , "follow that cobber!"
Of course, he followed it very well , playing the first set of his songs for 15 years to an audience who were here to be takensomewhere by a guy they'd heard of, somwhow. I knew all of the material and I was diggin' it. the first song was the first track from 'drift". A dark and driving track called "the goobye train". Sounded magnificent.
"where are you now? my dark obsession
I walk through every crummy room
through smoke and rain to get to you
your bitterness your disillusion
I thought I'd die of loneliness
whoever loved you you just left
you tore your dress
you tore your stockings....' Or something like that and the chords drifted between a minor and then a major seventh ( I mustv'e nicked that chord from him) and then another and then the mood dives down a key with a crashing major chord chorus. Masterful and dramatic powers were there when he wrote the stuff and here it was all again when he took the songs out again. they all flew.
It was never going to be anight of nostalgia as his presence on the scene had been so fleeting over the years. (Like the Moodists return shows in Melbourne) It was going to a new thing for everybody. he told me he'd never had much of the feeling of playing to an audience who were there to hear his music. After our show with the Fauves we have been lucky to be doing shows which have a slender thread of personal community to them. Soon we will be in Brisbane playing as part of a week of shows put together by Mick harvey from the Bad Seeds. We are all doing our own shows as well as playing dates with other artists. Clare Moore is playing vibes with Bad Seed drummer Thomas Wydler , (I am mc for that gig too) who is playing with Mick and Rosie Westbrook and the band also features Julitha Ryan who will be doing a set with Silver Ray whose Cam Butler will be doing a solo set as will Stu Thomas from the Lurid Yellow Mist. After that we are talking to our favourite band of outsiders , Batrider, about doing a show with them in August,as they get to release their album and then head off to the UK. Yes , please. Its cool to be connected.
Currently listening :
The Concert Jazz Band
By Gerry Mulligan with Concert Jazz Band
Release date: 20 December, 2004
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24 Jun 2007

Playing it cool

2500 ks past Perth into the Ocean, on top of a dormant volcano , 10 feet above sea level with a five kilometre drop to Davey Jones Locker. Givin' it heaps.

The kids know what I'm goin' on about!

Yeaahhhh!

Elvin Jones-Steaming!
Current mood: happy
Category: Art and Photography
Just to re iterate the greatness of the late Elvin Jones. In this clip he is playing with John Coltrane and you can see STEAM RISING FROM HIS HEAD! They would pay a film crew tens of thousands to get that effect but its happening for real!
(It looks like they're in a studio but they're actually playing outside in some freezing European festival area). Currently listening :
Jazz Machine
By Elvin Jones
Release date: 22 April, 1997
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the sheriff of hell
Current mood: good
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes
Here is a clip from a great psychedelic movie called "Zachariah". Its a psychedelic western which has appearances by Country Joe and the Fish and the James Gang ( Joe Walshs first band). Its stars a very young and androgynous Don Johnson. I met the film producer once which was something I never expected to happen. (His only other film had involved George Harrisons Wonderwall and he was in London looking for Oasis)
Anyway, this film is a Western and it has a BAD sheriff, played by the great jazz drummer Elvin Jones who kills people and then does celebratory drum solos. This is what I was hopped up on when I did "the sheriff of hell" on our album "the Devil Drives. The song went,
"theres an evil night club across the main street
the devil plays the drums
anythin' goes in this heat he just plays with the tempo
dresses in black leather
an' wishes that fool across the street was real
hes the sheriff of hell
theres not a lot he can really do
sittin on the boardwalk
hat over his eyes
boots up on the rail
hands down hs pants"

Currently reading :
Paris Montmartre: A Mecca of Modern Art 1860-1920
By Sylvie Buisson
Release date: October, 1996
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04 Aug 2007

