Dave Graney

Dave Graney stands among the most peculiar and persistent figures in Australian music. Originally from Mount Gambier in South Australia, he relocated to Melbourne toward the end of the 1970s and assembled the Moodists, a lineup that included his wife Clare Moore along with Mick Turner, later of Dirty Three. The group drew from the era’s alternative Australian acts such as the Birthday Party yet leaned more heavily on American touchstones like Iggy Pop and the Velvet Underground than on the prevailing British punk or gothic currents. Following a pair of local singles and years of pub performances across Melbourne, the Moodists secured a deal with the English imprint Red Flame and shifted to London in 1983. Their strongest recordings emerged over the ensuing period: Thirsty’s Calling appeared late that year, Double Life followed in 1984, and the earlier Engine Shudder—taped in 1981—surfaced on the same label. After the Red Flame association ended in 1985, two further singles preceded successive personnel shifts that led to the Moodists’ dissolution in 1987.

By the time Dave Graney & the Coral Snakes assembled late in 1987, Graney’s reference points had swung toward the 1960s American psychedelia of the Charlatans and Quicksilver Messenger Service. The band’s debut EP, At His Stone Beach, came out in the U.K. the following year, though touring proved impossible without risking deportation, forcing a return to Australia. Once back, Graney launched the White Buffaloes, who issued My Life on the Plains in 1990; Graney embodied the record’s central persona, adopting a Wild Bill Hickok guise complete with curled mustache and snakeskin boots. The Codeine EP also appeared that year, but pianist Conway Savage’s departure to join Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds precipitated the group’s quick end.

The Coral Snakes regrouped in London in 1990 to cut I Was the Hunter and I Was the Prey, yet the label’s collapse delayed its release until 1992. Anticipating that album, the band toured in 1991, including support dates for Bob Mould, and documented the shows on the live set The Lure of the Tropics. In 1993 Graney shifted direction again after a series of semi-acoustic performances; lounge elements increasingly colored the music, resulting in The Night of the Wolverine and its commercial standout “You’re Just Too Hip, Baby.” The follow-up, You Wanna Be There But You Don’t Wanna Travel, arrived in 1994 and brought both critical acclaim and wider public embrace, establishing Graney as a pop figure for the first time; its single “I’m Gonna Release Your Soul” gained substantial traction. The Soft ’n’ Sexy Sound, released in 1995, found Graney fully immersed in lounge aesthetics, right down to the pink velvet suit he wore while collecting an ARIA for best male artist, and yielded three singles: “Rock ’n’ Roll Is Where I Hide,” “I’m Gonna Live in My Own Big World,” and “I’m Not Afraid to Be Heavy.”

The Coral Snakes delivered one final album, The Devil Drives, before splitting in 1997; although the label insisted on a single, the band added the glam track “Feelin’ Kinda Sporty” for the purpose. Graney resurfaced in 1998 fronting the Dave Graney Show and issuing a self-titled record; the group produced three further albums—Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, Heroic Blues, and The Brother Who Lived—before concluding operations in 2003. Graney and Moore subsequently released a trio of LPs that evolved into Dave Graney & the Lurid Yellow Mist and later Dave Graney and the mistLY, remaining active well into the following decade. They also serve as the rhythm section for Harry Howard and the NDE. Outside music, Graney has co-produced a Melbourne radio program, authored the novels It Is Written, Baby and 1001 Australian Nights, and contributed a regular column to the Adelaide Review.