Dancing

all of a sudden

In the Moodists I was a stand up lead singer. I mean, no guitar and just standing at the mic. Fiddling with the stand and sometimes taking it out and walking about. Very uptight but full of grog and youthful juice. The audience was hostile, always. Just like the world. The band wrote all the music for the songs together, all coming up with ideas. (The video below contains lots of footage taken by Mick Harvey in London 1984-5 on his video camera).

In the last version of the Moodists - around 1986-1987 - with David McClymont on bass we were moving into a direction with different textures and songs with actual arrangements and I had my red velvet suit which my mother had made for me (I asked for something like Marvin Gaye) so I tried a few more moves. In this clip (filmed in Leeds) its all a bit Alan Vega/Alvin Stardust…

I took this quite neutral stage physicality into Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes where I had started to talk a lot more in between songs - people didn’t do that so much in the alternative rock world in 1987- but still generally performed without guitar and still fiddled with the stand and wandered about with the mic. I generally still fronted the audience as if they were a hostile mob. I had started to write complete songs and always thought of presentation. We did shows with slightly different instrumentation. I saw myself as a singer songwriter with an electric band - like for instance, Lou Reed. As we suddenly seemed to collect an actual listening audience and played progressively bigger rooms I started to talk much less and let my outfits do the talking. (Though I had changed my look to a severe National Service haircut just as the pop world went all cargo shorted, long haired and grunged)

Then I went into a state of mind in lyrical themes and the way I presented myself that was all about identity and perception and flash. So much of what I did was in direct reaction against the grungified world but it was its own thing too. I had a look going after a visit to Carnaby st in London. I also had always loved this image of a band (?) on the inside sleeve of Richard Hell and The Voidoids Blank Generation album. In my mind , I was informed by punk rock.

Then after Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes in its historical period came to an end in late 1997 I wanted to play my songs as a singer songwriter with a small band and with myself out front yet inside the band playing a guitar and singing. The audiences contracted and the talking returned. Thats what I did from 1998 to nowadays, obsessing over guitars and playing them while singing my songs. I’ve been very lucky to have Clare Moore on drums the whole way and a totally stable line up in both the Coral Snakes and our modern band, Dave Graney and the mistLY. Stuart Perera has played with myself and Clare since 1998 and Stu Thomas since 2004.

I have tried to keep the songs to regulation time limits and within recognized arrangements of verses and chorus.

(1999- featuring Billy Miller on guitar and Adele Pickvance on bass.)

(with Stu Thomas and Stuart Perera, playing live at RMIT studios)

But I also loved to stretch out on favourite themes.

Then we did a tour with a reconvened Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes in 2023 and then another in 2025. For these tours I had to get back to delivering songs without guitar. I didn’t put much thought into it but quickly learned that I had to find ways to work the stage for two hours each night. I had to get the pace right. It helped that we were playing to bigger audiences in bigger rooms and had all the benefits of lighting and sound to help a guy make show.

Of course, I love to watch performers who know how to stand still and deliver a song as well. I try to mix it all up.

The 2025 Soft and Sexy Sound 30th Anniversary tour was a lot more demanding with the songs being more involved and generally more upbeat. I absolutely loved doing the shows. I should say all these performances were a lot less adversarial than how I still otherwise experience performances being. These were shows where the audience knew the songs and the words and the changes, it was a very sweet spot to be in.

The first show we did in 2026 was a Dave Graney and the mistLY gig where we played about 90 minutes of post 1997 music, mostly from our 2023 chef-d'œuvre album In A Mistly.

Then I did six dates as one of five singers with a crack band doing songs by The Velvet Underground or Lou Reed solo. We played in Sydney at the Metro, two shows in Brisbane at the Triffid, Adelaide at the Gov and two shows in Melbourne at 170 Russel Street. Singers were Rob Snarski, Robert Forster, Stef Duzel and Mick Harvey

There were two sets and I had to open both. I sang songs from Lous solo period, Rock n Roll Heart, Vicious, Stupid Man (from The Bells), Sally Can’t Dance, Charleys Girl (Coney Island Baby) and I Can’t Stand It from the Velvets.

1. Rock and Roll Heart – DG

2. Vicious – DG

3. Stupid Man – DG

4. Sunday Morning – RS

5. Caroline Says II - RS

6. Satellite of Love – RS

7. Femme Fatale – SD

8. I’ll Be Your Mirror – SD

9. Kill Your Sons – MH

10. I’m Set Free – MH

11. What Goes On – RF

12. I’m Waiting for the Man – RF

INTERMISSION

SET 2

13. Sally Can’t Dance – DG

14. Charley’s Girl – DG

15. I Can’t Stand It – DG

16. Candy Says – RS

17. Perfect Day – RS

18. All Tomorrow’s Parties – SD

19. The Bed – MH

20. Street Hassle – MH

21. Venus in Furs – MH

22. Pale Blue Eyes – RF

23. Walk on the Wild Side – RF

24. Sweet Jane – RF

ENCORE

25. Rock ’n’ Roll – ALL

It was a very enjoyable show to be a part of, like being on a package tour. You had to come on and go 110kph from the start. Well, I did! You had three songs to put down.

I had some moves in mind. It was what I was focused on for the whole run of dates, more than the words or arrangements, I just wanted to have a good flow happening in my movement. Get some dynamics happening, especially as I had to break open the show, twice.

I tried to base my look on Lou Reed from the cover of Lou Reed Live.

I was in Sydney a week before the first gig and looked for a similar kind of hat everywhere. Then on the day of the show I booked into the band hotel in Alexandria and went to a nearby vintage store and got lucky. Two hours before showtime.

I was trying to base my moves on this 1974 Lou Reed Rock n Roll Animal period show.

Roger Mason on keys and Cello.

Robbie Warren on bass.

The video and shots are by Jude Tuesday from the show at the Gov in Adelaide.

It was great to reconnect with Robert Forster and to play with Mick, Rob, Stef and the band.

Paul McDonald on guitar and Barton Price on drums.

Mark Tobin on guitar on the right. Stef Duzel rear.

The whole crew at the end of show.

Robert Forster and myself after the second show at the Triffid in Brisbane. We knew each other in Melbourne 1981 and then in London and elsewhere. Of course I have kept up with all his releases and shows over the years. Everybody who is in contact with Robert feels his joy in life and what he is obsessing over or involved with.

After the show in Adelaide. Photo by Jude Tuesday.