makin the scene / killin’ the Dean....
Current mood: bouncy
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
Below is a clip from the Sand pebbles at the Meredith festival earlier this year. They were the opening act so they wanted to make a bit of a splash as the audience unpacked all their bongs and toilet rolls and plastic ponchos and put their ipod headphones in their ears so they could listen to rad stuff like "exile on main street" all weekend.
Here they run through a track from their last album "atlantis regrets nothing" called "futureproof". Their usual drummer, Piet Collins was off on a long tour he'd already committed to and , as they keep their public appearances so rare and they had experienced this situation before (he has to put some eggs on his plate!), they asked Clare Moore to play the traps for them. They seem to think rehearsing is "bullshit" so Clare just gets a whisper from Chris Hollow on bass just before the gig as to what is going to happen. He thinks this is a big surprise but its always the same jive, "VU! All the way!". Clare acts like this is something rad and does the gig appropriately and kicks the gig home with a strong backbeat.
They have two brilliant guitarist / singers at opposite sides of the stage , Tor and Andrew. They also have Ben on a more Eno-esque type of wildcard yet rhythmical / wall of sound role further out to the left. His guitar is in some open tuning and he has a Star Trek/Hotwheels type arrangement of effects he stares at and manipulates during the show.
Here they have enlisted a Sean Simmons from the Spoils to play another pedal called a tambour which gives a sitar like sound which can not be turned off! They are tall and imposing bullies so they made him accentuate his ethnic appearance by putting a turban on top of his head and telling him to sit cross legged. In the percussion section you will note Crystal Thomas in a starring role in a bright red dress and Mahalia Tanner in the Elizabeth Taylor role. Tim McCormack who plays with Crystal and also in fast rising woodchuck act the Downhills Home can be seen playing a stick with bottle tops nailed into it in a most accomplished fashion ( as far as I can tell, being no expert on the lagerphone) . Speaking of lager, at some point a distant relative of the fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld wandered onto the stage from a passing van of ravers who had been dancing in the nearby forest for a decade. (I looked in his eyes and saw a vast eternal darkness that promised both moss and glitter! It was all I could do to pull myself back from that terrible drop into NOTHINGNESS ITSELF!) I was there to sing a verse in a song that I wrote the lyrics for called Natalie. I was going for an Italian film director type look. I can be seen staring angrily at the lurid yellow security wristband which is fucking with my facade. The audience was busy lining up at the coloniacal enemation and aurazmic reading tent , attaching the wheels to their oxygen cylinders and telling each other how much they loved Neil Young.
After the gig we left the Pebbles sitting in lazy boys backstage , working their way through a slab. Tim was off on a real journey of self negation and Crystal sailed through hell with poise. Elizabeth taylor remarried Richard Burton and Clare and I got out of there before the sun went down. We like the city. Unfortunately someone had changed all the signs in the surrounding area and we kept driving in a loop and passed the festival site three times , screaming louder every turn, over the next couple of hours. We stopped and robbed the nearest Quik E Mart and when the young Filth arrived to help us we requested we be locked up in a city watch house.
NB. I should state here that the sand pebbles are good friends of mine and are a great band full of strangeness and charm. And character. They all dive in completely and have their own parts to play. I say they don't like to rehearse but this probably isn't really true. They love spontaneity above all. their records have all been real surprises but , much like the Doors, their live shows are rough while their recorded sounds are smooth. They have a new one coming out soon.

Currently reading :
Ho Chi Minh on Revolution
By Bernard B. (editor) Fall
Release date: 1968
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03 Aug 2007

