Dave Graney ProfileThe Dave Graney Show play instore at Rocking Horse on Thursday, the Great Northern, Byron Bay on Friday, the Surfers Paradise Beergarden on Saturday and the Spring Hill Fair on Sunday. Heroic Blues is in stores now.
“I don’t think we’ve been to Brisbane since we put out the first Dave Graney Show CD, which came out back in 1999,” explains the very same Dave Graney from his Melbourne abode. This weekend the act make amends for the years of neglect they’ve thrust upon us here in the sunny North, and the release of their new disc Heroic Blues (which incidentally isn’t a blues record…) is by far and a way a perfect excuse to get some miles under their collective belt.
“For one reason or another for the last few years we’ve been really trying to keep visiting the UK and Europe when we get the opportunity,” he continues. “We got an Arts Council thing to go to New York. It’s not much of an excuse really. The Arts Council is pretty active in giving Australian artists access to overseas trips. It’s an expensive exercise. We’re not connected to any record company or production company. We had an opportunity to go overseas and open for Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds across Europe, and without record company backing that sort of enterprise is pretty impossible, so they got on board with that. The Bad Seeds have always been really helpful to the people that open for them, but they’re not really connected to the Australian music scene wither. They’re a bit like AC/DC; they carry grudges for a long time…”
While Graney’s former act, The Coral Snakes, found a home on a major label, the last two Dave Graney Show albums have found their way to the public via indie label Cockaigne. Are you happier as an artist no longer being involved in with a major label?
“I don’t think I’m really an artist that major labels would be interested in. It all depends on what your ambitions are, and what you’re experiences are. I think my perspective is different o if you had talked to a 19 or 20-year-old artist about it. Their experiences are different and they’ve encountered different people. It’s a funny business. It’s all about luck and timing. I only ever worked with an A&R man that was really good once, and when you don’t have one on your case, it’s not worth working with a major company. If you don’t have that it’s not much chop.”