Salmon/Batrider show 2nd August
Current mood: excited
Category: Music
If you don't go out to see music much i would recommend the East Brunswick Club as the stage is high and well lit and the sound is fantastic.
Batrider opened this show. In the near future some smart writer will be telling everybody how great they are and people will all agree. Some writer from the UK or the States perhaps. They will be right. I'll try and tell you what type of band they are. They have two guitarists, a bass player and a drummer. Sarah, the singer plays a pink Strat and leans down into her mic with a fringe and some side bangs of gleaming black hair completely framing and covering her face so you rarely see her eyes. She is loose physically and dances and plays easily and LOUDLY through her Mesa Bogie amp. Her voice is loose and poweful as well. Very powerful. A force of nature. She can let out a squall unheard of ever before yet it is not some deranged display of madness, its all attenuated and freed up dynamic gusto. Julia plays a brown strat and a Silvertone through a Fender Bassman. She has such a direct and unflinching gaze and unfazed coolness as she weaves great waves of arpeggiated chords through the drums and the bass. She has poise. Tara plays the drums and you just never know where shes going to put the accents. When she does she is unerring and strong. She slams it. Sam plays the bass and tonight he is loud and present. The rhythm section is open and strong.
They have such a sense of dynamics. Suddenly Sarah wil stop playing and just move around and then slam both guitar and towering voice down onto the huddled masses, wild! Other times she just puts the guitar down and plays a tambourine and then blows a big toy harmonica. What sort of band are they? They don't use guitar stands and just lay them down on the floor or beside their amp.
They are about to put their new album , "Tara" out and we will be playing as opening act for them at Gertrudes in Fitzroy on the 17th August. ( "We" will be myself and Clare Moore and the Lurid Yellow Mist. Bas, drums, two guitars and maybe a piano. There will also be a band called Pets with pets).
Sgt Ashley Naylor being away playing with Paul kelly, the SALMON army must go over the top tonight and follow Batrider minus a guitar. Matt walker steps up and takes on the shredding, harmonic role as well as general artillery battery service and we are off. Tonight, Kim introduces a new piece for the world. "KFS". "Kentucky Fried Salmon". This sits alongside "ACO" (Alien Chord Ostinato), "SMR" (speed metal rocker) and our cover version of the Blue Oyster Cults' "ETI" (Extra Terrestrial intelligence). We also play "prog suites 1 and 2" as well as "axes of evil", "punk fatwah" , "guitarmony suite" , "Cheap and nasty" , "pearls before swine" ( the only song with vocals) and "get off!". All these songs are written, arranged and conceived by Kim. Tonight he arrives wearing a black shirt and trousers and tie. He stands in the centre and mans a sampler which contains his voice yelling and screaming and saying things like "Balthazar!" and he mouths the words. he also plays the guitar. A telecater. Every guitarist has a small amp. Practice amps. There are two drums and (usually) six guitars. No bass. What sort of band are salmon? A European review commented that our album is "one of the best things running on fossil fuels". A Batrider told me it was unarguable and dealt with absolutely nothing that was topical and was both brilliant and daft all at once. I think that what Kim had in mind.
Currently listening :
Bless the Weather
By John Martyn
Release date: 21 November, 2005
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28 May 2007

SALMON - at the ROCK FACE!
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Art and Photography
This is a link to a new Melbourne based online radio station that recorded the gig that SALMON did last Wednesday 23rd May. New Found Fequency. And you can listen to it here. Isn't technology amazing!
http://www.newfoundfrequency.com/concert/2007-05-23/Salmon/
Below, you can be amused by several writers climbing the steep and insurmountable edifice that is the sheer rock face that is SALMON. They clamber up to take a part of it in and then spill their puny impressions onto the page !
Salmon
Rock Formations
(Bang!)
A friend of mine once described Wolfmother as Dead Zeppelin – or was it Led Purple – and professed nothing but spit and bile for the band's well worn (but celebrated) collection of neo-70s riffs, screeching vocals and iconic rock theatrics. The same objection can be (and is frequently) hurled at Airbourne, and a host of other rock revivalist bands that have achieved local to significant success in the last few years. Sometimes it's simply a matter of irony – you either see it, or you don't. In a post-modern world, objective truth is waste of time and money.
Kim Salmon's six guitar, two drum rock 'n' roll hydra Salmon is a grab bag of neo-70s riffs, screeching vocals (albeit computer generated) and iconic rock theatrics. But, unlike his artistic juniors or pale imitators, Salmon has actually thought long and hard about this particular celebration of the power of rock. Rock Formations – released on the Melbourne-ophile Basque label Bang! – captures the beast in two different settings.
The first part of Rock Formations is recorded in the captivity of a relatively sterile studio environment. It's a survey of rock through the ages: Punk Fatwa is the perfect punk rock call to arms, a melting pot of manic drum beats, grinding guitars and patented Salmon screams. Prog Suite II, by way of immediate (and chronologically ironic) contrast, is a bruising slog through the quagmire of 70s progressive rock. It Wears A Kilt is glam rock in a glittering jar, and Licensed to Rock is the soundtrack for a journey through the suburbs in a hotted up Monaro. Speed Metal Rocker is where most teenagers find themselves after a skinful of cheap vodka and an armful of Black Sabbath records, and Alien Chord Ostinato is mood music for the metal generation. Cheap and Nasty (based on a song written originally by Salmon and Dave Faulkner in their Perth punk days) is a fist-waving primitive punk ode, and The Axes of Evil might be labelled pretentious if it didn't come armed with a big stick of hard rock riffage that'd scare the bejeezus out of the most hardened long-haired bogan.
The second part of the album sees Salmon unleased in its natural live rock 'n' roll environment, with a show recorded at Sydney's Metro theatre in early 2006. As well as the tunes on the recorded part of the album, there's some other live favourites, including Blue Oyster Cult's ETI (Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), the grinding and gyrating 13th Bar Blues, two minutes of free form guitar self-indulgence in 2 Minute Noodle and the uplifting prog rock love of Guitarmony Suite. To cap it off there's a throbbing rendition of the Surrealists' Non-Stop Action Groove, complete with Kim's distorted electronic introduction of the band members. Save for the occasional technical and sonic glitches, this is the Salmon beast in its most appropriate and comfortable state.
The contradiction that lies at heart of Salmon – a barrage of macho rock riffs as tightly choreographed as an Albert Hall orchestral performance – is also Salmon's intrinsic attraction. In fact, it's arguable that on this album Salmon has achieved with appropriate levels of irony what many of his contemporaries continue to strive for without acknowledging their tongues should be in their cheeks.
PATRICK EMERY. C/O i94bar online magazine.
A must-have music for lovers of heavy rock. There's no denying the hypnotic, thundering grooves.
The salmon spends much of its life swimming upstream against the current, driven by some inscrutable biological imperative to battle against prevailing natural forces.
Likewise in his many musical guises Kim Salmon has never done things the easy way, and his music has always benefited from his willingness to take a risk. Rarely though has the line between madness and genius been so obscured as with his latest release.
In 2004 he assembled a band comprising himself and five other guitarists and two drummers. The nine tracks here from those sessions are astonishing. Even if he meant it as a monumental pisstake (Six guitars? Pwah!) there's no denying the hypnotic, thundering grooves.
The drumming by Clare Moore and Mike Stranges is of the most basic yet effective variety, and what passes for vocals are mostly sampled shouts and chants. The album is rounded out by 13 tracks recorded live last year at the Sydney Metro, which are good but lack the emotional clarity of the original nine.
This is must-have music for lovers of heavy rock.From the AGE EG

ROCK FORMATIONS – Salmon (Bang! Records/Fuse Music)
I remember the sniggers when this project was first made public. A six guitar band with two drummers? All crowding onto the Tote stage?  To be "conducted" by Kim Salmon? And with Dave Graney playing (whisper it) rock music??
Well, yes, yes, yes and decisively yes. This is definitely not a joke. It's a crack team of Melbourne based musicians kicking it out, letting it out of their systems, with an air of abandonment and glee permeating each and every track.
Most of the personnel present are of a certain age, and so have an involvement or at the very least an interest in music which pre-dates punk- and that deep grained love for the Led Zep, Pink Floyd & AC DC they were listening to in their teenage years before the Ramones et al hove into view is blatantly obvious.
Heavy boogie riffs, falsetto vocals, thumping glam beats, "TNT"-style chants of "hey!"- they are all on plain view here.
You get nine studio tracks, plus a further 13 live numbers recorded at Sydney's Metro, including a take on Blue Oyster Cult's "ETI (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)" and version of "Cheap and Nasty", a chestnut that Salmon co-wrote with Dave Faulkner way back when.
With the band's own tunes carrying titles like "Prog Suite 1 & 2" and "Licensed 2 Rock" there is obviously a sense of humour at work here, but there is no irony to be heard. This is serious as it wants to be, and as heavy as fuck in the main. There are tunes here that would easily give the likes of Voivod and Slayer a good run for their money. 
There are minimal vocals from Kim, mainly confined to some vintage style yelps and roars, screams of "All right!" and such. But it really is an instrumental album at heart, with all those guitars combining in huge overdriven harmonic riffs to give the tunes their body. That said, at times it feels slightly hamstrung by not going the whole hog and giving the songs the sort of lyrical treatment they deserve, and could certainly carry. Short song length is another issue- some of these could have easily been stretched out to true metal opus length of eight minutes or so.
Not sure of the lifespan of this project- due to other ongoing commitments on the part of all involved the band may well never re-coalesce, which would be a shame. The upshot is that this collection may well remain a curious footnote, a solo oddity, in the annals of Australian pre AND post punk rock. Hmm, but I bet Kim could write a cracker of a song called "Solo Oddity" for the follow up though. - TJ Honeysucklec/o the i94bar
Currently listening :
Back in Town
By Mel Tormé
Release date: 14 December, 2006
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26 May 2007

the fauves graney moore show east brunswick june 8th
Current mood: chipper
Category: Parties and Nightlife
The Fauves are playing their 1000th show at the East Brunswick on the 8th of June and they asked us to be involved as part of the bill. The Fauves and us are kind of fellow travellers having both been involved with Universal records in the 90s and knowing the touring scene in the golden days of Ansett airways.
I have seen them play more recently than I did in the old days as their music has gotten more and more toward something I can tune into. ( No fault of theirs, more of a glitch in my reception). I saw them play at Rubys in Belgrave when their most recent album , "Nervous flashlights", came out and also at the Troubador in Brisbane. They are a very impressive unit in the way that the Triffids were in the old days. Very self contained and light hearted. They make their own kind of sense and deliver it with real conviction. Their last single from the album . I'll work when I'm dead had a great Byrdsian vocal sound and light , cruising delivery. The lyrical sentiment of the tune is to be applauded loudly and the heroic bludger is one Australian icon that needs to be lauded more often !

Their gigs see them revisiting songs that got away onto the youth broadcaster and others that didn't make sense to anybody but they love doing them anyway. they take no prisoners. they have had their experiments in 80s disco and pub rock and electro and they give it all a bash. All the way through, Andrew Cox gives everybody the high hat with the most acidic put-on of a professional performer he can manage as they throw more and more pearls to the swine they see all around. And people love it. Because he is inexhaustible. You think he will run out of juice at some point and start crying or screaming with despair at the ridiculousness of fate and timing and the stoopidity of the world they find themselves in. But no, he stays on his feet and deals deft blow after deft blow at all comers he sees coming at him from the darkness of the void beyond the lip of whatever scuzzy stage he finds himself on. He will talk of the acts they have given breaks to who have then unceremoniously vaulted over his band as they are rewarded by the great public for being tighter, smarter, stoopider, uglier than them and he will never fail to communicate his disgust and surprise. If you like Tony Hancock or Larry David, you could easliy see either of them writing or appearing in the Fauves.
Of course there is also Phil "the doctor" Leonard on guitar , Adam Newey on drums and Tim/ Terry/Ted Cleaver on bass. They aspire to Oz rock which is odd. Am I communicating their weirdness enough? they put out a Sydney Olympic themed tune in 2000 called "Celebrate the failure".
On a musical note, I was very impressed when they programmed Rage when the Doctor played a song by the late "Aaliyah". When she was still alive and just on the rise. That was awesome.
The Fauves think 1000 shows is a lot. We must have done about twice that easily but we are saying nothing.
We will be doing our Keepin it Unreal vibes ,bass , percussion , 4 voices and 12 string set and they will be bringing their particularly odd and scratchy sound to the East Brunswick Club on Friday 8th June. This is one of the best sounding room in melbourne.
Currently reading :
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, and Related Tales (The World's Classics)
By Edgar Allen Poe
Release date: 23 June, 1994
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hustle and flow
Current mood: cheerful
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
TV is so bad I've been reading a lot of books and watching some dvds. I must say I laughed from start to finish of "the 40 year old virgin" and also was completely held by the German film, "Downfall" ahich is about Hitler in the last months in the bunker. That film was heavy. Theway he was humanized made it more compelling and real that he was voted in and cheered along by so many people.
To keep the 40s vibe going I watched "things to come" , the 1936 sci fi film starring Raymond Massey. The screen play was written by HG Wells. This was great. Why have we not experienced this type of a sleek future? Where is my rocket back pack?
I also watched "Head of State" which has Chris Rock going for President and "Kings Ransom" which has Anthony Anderson as a black tycoon having himself kidnapped. It was stoopid.But funny.
Anthony Anderson also popped up in "Hustle and Flow" which I missed when it came out. It was cool watching an actor in a slapstick comedy and then get to grips with a heavy part in this amazing film about a pimp who wants to be a rapper. Got to be one of the best music films ever made. (Not hard I know as there have only been a handful of greats). The music itself is amazing and then there is the drama and the pathos of the main character, DJay (played by Terrence Howard) and his three prostitutes and the two friends who are helping him get his tracks together.
This is a great film. I cried and cheered and fell off my sofa.
I was really amazed at how good the music was and it also had a real sense of place . I then watched the extras on the dvd and it had a short film called "Crunk time" which had the director and the music composer talking about the city, Memphis and its effect on the film. they were all from memphis and they were totally into the cultural flow that they were a part of . The writer and director, Craig Brewer is a young white guy and he just loves the city and dedicates the film to Sam Phillips from Sun studios. He talks about the music thats come from the city from Ike Turner to the Crunk hip hop scene. They are all alight with fervour. They then have Isaac hayes ( who plays a small role) talk about the music and then they show the actual players in a small Memphis studio. They are all the guys ho did the "Shaft" soundtrack with Hayes back in the 70s! The drummer spits out that hi hat shuffle and the guitarist shifts into his wah wah licks in the most head splittingly shrill treble register you could get. It is so great to see guys like that playing. All through the film you hear snatches of the greatest blues and funk grooves as well as the filthiest dirrty south hip hop joints. It is busting out with great sounds.
The film features a theme song/ rap that they pull together in a small studio. the director tells the story of a totally subterrranean underground rapper called Al Kapone( who is selling his music out the back of his car at a drive in at the time ) who gets in touch with him saying he has music if he needs some memphis beats. The director tells him a bit of the story behind the main character and he gets the song together in one night and it is so great it directly affects the story of the film!
This is like a Hollywood army coming to town that is actually listening to the feel of the street and word actually gets through from that street . Thats why the film is so good. Its alive with a feel for the characters and the place.
Look out for us playing with the Apartments this Friday 29th June at the Northcote Social Club. We're getting the drums and guitars out for the first time this year. ps
the other great music films are:
"the Girl Can't help it" by Frank Tashlin. Glorious technicolour with Jayne Mansfield and Gene Vincent and Little Richard. Probably the greatest ever made. You can stop here!
Withnail and I.
Spinal Tap.
The Mighty Wind ( neither of these are wholly comedies -to a musician. they are real!)
The filth and the fury
Ray
John and Yoko, a love story ( its funny!)
Round Midnight
Miles Davis at the Isle of Wight Festival
the Led Zeppelin two disc , five hour live dvd
Elvis Presley, the 68 Comeback. (Well pretty much any Elvis performance film is worth watching)
Dazed and Confused. ( the feature film set on the last day of high school in 1976. The art direction is spot on and the soundtrack is perfect)
CoalMiners daughter
the Buddy Holly Story (Gary Busey!)
Who'll stop the rain (Nick Nolte in a post Vietnam "old time weirdness" epic)
Big Wednesday. The John Milius surf epic.
Anything with Tupac in it.
Any of the "Friday " comedies with Ice Cube.
Two lane Black Top.
The HBO tv series , "the Wire".
Zabriskie Point.
Zachariah-the psychedelic western.
Currently reading :
The Spy's Bedside Book
By Graham and Hugh Greene Greene
Release date: 1957
6:19 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove
18 Jun 2007

adelaide cabaret festival- point blank
Current mood: impressed
Category: Parties and Nightlife
Clare Moore stands to the left on vibes and percussion and singing , Mark Fitzgibbon is to the right on piano and I stand in the middle. I have two items on the piano, a pen and a sword. Thats it. There are 60 people allowed into the room and we do our show which is called "Point Blank". The title comes from a favourite 60s movie with Lee Marvin acting as a character called Parker who is a lone wolf bank robber. ( the Parker novels were about 21 in all, written by a character called Richard Stark, which was a pseudonym for the writer Donald E Westlake. I highly reccomend them.)
I stand there without a mic and sing right into the room. I soon find out the limits of my voice and the others have to adjust their playing so as to not swamp me. None of the intimacy that singing with a mic brings to a performance is possible. No whispering or trusting to preamps and reverb units and compressors to lift the quieter sounds in volume and to crush the louder spikes down in volume are t